654 IOWA DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE 



on top will not press down and reseal them during the time tliey are 

 in the cellar. 



This is for the purpose of allowing the moisture from the cluster 

 to escape. 



The entrance remains open the full width of the hive and three- 

 quarters of an inch deep. 



The second row is treated in the same manner, while the lightest 

 colonies are placed on the top row and the seal of the cover broken. 



One word about cellars. 



My cellar is 25 feet long, 16 feet wide and 10 feet deep. 



The greatest trouble with our cellars is the depth. 



I want my bee cellars at least 10 feet deep. 



Then you will get proper air space and ventilation without fussing 

 with sub-earth ventilators, if your floors and the sides are of dirt. 



Of course, if you build expensive cellars of concrete, thereby shutting 

 out the air, you will need expensive ventilators, otherwise your bees 

 will suffer. 



"We will now 'have a rest until the middle of February or about the 

 time of our February thaw, at which time I go down into my cellar 

 and standing still, with the light turned down very low, I listen to the 

 murmur of the bees. 



If I hear two or three bees leave the entrance of their hives and fly 

 off into the darkness of the cellar, thereby committing suicide, it is 

 time for action. 



I get out my large sized sprinkling can, the same I use in the garden, 

 and fill it with water, sprinkle the fronts and alighting boards, until 

 they are all thoroughly w^et, or until the water stands on the alighting 

 board one-fourth inch deep and has run back into the hive two or 

 three inches. 



Now this water v.'ill remain on the alighting boards for five or six 

 hours before it is all absorbed by the wood and the atmosphere, and 

 if you observe closely you will see many bees, especially in the strong 

 colonies, come to the entrance and load up with water. 



This watering I repeat once a w^eek until I put the bees out on their 

 summeir stands, and if they become too uneasy during a warm spell in 

 March, I take a spomge about the size of my fist or an old cotton or 

 linen cloth, dip it in a pail of water and lay it close against the entranoe 

 on the alighting board. 



Experience has taught us that bees confined, to ship by freight, ex- 

 press or parcel post, even in queen, cages, require water, then why not 

 if confined in a dark cellar for three or four months. I think they do. 



It has been my experience to find brood in a majority of my strong 

 colonies when I set them on their summer stands in the spring. Some- 

 times as much as one-half a frame of sealed brood and we all know 

 that bees require large quantities of water when rearing brood. 



But let us hurry along, it is now spring, and we are wondering when 

 to set the bees out. 



If J were to set an apiary of bees out of the cellar in any part of 

 Iowa, I would watch the soft maple and as soon as tihe first bloom 

 appeared on these trees, the next morning just dayligiht, if not storm- 



