144 JOURNAL OF ECONOMIC ENTOMOLOGY [Vol.l5 



The relation of weather to placing bees in the cellar and setting them 

 out again in the spring is important, far more so than our beekeepers 

 will at first believe. 



The Relation of Weather to Fall Conditions 



Beekeepers in general differ a great deal regarding the proper time 

 for putting bees in the cellar but usually they wish to wait until after 

 the bees have had their last flight which keeps them out until after 

 Thanksgiving or longer. As a rule this is a very bad practice, for too 

 often the last flight never comes and if we are to take full advantage 

 of the bee cellar the bees should not have to remain out-of-doors for 

 two or three weeks of very severe weather at the beginning of the 

 peroid of confinem^ent. Our . observations show that bees may safely 

 take a flight on a simny day when the temperature is 48° F in the shade. 

 They do not normally fly on cloudy days, at much higher temperatures. 

 Bees in the shade will not normally fly at 48° F. We find in comparing 

 the weather records for the past ten years that on this basis bees had 

 suitable weather conditions for a flight only three years of the ten after 

 the first of December, the latest dates being December 4, in 1913 and 

 December 13 in 1920. During the same period the bees might have had 

 a flight only five times after the 20th of November and three of these 

 years were the same as for the December flights. In 1915 a suitable 

 day for a flight did not occur after November 13. 



If the weather is warm during the fall and up to the last of November 

 the bees are likely to have a day suitable for a flight near December 1. 

 But if there is a heavy snowfall in October or about the first of November 

 there is likely to be no opportunity for the bees .to fly after November 

 20. It is quite evident then that bees have only a slight chance for 

 a cleansing flight in December and less than half a chance after November 

 20. For this reason the beekeeper should plan to put the bees in the 

 cellar not later than November 20 except in seasons where little or 

 no snow has fallen previous to that date. Following that period the 

 bees should be put in the cellar with the first snow storm. 



The season of 1920 was far from normal and bees might have been 

 left out of doors until December 20. However, bees in the cellar 

 previous to that time were in no need of a flight and bees in outdoor 

 cases did not fly to any great extent. 



Relation of Weather to Spring Conditions 



The time when bees should be set out in the spring is generally 

 based upon the blooming of the willows and the majority of our bee- 



