FIFTY YEARS AMONG THE BEES 301 



to have a furnace put in — one big enough to heat the whole 

 house, and of such character as to bum wood, green or drj', 

 coal, hard or soft, and indeed any thing hiving any inclina- 

 tion toward combustibility. I followed his advice, or rather I 

 outran it, for I got a larger furnace than he thought advisable, 

 the flrepot being 27 inches in diameter. I am not sorry the 

 furnace is so large so far as heating the house is concerned, 

 for it makes a delightful summer temperature in any part of 

 the house, no matter how cold the weather, without any of 

 that unpleasant and unwholesome burnt-air effect. But it 

 made a matter of impossibility for me to think of keeping 

 the temperature of the bee-room down to 45 degrees ; and since 

 that time, instead of having to make an effort to keep the cel- 

 lar waiTu enough, the problem has been to keep it cool enough. 



UNFAVOBABLE CONDITIONS. 



Conditions for successful wintering were by no means 

 the best. 



The workmen that set up the furnace were late in finish- 

 ing Up the last part of the work in the cellar, so that the bees 

 were not put in till the 8th of December. On that day the 

 temperature was 8 degTees below zero. It would have ' been 

 much better to leave them out for another flight if I had been 

 sure of a day warm enough without waiting too long. But I 

 was not sure of that, and I thought it better for them to be 

 taken in in rather bad condition than to run the risk of leav- 

 ing them out longer. The sequel showed I was wise in so 

 doing, for no day warm enough for a flight came until Feb- 

 ruary 26. 



A thin partition of lath and plaster is all that separates 

 the bee-room from the room in which the furnace is located, 

 and the thermometer in the bee-room generally showed a tem- 

 perature of 50 degrees. Some of the hot-air pipes pass 

 through the bee-room overhead ; and a thermometer laid on one 

 of the two hives directly under one of these pipes nearest the 

 furnace showed a temperature of 70 degrees. The pipe is co\'- 

 ered with asbestos paper, but there was only a space of about 

 three inches between the pipe and the top of the hives. There 

 yr&s plenty of room to set thege eglQnies in a coQler place, but 



