No 6. DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE. 41'J 



brightly, the bee© will be enticed out by the brightness, dazzled and 

 confused by the snow, and will fall into it never to rise again. If 

 they have had a flight within two or three weeks it may be better 

 for them to remain in the hives, and a board can be placed before 

 the entrance so as not to shut out the air but to shut out the sun. 

 If it is best to let the bees fly, tramp down the snow hard in front 

 of the hives or sweep it away, or else cover the ground with ashes, 

 straw or something to cover the snow. 



Do not be alarmed if snow covers the hive, no matter how deep, 

 but sometimes you must look out for it when a small amount falls 

 and the entrance is closed with it, and then it thaws enough to be- 

 come somewhat solid at the entrance and freezes in that condition. 

 You must clear out the entrance to avoid smothering. 



CELLAR WINTERING. 



One of the difficult things about cellar wintering is to tell when 

 to take the bees in. There can be no fixed date in the case. One 

 year may be very different from another. Here is a safe rule to 

 follow: At any time after November 10, when the day has been so 

 warm that the bees have had a good flight, carry them into the cellar, 

 if you know they will not be able to fly again for six weelvs, but if 

 you know they can fly on some fine day within two or three weeks, 

 leave them out until then. But, alas, who can apply the rule, for 

 who can tell what may be in the next three or six weeks? The best 

 you can do, there must be some guessing in the case. If tlie bees 

 fly November 10, you are pretty safe in guessing that it is not their 

 last flight, but you would not be so safe in making the same guess 

 November 30. It is better, however, to err on the safe side. Sup- 

 pose you are in a pretty cold locality, and the bees have had a good 

 flight November 15, and you put them in the cellar the next morning. 

 Then a week later comes a nice, warm day for bees to fly, and you 

 feel foolish and wish you had left them out a week longer. The next 

 fall there comes again a good flight day November 1.5, but with your 

 greater experience you are not to be caught this time; so you leave 

 them out for the warm day to come a week later. But a week later 

 the warm day does not come; on the contrary, it turns out to be one 

 of those severe winters when the bees will not fly again until spring. 

 About the first to the middle of December you give up hope of a 

 warm day and put the bees in without it. After that you will be 

 likely to make your mistakes on the safe side, and take the bees 

 in too early rather than too late. That extra exposure of the bees 

 for two weeks in weather constantly growing colder was harder 

 on them than twice or three times as long in the warm cellar. It will 

 do no great harm to put the bees in the cellar two or three weeks too 

 soon, but it will do much harm to have them in that much too late. 



