HOW TO WINTER BEES 151 



on the summer stands, each board bearing the same 

 number as the hive which rests upon it, and thus in 

 the spring it is easy to find the home of each colony; 

 but if the bees are brought into the cellar without the 

 bottom boards on the hive they are quite likely to 

 fly out more or less. Usually, therefore, they are 

 brought in on the bottom boards, and these are piled 

 in some convenient place until needed in the spring. 

 In this case it is advisable to have a map made of the 

 apiary, and the hives and their places numbered on 

 the map, and thus each hive may be returned to its 

 old stand in the spring. 



If bees are wintered in the ordinary house-cellar it 

 is far better to partition off the part used for the bees 

 from that used for vegetables, and much pains should 

 be taken to keep the air good and the cellar well 

 ventilated. 



Special bee-cellars are in vogue in some large 

 apiaries. The cellar is sometimes made beneath the 

 bee-house, and sometimes it is a structure by itself. 

 Of all such cellars, the Bingham seems to us the 

 cheapest, and surely quite as practical as the others. 

 It is built like a square cistern, twelve feet square at 

 the bottom, sixteen feet at the top and six feet deep ; 

 it is cemented at the bottom and on the sides, and 

 the ceiling is flush with the level of the ground. 

 Over this is built a gable roof, the eaves extending 

 down to a drain on either side so that all the water 

 is carried off. The ventilation is secured through 

 a pipe extending from the cellar ceiling to the top of 

 the roof. The floor over the cellar is tight and 



