PUBLISHED MONTHLY BY THE W T FALCONER MANFG CO 



VOL. II. 



NOVEMBER, 1892. 



NO. II. 



My Experience in Wintering 

 Bees. 



BY DB. C. C. MILLER. 



Last winter was milder than usual. 

 It seemed warm enough during the 

 fore part id' the winter without any 

 fire in my cellars, and I thought that 

 I'd see how the bees would come out 

 not to have any hie all winter. I 

 doubt it' I'll ever try the experiment 

 again. From pretty well toward MOO 

 I came down to 1 28. To be sure they 

 didn't all die in the cellar— indeed 

 the larger part of them died after they 

 came out of the cellar, but J suspect 

 they were weakened by being some- 

 what chilled in the cellar, and conse- 

 quently couldn't stand the remarka- 

 bly severe spring and early summer 

 as well as they otherwise would have 

 done. 



Now I don't pretend to say that 

 every one should have fire in the cel- 

 lar. I have some faint hope that 

 some day I'll have a cellar so warm 

 that I'll not need to have fire. But I 

 do believe that by some means the 

 cellar, if a cellar is used, should be 

 kept from getting down below 40° or 

 45°. 



And it will not do for me to go en- 

 tirely by what some one else finds the 



right temperature. For one thing, 

 thermometers vary— sometimes five 

 or ten degrees. So if I have a ther- 

 mometer that registers five degrees 

 too high and yours registers five de- 

 crees too low, and you try to keep 

 your cellar at the same temperature 

 as mine, there will bean actual differ- 

 ence of ten degrees. Then again, cel- 

 lars differ. I'm not certain that I 

 fully know just why, but there's a 

 difference. A dry cellar doesn't need 

 to be kept so warm as a damp one. 

 Don't you know that on a morning in 

 early spring, when the surface of the 

 ground is frozen up, you feel quite 

 comfortable, and as it begins to thaw 

 you feel more chilly? The damp air 

 is a better conductor than that which 

 is dry. 



Start with the theory that some- 

 where about 45° is the best tempera- 

 ture for a cellar, but don't stick too 

 close to that theory. Watch closely, 

 and find out whether your bees seem 

 more quite and comfortable when the 

 thermometer goes above or below that 

 point. 



If you can get along without fire 

 in your cellar do so. Some come 

 down severely on anything of the 

 kind, saying it isn't natural, and it's 



