382 



■THE BEE-KEEPERS' REVIEW 



Each copy of your much appre- 

 ciated Review is closely read 

 with interest. 



Am writing you for information 

 regarding the construction and use 

 of a cellar. i 



We have about 1200 colonies of 

 bees and wish to make a cellar for 

 same, for the coming winter. We 

 a,re in the mountains with an al- 

 titude of 6500 feet and zero weath- 

 er is very common, but it is a 

 dry healthful cold. Am absolutely 

 without experience in wintering- 

 bees. Would appreciate the de- 

 tails for construction of one to ac- 

 commodate the above number of 

 colonies. How deep below the 

 level of the ground would you 

 make it and would you bank up 

 the wall 2 or 3 feet above the lev- 

 el of the ground to have a little 

 light if it is needed. How would 

 you stack them so as to have room 

 for caring for them and keeping the 

 place swept, etc. What temperature 

 do you prefer for the cellar. 



Thanking you in advance for your 

 assistance, I have the honor to be 

 Yours truly. 

 Dr. D. W. Gibson. 



* * * * 



(Dr. Gibson: With the experience 

 we have had and seen would ad- 

 vise you to build two cellars for 

 your twelve hundred swarms of 

 bees. They should be not less 

 than 20x40 ft. with a seven foot 

 wall. Build the side walls nine feet 

 high, then bank up two feet above 

 the ceiling of the cellar to keep out 

 frost and avoid the changes in out- 

 side temperature. Over all a good 

 roof should be provided. For a 

 top covering for tiie cellar, a foot 

 of sawdust, planer shavings, or, 

 perha,ps forest leaves would do. It 

 is advisable to build in dry sandy 

 soil, in which case perhaps an earth 

 covering will do as well as any. 

 \^'ith so many bees in a cellar, you 

 will need a ventilator at the back 

 end and an intake at the front to 

 admit fresh air and regulate the 

 temperature. The intake can be at 

 one corner of the cellar and the 

 ventilator in the opposite corner. A 

 foot in diameter tile ought to be 

 sufficient as an intake for fresh 

 air and if it could be placed below 

 the frost line and extend one 

 hundred feet from the cellar, to tbe 

 open air the admitted air would be 



tempered nearer the desired amount 

 before entering the cellar. The ven- 

 tilator can be made about two feet 

 in diameter, with arrangements to 

 regulate as desired. It should ex- 

 tend to near the bottom of the cel- 

 lar and the upper end to the attic. 

 The hives are placed in the cel- 

 lar on benches built up 10 inches 

 above the cellar bottom. The bees 

 are tiered up, one above the other, 

 five high. A bencli for a single row 

 oi hives is built along the side of 

 the cellar, then an alley of about 

 three feet is left, when a double 

 bench is built holding two rows of 

 hives, facing the alley. The single 

 row next the wall, also faces the 

 alley. Rows of double tier benches 

 are now made at intervals of three 

 feet clear across the cellar when an- 

 other single bench is made against 

 the opposite wall. Of course, more 

 or less than five hives high can be 

 pu't in according to the number one 

 desires, but we have had rather 

 better success when the hives 

 were not less than 10 inches from 

 the cellar bottom and not less than 

 a foot from the ceiling. The floor 

 containing the poisonous gases and 

 the ceiling or top of the cellar being 

 too warm at times. The orthodox 

 temperature is 45 " Fr. but wie have 

 had very good reults with cellar 

 wintering with a temperature vary- 

 ing eight degrees either way from 

 this. Always keep in mind that it 

 is more the stores one's bees has 

 to winter on than any one other 

 condition, that goes to make up 

 good wintering of bees. Ed.) 



Hagerman, New Mexico, U. S. A. 

 August 17th„ 1914. 

 The Beekeepers' Review: — The 

 honey harvest for the Pecos Valley, 

 New Mexico has gone glimmering 

 for 1914. Usually clover about Au- 

 gust 20th with an average of about 

 75 pounds honey surplus per colony. 

 This season closed nearly a month 

 earlier, say Aug. 1st with not an 

 average of 25 pounds surplus per 

 colony. 



Yours very truly, 

 HENRY C. BARRON. 



Secretaries should ask for a 

 stock of Official Receipt Cards for 

 membership dues. They are free 

 for the asking. Address, The Bee- 

 Keepers' Review, Northstar, Mich. 



