THOUSAND ANSWERS 271 



A. I never tried it, but those who have tried it generally con- 

 demn the practice. I remember especially E. D. Godfrey, of Iowa, 

 who, years ago, suffered loss by it. When the bees find them- 

 selves imprisoned, they make such a to-do as to stir up the whole 

 colony. I have used wire-cloth at entrances in winter, but it was, 

 of course, three meshes to the inch, 



Q. Do bees in the cellar change the location of their cluster 

 during the winter? 



A. Bees do both ways, both in the cellar and out. Sometimes 

 honey is carried from an outer comb, without changing the place 

 of the cluster. Usually the cluster moves gradually backward or 

 upward, as the bees eat their way into the full combs. 



Q. When bees are fed in the cellar at a temperature of about 

 40 or 45 degrees, will the queen go to laying and hatching brood? 



A. Hardly, unless the feeding be kept up regularly for some 

 time. 



Q. There is a whitish liquid running out of some of the hives 

 in my cellar, and others have a dry substance like fine sawdust 

 in front of the entrance. The hives from which the liquid comes 

 seem to be wet inside and nasty. What is the cause of this? They 

 have plenty of stores. 



A. The sawdust-looking material is the gnawings from the 

 cappings and other debris, and indicates nothing wrong. The 

 liquid is the moisture from the vapors condensing in the hive. 

 Your cellar is too cold, and hive-entrances hardly large enough. 



Q. In American Bee Journal, R. H. Smith says the best tem- 

 perature for wintering bees is 45 to 48 degrees above zero. If I 

 remember rightly, all our best authorities agree on 42 to 45 de- 

 grees for most successful wintering in cellars. I have one 

 Standard barometer and three Fahrenheit thermometers. One of 

 the latter is filled with quicksilver or mercury, and the others 

 with colored fluids. I have all these in my cellar, and the varia- 

 tion from the one that shows the highest to the one that shows 

 the lowest, is 10 degrees. Upon which can I depend for the de- 

 sired 42 to 45 degrees which is necessary for successful wintering 

 of bees, as claimed by our best authorities? 



A. So you're up against that mixed matter of temperature in 

 cellar. Latest investigations seem to show that the right tem- 

 perature is about fifty or fifty-five degrees. But, as you have found 

 out, thermometers vary. You will also probably find that cellars 

 vary, perhaps on account of the difiference in dryness, perhaps for 

 some other reason, so that if the same thermometer is used in two 

 cellars, it may need to be higher in one than the other. I don't 



