622 AMERICAN BEE , JOURNAjL, 



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 UNOER.GROUNO 'WINTERING OF BEHS. 



BY G. M. DOOLITTLE. 



The wintering of bees in some kind of an underground repository has come to 

 be quite an absorbing thought ifi the minds of all apiarists living north of latitude 

 40"^, and, in my opinion, whoever lives in the year 2,000 will see nearly, if not all 

 colonies of bees then existing north of this degree of latitude, wintered in an under- 

 ground repository. If this is to be the case, it is of some moment that the ideas 

 which are now assuming form on this subject be turned toward the best solving of 

 this question. 



Why I make a prophecy like the above is, that, with each succeeding year, the 

 timber land of our country is growing less and less ; so that when the year 2,000 is 

 ushered in, very few if any of the forests which now exist here at the North will be 

 allowed to stand. In these forests have been our protection from the extreme cold 

 which now is beginning to be experienced in many localities where the timber is 

 already becoming scarce. This timber has been of two-fold protection against cold, 

 viz.: First, it holds the water in the ground so that many springs have existed 

 which otherwise would not, and these springs where they abound, modify the air to 

 a much larger extent than many suppose ; and, second, the force of the wind is 

 broken, so that when a warm day appears, the bees in a sunny nook, out of the 

 wind, can have a nice flight, while those in an exposed situation can do no such 

 thing. 



Thirty-five years ago there was scarcely a winter in this locality when bees 

 could not fly as often as ouce in six weeks, and the mill on the stream which flows, 

 or used to flow, about 60 rods from where I live, was run by water nearly every day 

 in the year. Now we often have from four to five months in which the bees cannot 

 fly, and the mill is run nearly, if not quite half of the time with steam, on account 

 of lack of water. I used to leave two-thirds of my bees on the summer stands, dur- 

 ing winter, putting the other third into the cellar; now I put four-fifths of the bees 

 into the cellar, leaving but one-fifth out, packing those out in the best possible 

 manner; yet, with all my care, the cellar seems to be winning favor with each 

 succeeding year. 



Now, aside from the causes given above, there is another reason why the cellar 

 is gaining favor. When I first began wintering bees in the cellar, I used one under 

 the house in which we lived, while now I use one entirely away from any building, 

 and this latter is so much superior to the former that it is winning my affections 

 altogether. In what is it superior to the former? Chiefly in the fact that the 

 temperature is entirely controlled without any interference of mine during the 

 whole time that the bees are in their winter quarters. Some bee-keepers are favor- 



