ADVANCED BEE CULTURE. 199 



until towards spring-, when it ought not to be allowed to g:o below 

 30 degrees, and may with safety go as high as 48 or SO deg'rees. So 

 long as the bees remain quiet, I should not disturb them with artificial 

 heat. If the cellar becomes too -warm in the spring-, before it is time 

 to remove the bees, it may be cooled down by carrying in ice or 

 snow, or the windows and doors may be opened at night and closed 

 in the morning-. 



Years ago, many bee-keepers practiced takingf their bees from 

 the cellar, if there came a warm day in the winter, and allowing- 

 them to fly, returning- them ag-ain to the cellar, but this practice has 

 been pretty nearly abandoned. If the bees are in a quiet normal 

 condition, it often rouses them, and sets them to breeding- in 

 mid-winter, which is far from desirable. Rapid breeding late in 

 winter, or very early in the spring, is decidedly objectionable; noth- 

 ing so quickly wears out bees as the rearing- of brood; and the more 

 unfavorable the conditions, the greater the wear. It is better that 

 the bees should remain quiet until warm weather furnishes the most 

 favorable conditions for brood rearing, when the same expenditure 

 of vitality will produce two bees instead of one. Therefore, don't 

 allow a warm day or two in the winter to tempt you to the removal of 

 the bees from the cellar. Wait until the snow is gone, and there is 

 occasionally a day warm enough for bees to fly, then take them out 

 to remain permanently. On the other hand, nothing- is gained, and 

 much may be lost, by leaving the bees in the cellar until late in the 

 spring-. Many claim superior advantag-es for out-door wintering, 

 asserting- that the colonies build up earlier in the season. They 

 won't if the bees are taken from the cellar early enough; and, cer- 

 tainly, it requires no argument to show that bees successfully 

 wintered in the cellar are better able to bear the rough weather of 

 spring than bees that have endured all of the rigors of the en- 

 tire winter out of doors. In most of our Northern States the main 

 honey harvest comes early in the season, and to secure this harvest 

 there must be a goodly number of field workers at the right time, 

 and the eggs from which these workers are produced must be laid 

 several weeks previous to the opening of the harvest, hence the 

 element of time is an important factor, and nothing stimulates a 

 colony in a healthy manner, and sets it to brood rearing, as does a 

 flight in the open air, even if nothing is brought in. Hence it will be 

 seen that early removal from the cellar gives the bees largely the 

 advantages of both out-door and in-door wintering. 



There is no danger of the cold injuring the bees when they are 

 ^r5^ removed from the cellar, the trouble comes from late freezes 

 coming after two or three weeks of fine weather. At this time the 



