Spring Dwindling. 397 
“spring dwindling.” Crowd the bees up onto a few 
frames when taken from the cellar, give them abundant 
food; cover warmly above and at sides of division boards 
with generous bags of sawdust, and leave these on the 
hives if the weather remains cool, until we wish to place 
the section crates or extracting second story on the hives, 
and bees from the cellar—a good cellar—will come 
through the spring in excellent condition. In the win- 
ter of ’81~82, I put some chaff-hives into my cellar 
alongside of my single walled hives, arranged as just de- 
scribed, and the bees in them did no better in spring after 
removal from the cellar than in other hives. Be sure in 
early spring that the bees have no more combs than they 
can cover, and cover warmly—feeding daily a little warm 
syrup is also desirable—and spring dwindling will lose its 
terror. Good wintering, and ample spring stores are the 
antidote to spring dwindling. Never set bees perma- 
nently on their summer stands from the cellar till the 
flowers and warmth will enabe them to work. Be'ow 
60° F. in the shade is too cold for bees to fly. At 70° F. 
we may safely handle our bees without chilling the brood. 
When not clustered bees chill at about 55°. 
I have little doubt but that bees will do be‘ter if no 
breeding takes place in winter. Perfect quiet should be 
our desire. If the bees have no poilen, of course no 
breeding will take place, and so I,advised its removal. It 
is not for winter use. 
