32 WINTERING BEES 



SPECIAL EEPOSITOEIES OH A CELLAR UNDER THE HOUSE. 



The ordinary cellar under a dwelling-house often affords 

 excellent conditions for wintering bees. Where a furnace 

 is used it should be shut off from the bee part by means of 

 a brick wall having a door. Should the bee-cellar get too 

 cold the temperature can be raised by opening the door lead- 

 ing into the furnace-room. When too warm, one can open 

 an, outside window; or, perhaps, better still, swing wide the 

 cellar-door leading into the furnace-room, and thence, when 

 tempered, into the bee-room. Hives properly shaded to shut 

 out the direct rays of light will permit the doors left open 

 day and night. If the temperature in the bee part can thus 

 be maintained approximately at 45, the conditions for win- 

 tering will be ideal, for a perfect bee-cellar is one where 

 the temperature can be held at about 45, and fresh air 

 admitted every hour of the day. But if opening the cellar- 

 door reduces the temperature that is otherwise uniformly at 

 45, or causes it to rise, it would be better to keep the bee- 

 cellar closed — not because the ventilation does harm, but 

 because the change of temperature does. House cellars are 

 very often too small, perhaps lack room to put in bees and 

 vegetables. And right here let us say it is a bad practice to 

 put bees and garden truck together in the same room. They 

 should be kept separate. 



Objection has been raised that the noise overhead in the 

 house cellar disturbs bees; but no absolute proof has been 

 adduced to show this. We have had some excellent results 

 in wintering in a bee-cellar under a machine-shop where 

 rumbling machinery 'every now and then was accompanied 

 by the bumping of heavy eastings. We have never been able 

 to discover that this noise interfered with good wintering in 

 that cellar. 



But where a house cellar is damp, too small, too cold, too 

 warm, or too something else, it may be well to construct a 

 special repository for the bees. This should be located in 

 a side-hill if possible. A little later on we give illustrations 

 of cellars used by some extensive beekeepers; also other 

 schemes of ventilation, 



