394 Wintering Bees in the Cellar. 
and may rest on each other, breaking joints, the weakest 
colonies at the top. When all are in, and quiet, the entrances 
are opened wide. I would, if it were not for the expense, 
and I had loose bottom boards so that I could, place a rim 
under each hive so as to raise it two or three inches above 
the bottom board. Except for the open entrance, I give 
no special ventilation to each hive. Now we shut our two 
or three doors, and if our cellar is right we have no more 
care for the bees till the succeeding April. Should the 
bees become uneasy and soil their hives about the entrance 
—they will not if the food is all right and the temperature 
keeps at the right point, from 38° to 50° F.—then it may 
be well to set the bees out for a flight in February or March, 
in case a warm day affords opportunity. In case there is 
snow, a little straw may be scattered over it. The day 
must be quite warm. It is far wiser to have our cellar 
right so we shall not need to do this. 
If the bees get short of stores in winter—this would 
show great neglect on the part of the bee-keeper—they 
should be fed “Good candy,” cakes of which may be laid 
on the frames and covered with cloth. Frames of honey 
or syrup, filled as already described, may be given bees in 
mid-winter. The idea that bees cannot be examined in 
winter is incorrect. Frames may be taken out or added, 
though it were doubtless better to leave the bees undis- 
turbed. The cellar should be dark and quiet. If every- 
thing is just right, light does no harm; but if it gets pretty 
cold or too warm then the bees become uneasy and fly out. 
never to return. Some bees always leave the hive in win- 
ter. These are veterans and are ready to die. Thus with 
100 colonies of bees in a cellar, we need not be anxious 
even if a good many quarts come out to die. 
In spring, when the flowers have started, so that the 
bees can gather honey and pollen, they may be set out. 
This better be too late than too early. Here in Central 
Michigan, the 15th of April is usually early enough. 1 
repeat: Better too late than too early. The colonies are 
set each on its own stand and each hive well cleaned out. 
Each colony should have plenty of honey. Scant stores 
in spring always bring loss if not ruin. We now take away 
