CHAPTER XV. 
WINTERING BEES. 
T HE subject of wintering bees is of the greatest 
importance, and one which is generally very 
imperfectly understood, if we may judge from the large 
number of swarms lost every winter and spring. There 
are many methods recommended as “the best” for win- 
tering bees. One will tell you to keep them cold; 
another to keep them warm. One will say, put them in 
the cellar; another, bury them in the ground; another, 
put them in the attic. Is it any wonder that the begin- 
ner becomes confused and disgusted at so much conflicting 
advice ? That bees have been wintered safely by any 
and all of these old plans I shall not dispute. But I am 
certain that neither plan will, alone, prove successful in 
the majority of cases. 
By all the methods heretofore recommended, a large 
number of bees die from each stock, during the winter; 
so reducing them in numbers that it takes nearly the 
entire summer for them to regain in numbers what they 
have lost; while a very large number of stocks are lost 
entirely. 2 
It will be readily understood that the greater the 
number of bees in a hive in early spring, the more 
