BEES. 4] 
the space being filled with chaff; these are good for outdoor winter- 
ing. The hive entrance should be lower than any other part of the 
hive, so that any condensed moisture may run out. The hives 
should be sound and the covers tight and waterproof. 
Entrances should be contracted in cold weather not only to keep 
out cold wind, but to prevent mice from entering. There should 
always be enough room, howeve, for bees to pass in and out if 
warmer weather permits a flight. 
In the hands of experienced bee keepers cellar wintering is very 
successful, but this method requires careful study. The cellar must 
be dry and so protected that the temperature never varies more than 
from 40 to 45° F.; 43° F. seems to be the optimum temperature. 
The ventilation must be good or the bees become fretful. Light 
should not be admitted to the cellar, and consequently some means 
of indirect ventilation is necessary. 
Cellar wintering requires the consumption of less honey to main- 
tain the proper temperature in the cluster and is therefore econom- 
ical. Bees so wintered do not have an opportunity for a cleansing 
flight, often for several months, but the low consumption makes 
this less necessary. Some bee keepers advocate carrying the colonies 
out a few times on warm days, but it is not fully established whether 
this is entirely beneficial and it is usually not practiced. 
The time for putting colonies in the cellar is a point of dispute, 
and practice in this regard varies considerably. They should cer- 
tainly be put in before the weather becomes severe and as soon as 
they have ceased brood rearing. The time chosen may be at night 
when they are all in the hive, or on some chilly day. 
The hives may be piled one on top of the other, the lower tier 
raised a little from the floor. The entrances should not be con- 
tracted unless the colony is comparatively weak. It is usually not 
considered good policy to close the entrances with ordinary wire 
cloth, as the dead bees which accumulate more or less on the bottom 
boards may cut off ventilation, and the entrance should be free so 
that these may be cleaned out. 
It is, however, good policy to cover the entrance with wire cloth 
having three meshes to the inch to keep out mice. 
The time of removing bees from the cellar is less easily deter- 
mined than that of putting them in. The colonies may be removed 
early and wrapped in black tar paper or left until the weather is 
settled. If the weather is very warm and the bees become fretful, 
the cellar must either be cooled or the bees removed. Some bee 
keepers prefer to remove bees at night, so that they can recover 
from the excitement and fly from the hive normally in the morning. 
One of the chief difficulties is to prevent the bees from getting into 
the wrong hives after their first flights. They often ‘‘drift’’ badly 
447 
