The Influence of Temperature in Wintering Bees 



Prof. Atwater sa)s that the production of heat in the liuman body 

 is so great that, if there were no way for it to escape, there would 

 sufficient accumulate, in an average well-fed man, to heat his body to 

 the boiling-point in 36 hours. This heat is graduall)- passing off Ijy 

 radiation. To prevent too rapid radiation, we cover our bodies with 

 clothing. For the same reason we surround our bees in winter with 

 chaff or some other non-conductor of heat ; but there is no way in 

 which the radiation of heat can be so completely controlled as by sur- 

 rounding the heat-producing body with an atmosphere of the proper 

 temperature. There is no method by which the most desirable tem- 

 perature for wintering bees can be. so completel}" secured as by placing 

 the bees in a cellar or special respository. 



The ordinar;\' house-cellar, where the temperature remains above 

 freezing, is usuall}- a good place in which to winter bees. ]\Ien who are 

 engaged extensively in bee-keeping where cellars are needed for the 

 wintering of bees, usuall}- find it to their advantage, perhaps a necessity, 

 to build a special repository. The more completely the cellar is below 

 the surface of the earth, the more perfectly can the temperature be 

 controlled. It should be remembered that not onl}- is there the winter's 

 cold with which to contend, but the warmer days of late winter mav 

 arouse the bees and make them uneasy before it is time to remove them 

 from the cellar, unless the cellar is deep in the ground beyond the in- 

 fluence of outside temperatures. The walls of a cellar are usualh' laid 

 up with brick or stone, but there are other methods of making a cellar. 

 Mr. T. F*. Bingham, of Farwell, ?dichigan, has a cellar that has been 

 compared to a cistern. The walls are made sloping, and then plastered 

 over ver\- heavily with cement, after the manner in which cisterns are 

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

 \vitli dr\- sawdust, while a roof keeps all dry. ]\Ir. Bingham is a be- 

 liever in having fresh air for the bees, even though the)- use only a small 

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

 the ceiling and roof. He 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. 



