292 FORTY YEARS AMONG THE BEES. 



BRINGING BEES HOME IN THE FALL. 



In the fall, the bees must be brought home from the 

 out-apiary so as to be wintered in the cellar. 



There are al\va\'s a few things upon which bees can 

 work till quite late ; so it is desirable to be as late as pos- 

 sible bringing them home. They must, however, be 

 brought home early enough so they will be sure of a 

 good flight after being brought home and before being 

 put in the cellar. Some say they may be safely put into 

 the cellar without the flight, but one winter part of mine 

 were put in without a flight, and that part wintered dis- 

 tinctly worse than the others. At the latest, I want them 

 home before Nov. i. ^^'hen brought home they are 

 placed conveniently near the cellar door (Fig. io6). 



WHEN TO PUT BEES INTO CELLAR. 



It is a thing impossible to know beforehand just 

 what is the best time to take bees into the cellar. At 

 best it can be only 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 mid- 

 dle of November till the next spring, and I think there 

 was one year without a flight-day after the first of No- 

 vember. One feels badly to put his bees into cellar the 

 first week in November, and then two or three weeks 

 later have a beautiful day for a flight. But he feels a good 

 deal worse after a good flight-day the first week in No- 

 vember 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 

 in his bees after two or three weeks' endurance of severe 

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

 bees in too early. 



Theoretically, the right time to cellar bees is the 



