THIRTEENTH ANNUAL YEAR BOOK— PART XII 619 



the 42d degree of latitude, I have concluded that for me indoor or cellar 

 wintering is preferable to any other method and in the practice of this 

 plan I have endeavored to observe the few conditions that go to make it 

 successful. A fairly strong colony of young bees, an abundance of honey, 

 a dry, quiet, dark place with proper ventilation. These conditions are 

 fairly well met with in a cellar under the dwelling in one end of which 

 are kept the fruit and vegetables, the opposite end being reserved exclu- 

 sively for the bees. In the passage way between the apartments is placed 

 a screen door to prevent the bees from leaving their own room. The walls 

 of the cellar are constructed of stone and smooth plastered inside, with 

 cement floor, and lathed and plastered above. The ventilation which is 

 not perfect comes from two narrow windows and a door into the hatchway 

 leading to the outside of the' cellar. The inside dimension is 11x14 feet 

 and will accommodate 100 colonies of bees. Two 2x4 scantlings are laid 

 about ten inches apart near each wall and also through the center of the 

 room, these to rest the hives on for convenience in handling. This ar- 

 rangement provides for alleys sufficiently wide to pass in and out be- 

 tween the three rows of hives. The rear end of the hives are elevated an 

 inch by laying an inch thick strip on top of one of the pieces of 2x4 with 

 entrances facing the center of the room. I try to look carefully to the 

 matter of preparing the bees in the yard for wintering by removing the 

 supers early enough so that these colonies that seem to be short of stores 

 may have time to supply themselves before the late honey flow has ceased. 

 Usually about Thanksgiving time they are removed to their winter quar- 

 ters. The bees are first securely shut in by nailing strips of lath over 

 the entrance of each hive, a steady team is hitched to sleds with side 

 boards of the box removed and is then driven along the rear side of the 

 row of hives and two men proceed to load on from twelve to fifteen stands. 

 This many a team can easily draw and if the ground is fairly smooth 

 the bees will be very little disturbed. Driving to the cellar the hives are 

 carried in and tiered up as closely together as is convenient, four hives 

 high. The cloth covers as well as the regular cover remains on top as 

 when removed from the bee yard. Hive ventilation is provided through 

 the wide entrance of the bottom board the entire width of the hive. The 

 work is now accomplished until the time for returning the bees to their 

 summer stands, except to occasionally regulate the ventilation and tem- 

 perature of the cellar. This simple method as I have attempted to explain 

 it is the way in which for the past eight years I have wintered my colo- 

 nies with uniformly good success, the loss in no season exceeding over five 

 per cent of the whole number stored, and to my mind this is to us of the 

 northern part of the state the safest and best system to employ. Last 

 winter was one of the severest that has been experienced in north Iowa 

 for many years, the temperature falling several times as low as 36 de- 

 grees outside, while in the cellar for several days it went to 36 above with 

 apparently no serious results so far as the bees were concerned. I may 

 add that while the plan that I have described has always proven highly 

 satisfactory in my own case, I am aware that some of my neighbors who 

 have adopted the cellar method of wintering have not always met with 

 equally good results, especially was this true in the winter of 1911-12 

 when many lost a large per cent and some all of the bees thus treated. 



