ADVANCED BEE CULTURE. 191 



Farwell, Michigan, has a cellar that has been compared to a cistern. 

 The walls are made sloping-, and then plastered over very heavily 

 with cement, after the manner in which cisterns are sometimes 

 made. Over the cellar is laid a floor covered several inches with dry 

 sawdust, while a roof keeps all dry. Mr. Bingham is a believer in 

 having fresh air for the bees, even though they use only a small 

 amount, and he has a ventilator 17 inches square running up through 

 the ceiling and roof. Mr. Bingham also finds this ventilation of 

 great help in keeping the bees quiet during the first warm days of 

 spring, before he considers it late enough for their removal. 



Some parts of the country are too low and level to allow the 

 building of a cellar below the surface of the earth, when some 

 sort of a structure above ground is the only resort. Some of 

 these above-ground cellars have double walls built of brick, others 

 have walls of stone, and still others are made of cedar or pine 

 logs after the manner of a log house, and the whole structure then 

 covered with earth. A cellar thus surrounded by earth is almost as 

 thoroughly proof against the changes of temperature, as though 

 built under ground. 



Having briefly considered cellars, let us come back to the sub- 

 ject of temperature; and, by the way, I am certain that I can do no 

 better than to quote a few paragraphs upon this subject from an 

 article contributed by Mr. R. L. Taylor to one of the early numbers 

 of the Bee-Keepers' Review. Among other things, Mr. Taylor said: 

 "I think it a truth not to be forgotten that no one can determine, ex- 

 cept approximately, the best temperature for bees in another's re- 

 pository. The condition of the bees as to numbers, the warmth and 

 ventilation of the hive, the character of the hives, and the state of the 

 repository as to moisture, have each to be considered in deciding 

 upon temperature. 



Of course, the bee-keeper cares nothing about the temperature 

 in itself; what he is interested in is in knowing what the condition is 

 in which the bees pass the winter with the least loss of vitality. In 

 what manner temperature affects this condition is really a subsid- 

 iary question. If we could agree upon the primary question, I think 

 there would be little difficulty in solving the subsidiary one. 



What are the distinguishing marks of the condition most desir- 

 able for the well being of the bees ? 



We know that at the beginning of their season of rest, bees 

 cluster closely, and we know that so strong is this instinct that this 

 state, late in the fall, continues in a temperature that at another 

 season of the year would cause extreme activity. There is no doubt 

 that this is the state best suited to the preservation of the physical 



