Care of Bees in ]V inter. 191 



the bees are taken from the cellar early enough ; and certainly 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 entire winter out of doors. In most 

 of our Northern States the main hone)' 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 outdoor and indoor wintering. 



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

 removed from the cellar. The trouble comes from late freezes coming 

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

 filled with brood, the cold drives the bees into a compact cluster in the 

 center of the hive, and all of the brood outside of this perishes. All 

 of this loss may be avoided by giving the bees some sort of protection 

 after taking them from the cellar. First see that each colony has a 

 queen and plenty of stores, and then protect it. This spring protection 

 need not be an elaborate aflfair. A sheet of tarred building-paper folded 

 down over the hive, and fastened at the lower edges by tacking on 

 strips of lath, will answer every purpose, while it costs only three cents, 

 and can be put in place in less than five minutes. This makes a covering 

 that is both wind and waterproof, and will absorb every particle of the 

 sun's heat ; but, more important than all this, it will save the loss of 

 brood and weak colonies if there comes a "squaw winter'" in the month 

 of May. 



If spring protection is so important that it is advisable to give it 

 after taking the bees from the cellar, it may be asked, "Why not practice 

 outdoor wintering, then winter protection will answer for spring, and 

 the expense of a cellar, and of carrying the bees in and out, will be 

 avoided?" In the first place, the saving of stores in cellar wintering 

 will pay for the expense twice over ; and, in the next place, and of far 

 more importance, it is only by the cellar method that the wintering of 

 bees in a cold climate can ever be reduced to a perfect system. By a 

 selection of natural stores, or, better still, by using sugar, we can secure 

 uniformity of food ; but it is only in the cellar or special repository that 

 uniformity of temperature at a desirable point can be maintained. 



Carrying the bees from the cellar is not a very agreeable task, and 

 most of bee-keepers make it much worse by attempting it upon such 

 a warm day as to set the bees fairly crazy the moment the outdoor air 



