64 BOAED OF AGRICULTURE. [Jail., 



Question. The next brood will be perfect Italians ? 



Mr. Jeffries. If the queen is pure, and purely mated. 



Mr. Van Hoosear of Wilton. Would Mr. Jeffries put his 

 bees in a cellar in winter to keep them ? 



Mr. Jeffries. In regard to putting stocks in a cellar to 

 winter, if I had a cellar properly situated, and from fifty to 

 one hundred and fifty or more stocks, I should winter them 

 in the cellar; otherwise, I should not. Unless there are 

 stocks enough to maintain a degree of heat from forty-two to 

 forty-eight, it is more detrimental to put them in a cellar 

 than to keep them out; that is, as far as I have known of its 

 being tried. Keeping them in the cellar during the winter 

 does not have much to do with it, but when you bring them 

 out in the spring they are apt to die off very quick. 



Question. I would like to ask Mr. Jeffries if he ever knew 

 a hive buried during the winter in the ground? 



Mr. Jeffries. Yes, sir; I have. There are a great many 

 hives buried, and they are buried very successfully, too. If 

 there are two or three benches, I consider that is one of the 

 best ways you can keep them, and the safest way, for two 

 reasons. The great enemy that bees have during the winter 

 time is man himself. They are in a partially dormant state, 

 and when they have once clustered and got into their own 

 quarters, they want a severe letting alone until they come out 

 of themselves. To disturb a hive of bees in winter, when 

 they are once clustered, is as sure death to them as taking a 

 good dose of arsenic is to a man. 



Mr. Van Hoosear. Would you ever bank a hive with 

 snow? 



Mr. Jeffries. I have banked hives with snow very success- 

 fully, but how much banking is necessary is not positively 

 known. I have seen them four feet under the snow, where 

 they have wintered safely ; I could not ask them to winter 

 any better. But to go and stamp the snow around the hive 

 for the sake of getting it there, I should say would jar the 

 bees so much that it would do more harm than the snow 



