362 WINTERING. 



run the risk of putting them away after they have been ex- 

 posed to a long cold spell. 



Dr. C. C. Miller, who is one of the best authorities, be- 

 cause he is much experienced and a very good observer, says 

 this on the proper time to take them in: 



"It is a thing impossible to know beforehand just what is 

 the best time to take bees into the cellar. At best it can only 

 be a, guess. Living in a region where winters are severe, there 

 are some, years in which there will be no chance for bees to 

 have a flight after the middle of November and I think there 

 was one year without a flight after the first of November 

 (Northern Illinois). One feels badly to put his bees into the 

 cellar the first week in, November and then two or three weeks 

 later have a beautiful day. But he feels a good deal worse after 

 a good flight-day the first week in November to wait for a later 

 flight, then have it turn very cold, and after waiting through 

 two or three weeks of such weather, to give up hope of any 

 later flight and put his bees in after two or three weeks' en- 

 durance of severe freezing. So it is better to err on the side 

 of getting bees in too early." — (Forty Years Among the Bees, 

 page 292.) 



We take only the' brood-apartment leaving, the cap, and 

 sometimes ,the bottom-board, on the Summer stand, beins^ 

 careful to mark the number of each hive inside of its cap* so 

 as to return it to the same location in Spring (33-33). Not 

 all bee-keepers do this but we know that it helps. In the 

 cellar, the hives are piled one upon another. An empty hive 

 or a box is put at the bottom of each pile, so that the bees 

 will be as high up from the damp ground as possible. If 

 the bottom-board is brought in with the hive, the entrance 

 should be left open. It is well to raise the lower tier of hives 

 from their bottoms with entrance-blocks, unless they have 

 good lower ventilation without this. Some upper ventilation 

 had better be given also, for the escape of moisture. If the 



• In a well-regulated apiary, each hive bears a number painted on 

 the body, or a number tag fastened in some way. 



