184 



THE AMERICA A BEE-KEEIER. 



MOVING BEES INTO THE CELLAR. 



The main points to be considered 

 are when to do it and how to do it. 

 Two or three years ago the question 

 of when bees ought to be carried 

 into the cellar was considerably dis- 

 cussed. The drift of the matter at 

 that time was that we were leaving 

 our bees out of doors to long, that 

 the one or two flights that possibly 

 might be secured by the delay were 

 of no particular benefit. The bees 

 had ceased to store honey or to breed, 

 they seldom flew and consumed but 

 little food, either honey or pollen; in 

 fact they had settled down into a 

 quiescent state and were ready for 

 their winter's nap. No cleansing 

 flights were needed. The intestines 

 were not loaded, because almost no 

 food was being handled or consumed, 

 and nothing was voided in these late 

 flights, if the bees did fly. It was 

 argued that it was better to carry the 

 bees in before they even felt the 

 touch of Winter's stern hand, and be- 

 fore the hives were dampened by frost 

 or snow or ice. Instances were men- 

 tioned where bees were carried into 

 the collar unusually early, yet winter- 

 ed well. Some bee keepers 

 said that, as time went by, 

 each year found them putting their 

 bees in the cellar at an earlier date. 

 All this appears reasonable, and, for 

 ought I know, is good doctrine. I 

 have put bees in the cellar as early 

 as November 10, and as late as De- 

 cember 15, and, so far as results were 



concerned, I could see little difference. 

 It is my belief that after bees have 

 ceased active labors (honey gathering 

 and brood rearing) for a sufficient 

 time to allow their systems to get rid 

 of the wast matter resulting from such 

 labors, and they have had one or two 

 flights after cool fall weather has set in , 

 that any slight accumulations may be 

 voided, I say it is my belief that noth- 

 ing is gained by leaving them on the 

 summer stands. That anything is 

 gained by putting them in unusually* 

 early I doubt. I believe it has been 

 argued that it disturbs them less to 

 put them in early. That they have 

 have not vet reached so advanced a 

 stage of "hibernation" as my friend 

 Clark calls it. Rousing a man just as 

 he is on the point of falling to sleep 

 is not so much of a shock as it is to 

 awake him from a sound sleep, is the 

 idea, but I dont take much stock in it, 

 unless we are to use it in comparing 

 the bringing in of bees early in the 

 fall to bringing them in at mid-winter. 

 In short I think it unimportant when 

 the bees are brought in, provided 

 they have really settled down for 

 winter's inactivity and they are not 

 left out until freezing weather sets in. 

 When the time arrives for carrying 

 in the bees how shall it be done? If 

 there are only a few colonies and they 

 are near the cellar they may be pick- 

 ed up and carried in by "main strength," 

 but if there are many to carry or the 

 distance much, some other plan is 

 needed. If there are two persons to 

 do the work it simplifies matters, as 

 the hives may be carried between 

 them on a hand barrow. The barrow 

 used by my brother and myself is 

 made of two pieces of fencing each 

 six feet long, the ends being shaved 



