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 '8i-'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 enabie 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 pollen, of course no 

 breeding will take place, and so I advised its removal. It 

 is not for winter use. 



