194 ADVANCED BEE CULTURE. 



diseased, I would provide a high temperature; say about 50 degrees, 

 thereby enabling the dying to leave the hive, the diseased to void 

 their excreta outside the cluster, and the well to make a more 

 courageous fight for life. 



I need scarcely add anything more upon this part of the subject, 

 and shall only say farther that, in my own cellars, where the air is 

 neither very moist nor very dry, and where there are no draughts, I 

 consider a temperature of 40 to 44 degrees the best for good colonies 

 in hives from which the bottom boards are entirely removed. If the 

 bottom boards are not removed, I think that five degrees lower would 

 be about equivalent. 



In order to have the temperature as desired, it becomes impor- 

 tant to have one's bees in a repository of which the temperature is 

 nearly independent of outside changes. This is, I think, secured 

 far more satisfactorily by having the repository entirely, or, at 

 least, very largely, below the surface of the earth." 



As the temperature is higher at the upper part of a cellar, the 

 weak colonies should be placed in the topmost tier of hives. 



It has been urged that, as spring approaches, and breeding be- 

 gins,the temperature of the cellar should be raised. With a large 

 number of colonies the increased activity would, of itself, have 

 a tendency in this direction. If there are only a few colonies, 

 artificial means of raising the temperature are sometimes em- 

 ployed. Some have used oil stoves in the hatchway of the cellar; 

 others have warmed the air with wood or coal stoves. If an oil stove 

 is used, there ought to be a metal hood over it, and a pipe connect- 

 ing with a stove pipe in the room above, or else with the open air. 

 Of course an oil stove can be used without such an arrangement, 

 but it overloads the air with the gases of combustion, I mention 

 these make-shifts with something akin to reluctance, as I feel that 

 the proper way to do is to have a cellar so constructed that there 

 will be no necessity for their use. 



Mr. H. R. Boardman, who has had much successful experience in 

 wintering bees in cellars, prefers to have a bee cellar with two apart- 

 ments, in one of which is a stove. If he ever finds it necessary to 

 resort to artificial heat, he warms the air in the ante room, and then 

 admits it to the room. In the use of artificial heat he does not find it 

 necessary to employ it constantly, or every day; in fact, he says 

 that the best results are secured by giving the bees the benefit of a 

 summer temperature for a short time once a week, and then letting 

 them alone. They will, after being warmed up, become quiet in a 

 short time, and remain so for several days, and no serious results 

 may be apprehended from cold, if in a frost-proof cellar. 



