12 
to much cold, to keep them quiet in a cellar temperature ranging from 47° to 52° 
throughout a long winter, and under such conditions they winter very well. 
The entrances of the hives in the bee cellar should be left open—wide open in 
most cellars—ard the bees should be disturbed as little as possible. Mice must be kept 
out of the bee cellar; they will do great harm to the bees and combs if allowed. The 
air of the cellar should be kept clean and sweet, and for this purpose in a cellar 
crowded with hives, the dead bees should be swept up and removed once or twice 
during the winter. 
Beginners are often in doubt as to the best time to bring the bees into the cellar 
and when to take them out. The best time to take them in is as soon as possible 
after they had the last good flight that can be expected. In many places, this is 
early in November. The best date to bring them out is usually when the willows 
come into bloom, that is to say, when the blossom heads are showing yellow, if 
the weather is favourable. But on the coast and in other places where a considerable 
period of chilly weather may still be expected it will be wise to leave them in the cellar | 
a week or two longer. If, however, the bees are very restless and the mouths of the 
hives are much spotted with dysentery, it may be advisable to bring them out before 
willow bloom in the early morning of a day that promises to be sunny and warm in 
order that they may get a good cleansing flight as early as possible. The best time of 
day to bring the bees out of the cellar is in the evening or early morning, because an 
immediate flight is not desirable, and may cause confusion and robbing. Laundered 
articles should not hang out to dry near the apiary after the bees have been brought 
from the cellar until they have made their cleansing flight. : 
SPRING MANAGEMENT. 
‘ 
In many places it is an advantage to protect the colonies that have been brought 
out of the cellar with packing cases or paper covers, but at Ottawa where the spring 
warms up quidsly in average seasons, this has not been found to be worth while; 
however, packed covers are desirable. It is important that the hives should be put 
in a place sheltered from cold winds, and the size of the entrance should be reduced. 
The colonies may be examined on a warm day when the bees are flying freely. 
Those that have not as much as at least ten or fifteen pounds of stores should be 
given combs of stores to make up the deficiency, and colonies that are without queens 
or that have drone breeding queens, should be united to weak colonies that contain 
fertile queens. Very weak colonies may be saved by placing them over strong colo- 
nies with a queen excluder between. : 
It is wise to defer this fivst examination until after a few days of favourable 
conditions and nectar is coming in freely. In their first flight after the winter, the 
bees of the different colonies mix considerably, especially if wind blows through the 
apiary, and the large numbers of strange bees in the hive with no nectar coming in, are 
liable to cause the queens to be attacked, balled, and possibly stung, so that one or 
two of their legs may be paralyzed or they may even be killed, if the colony is opened 
and examined. Also at a later period the presence of a fertile queen can be more 
easily and quickly ascertained by noting the presence of capped worker brood, which 
can be distinguished from drone brood by its flat and not strongly convex cappings: 
Some queens do not begin to lay until some days after the colonies have been removed 
from the cellar. Further, there is a greater risk of brood getting chilled during early 
examinations than when the weather is warmer. 
