58 MONTANA EXPERIMENT STATION 
than two or three degrees at most, and the bees should not be dis- 
turbed after once in place until spring weather has opened up. 
Great care must be taken not to take the bees out too soon as they 
would naturally be easily chilled after being in the even temper- 
ature of the cellar, should a sudden cold snap come. 
Right here it may be noted that the killing of bees during 
winter by cold, is usually accomplished by the chilling of small out- 
side clusters by successive cold snaps until the colony is so dessi- 
mated in numbers that it cannot withstand an unusually cold wave. 
Starvation sometimes occurs when the cluster of bees is caught ay 
a sudden cold snap away from its stores and, of course, not being 
able to move, will starve, even though plenty of stores are in the 
adjoining combs. To prevent this, some beekeepers cut small pass- 
age ways through the combs with a pocket knife or place a stick 
across the top of the frames, over the cluster, to raise the quilt up — 
and allow the bees to pass over the frame to the adjoining combs. 
‘Uhese percautions are obviously not so necessary when wintering 
in the cellar. 
To reguldte the temperature of the cellar water is sometimes 
placed there in large vessels as it is a great evener of temperature. 
Care must be taken not to cause dampness if this plan is followed.._ 
A plan to secure ventilation without changing the temperature 
described by Professor A. J. Cook, now of Pomona College, but for 
some years an éxperimenter along apicultural lines when in Michi- 
gan, seems feasible. Air is conducted into the cellar by pipes from 
a distance of one hundred or two hundred feet, so that it will become 
tempered either with cooler or warmer air by the time it reaches the 
cellar. To establish the current of air a pipe, running up through the 
floor above, is connected with the stove pipe of the kithcen stove, 
above the damper so as not to destroy the draft. Every time a fire 
is started a current of air is drawn up and so an incoming current 
along the underground pipe is established. 
In the spring one of the first things to be done about the apiary 
is to take a look at the stores of each colony and.at the same time 
remove from the bottom board the accumulation of dead bees and 
knawings. Care must be taken not to start robbing, as the bees are 
inclined to rob at this season as also late in the fall. Not much 
smoke should be used or much manipulating done very early in the 
spring, as often the bees are incited to attack and ball the queen, 
