304 FIFTY YEARS AMONG THE BEES 



brought home early enough so they will be sure of a 

 good flight after being brought home and before being 

 put in the cellar. Some say they may be safely put into 

 the cellar without the flight, but one winter part of mine 

 were put in without a flight, and that part wintered dis- 

 tinctly worse than the others. At the latest. I want them 

 home before Xov. 1. When brought home they are 

 placed conveniently near the cellar door (Fig. 106). 



WHEN TO PUT BEES IXTO CELLAR. 



It is a thing impossible to know beforehand just 

 what is the best time to take bees into the cellar. At 

 best it can be only a guess. Living in a region where 

 winters are severe, there are some years in which there 

 will be no chance for bees to have a flight after the mid- 

 dle of November till the next spring, and I think there 

 was one year without a flight-day after the first of No- 

 vember. One feels bad to put his bees into cellar the 

 first week in November, and then two or three weeks 

 later have a beautiful day for a flight. But he feels a 

 good deal worse after a good flight-day the first week in 

 November to wait for a later flight, then have it turn 

 very cold, and after waiting through two or three weeks 

 of such weather to give up hope of any later flight and 

 put in his bees after two or three weeks' endurance of 

 severe freezing. So it is better to err on the side of get- 

 ing bees in too early. 



Theoretically, the right time to cellar bees is the 

 iiext day after they have had their last flight for the sea- 

 son, and one must do the best one can to judge after any 

 flight-day whether it is the last or not. ]\Iore than one 

 reason can be given for taking in next day after a flight. 

 The hives are dry ; there are no accumulations of frost or 

 ice inside ; and the bees are unusually quiet. All the 

 better if the next morning is cool, as it is likely to be. 

 Sometimes, however, one cannot have everything as one 

 wants it, and I have been caught taking in bees in a 



