Inlhiciicc of Toiipcraiitrc in Wintering Bees. 179 



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 

 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 

 stdl 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. 



BUHDING A CHEAP CELLAR THAT MAY BE M.VDE PERMANENT. 



We built three out-of-door cellars in the fall of 1906, in Northern 

 Michigan, and I'll tell you how they were built. Each location had a 

 sandy hillside near the bees — the location was chosen with this end in 

 view. In two of the locations we were able to use a team and scraper 

 for doing most of the excavating. If the soil is loose and sandy, one 

 day's work with a good team and scraper will scoop out pretty nearly 

 all of the earth that needs to come out of a 14 x 16 cellar. It may 

 need a little trimming up at the corners, but not much. 



WALLS OE POSTS AND CHEAP LUMBER. 



After making the excavation, the next step was to set up some 

 eight-foot cedar fence-posts, selecting nice, straight, round posts about 

 eight inches in diameter at the large end. These were set in the ground 

 about one foot deep and three feet apart, and each "pair" of posts con- 

 nected by a 2 x 6 14-ft. scantling, being spiked on their sides level with 

 their tops. A i6-ft. 2x6 scantling was then laid along on top of the 

 row of posts at the sides, and spiked fast, thus forming a place for the 

 support of the rafters. 



A hatchway was built at the end of the cellar opening out upon 

 the hillside, and a door put in at both the outer and inner ends of the 

 hatchway. Cull hemlock lumber was then nailed to the outside of posts, 

 thus forming a support for the earth in banking up the walls ; most of the 

 banking being done with a team and scraper. Some of the same kind 

 of lumber was nailed to the under side of the joists, and then this floor 

 was covered with sawdust to the depth of perhaps 15 to 18 inches. 



A hatchwa}-, probably two feet square, was left for ventilation up 

 through the floor and sawdust. The gable ends were single-boarded, of 

 cull lumber, and the roof was of the same kind of lumber laid two 

 thicknesses. There was no ventilator placed in the roof, as we thought 

 that the cracks in the gable ends and in the roof-boards would be 

 sufficient, and, so far as I am able to judge, the ventilation was suffi- 

 cient. At the Morey yard we placed our honey-house right over the 

 cellar, and allowed the moisture from the cellar to come up into it, just 



