FIFTY YEAES AMONG THE BEES 49 



the next pair, so as to occupy as little- room as possible (Fig. 

 10). Sometimes some attempt is made to have colonies oecupy 

 the same stands they occupied the previous year, but oftener 

 no attention is paid to this. Close attention, however, is paid 

 to selecting the colonies that are to be in the home apiary. 



BEST BEES FOR HOME APIARY. 



The hives with queens having the best records were all 

 marked the previous fall by having a stick tacked on the front. 

 These are all put in the home apiary — not that queens will be 

 reared from all of them. The one or two very best colonies 

 may furnish all the young queens, the rest will furnish choice 

 drones. By doing this from year to year I ought to have better 

 stock than if I allowed the poorest drones to remain in the 

 home apiary. 



TAKING BEES ALL OUT AT ONCE. 



Some object to taking all the bees out at the same time, for 

 fear of so much excitement that bees will swarm out and return 

 to the wrong hives. I have never had much trouble in that way. 

 Neither have I had any evil results from putting colonies on 

 stands different from the ones they occupied the previous fall. 



I am not sure that' I can tell for certain just why there 

 should be this difference in different apiaries, but I think I can 

 see some reason for it. As already mentioned, the cellar is left 

 wide open all night the night before the bees are carried 

 out, and it is possible that just in that little thing lies the secret 

 of the difference. When the weather begins to warm up in the 

 spring before it is time to carry out the bees, it often happens 

 that there comes a warm day when the outside temperature runs 

 up to 50 degrees or more, and possibly this may continue more 

 than a day. Such times are hard on the ventilation of the cellar. 



TEMPERATURE AND VENTILATION. 



Please remember that the ventilation of the cellar depends 

 on the difference of the weight of the air in the cellar and the 

 weight of the outside air. Also remember that the difference in 

 weight depends on the difference iri teipperature. Wp-rm W i§ 



