So 



ADVANCED BEE-CULTURE. 



the ventilating tubes. In cold weather it 

 was often necessarj- to leave the openings 

 closed several days or even weeks. At 

 such times it was noticed that the bees 

 suffered no inconvenience. Not only 

 this, but it was often noticed that when 

 the ventilators were opened, the in-rush 

 of fresh, cool air aroused the bees and 

 made them uneasy. Finally, the ventila- 

 tors were opened less and less, and, at 

 last, they were left closed all the time. 



The amount of air needed by bees va- 

 ries greatly according to circumstances. 

 When they are excited and full of honey, 

 as is the case with a swarm, the amount 

 of air needed is very great. If they can 

 be kept quiet, a very little air will suffice. 

 In winter, bees are in a semi-dormant 

 state, one closely bordering on hiberna- 

 tion, as that word is properly understood, 

 and the amount of air necessary for their 

 maintainance is very slight. I believe it 

 was Mr. D. I,. Adair who, a number of 

 years ago, removed a box of surplus hon- 

 ey from a hive and, leaving the bees in 

 possession, pasted several layers of paper 

 over the entrance to the box. As all the 

 cracks and crevices were stopped with 

 propolis, the box was practically air tight. 

 The bees were -kept confined several 

 days, yet did not, apparently, suffer for 

 want of air. Mr. Heddon tells of some 

 man who, wishing to "take up" some of 

 his colonies in the fall, plastered up the 

 entrance with blue clay, expecting to 

 kill the bees by suffocation. Upon open- 



ing the hives a few days later, imagine 

 the discomfiture of their owner at seeing 

 the bees fly right merrily. I have sever- 

 al times wintered bees successfully in 

 "clamps" where the bees were 'buried 

 two feet deep under frozen earth. Prof. 

 Cook even went so far as to hermetically 

 seal up two colonies by throwing water 

 over the hives and allowing it to freeze, 

 thus forming a cqating of ice over the 

 hives. The bees survived this treatment. 



Special ventilation, simply for the sake 

 of secuing fresher or purer air, seems to 

 be almost unnecessary; the few bee-keep- 

 ers who plead for special ventilation do 

 so almost wholly upon the ground that 

 they can thereby more readily control the 

 temperature. If the bee repositories are 

 built sufficiently under ground it does 

 not seem as though ventilation would be 

 very much needed for controlling tem- 

 perature. 



When bees settle down into that quies- 

 cent state that accompanies successful 

 wintering, their need of air is very slight 

 indeed. When their winter nap is ended, 

 and spring arouses them to activity and 

 to brood rearing, more air is needed. It 

 is then, if ever, that special ventilation is 

 a benefit, but as all that is needed can be 

 so easily secured by the occasional open- 

 ing of doors or windows at night, if it 

 ever becomes really necessary, it scarce- 

 ly seems worth while to go to the ex- 

 pense of laying sub-earth pipes. I should 

 not do it, nor advise it. 



The Relation of Moisture to the Wintering of Bees. 



f S IT an advantage to have the air of 

 our bee-cellars dry? Or, do the 

 bees winter more perfectly in a 

 ■ moist atmosphere ? Or, is this an 

 unimportant factor ? If it is important, 

 how shall we determine what degree of 

 moisture is most conducive to the health 



of the bees, and, having decided this point, 

 what shall we do about it ? How can we 

 control the amount of moisture in the 

 air of our bee repositories ? All these 

 queries and many more, come to the 

 man who is thinking of wintering his 

 bees in a cellar. 



