ONE YEAR AMONG THE BEES. 133 



Colonies that do not have stores enough to carry them through the 

 winter, and honey not at hand to give them, should be fed during the 

 month of September. They should be thus fed early, in order that 

 they may be able to thoroughly seal up the stores given them while 

 the weather is yet warm. Granulated sugar is the proper food for 

 them, and in no case should they be fed cheap brown sugar on which 

 to winter. The sugar should be well melted by adding water and 

 allowing it to reach the boiling-point. The syrup may be made of 

 about the consistency of thin molasses, and given them daily until 

 twenty-five or thirty pounds are stored in the hive. The best time of 

 day to feed bees is late in the evening ; just as late as we can see to 

 do the work. Feeding during the day is an incentive to robbing, and 

 at night there is no danger, and by morning the work is all done and 

 the bees all quiet. 



CELLAR WINTERING. 



Many winter their bees in a cellar. But this is generally practiced 

 by specialists, and it usually takes the expert to make a success of it. 

 A cellar for bees should be for them exclusively, and it would be very 

 risky to undertake to winter bees in a cellar used for all purposes. A 

 cellar may be so arranged by partitioning off a part of it for the bees 



FIG. 26. Cellar wintering. 



exclusively, but it must be well separated from the other part. The 

 cellar where bees are kept must be kept in utter darkness at all times, 

 except occasionally when we wish to make examination of the bees ; 

 then we may use lamplight. 



The illustration, figure 26, shows the manner of placing the hives 

 in a cellar. The foundation is made of two-by-four scantling, placed 



