BEE KEEPING 1ST MASSACHUSETTS. 



99 



Massachusetts is to winter in the cellar. Unfortunately, many of 

 those who attempt it are not altogether proficient. Of those who 

 have reported their method of wintering only 13 per cent winter 

 their bees in a cellar. It is well established that by proper cellar win- 

 tering the loss in northern countries may be reduced to a minimum. 

 In order to do this properly the bee keeper must be painstaking and 

 observing ; he must use a dry cellar and maintain as nearly a uniform 

 temperature as possible. 



MORTALITY. 



In New England and the Northern States loss during severe win- 

 ters may run as high as 70 per cent. This loss is greatly reduced in 

 favorable winters, when it is as low as 10 per cent. . "Were all the bee 

 keepers competent and careful, this loss might generally be reduced 

 to 2 or 3 per cent. 



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Fig. 1. — Proportionate loss of bees wintered in cellars and on summer stands. (Original.) 



In the winter of 1906-7, which was not especially severe, the dam- 

 age amounted to 16 or 17 per cent (see fig. 1) ; although this was not 

 disastrous, it was too great a loss. It taxed the bee keepers of the 

 State $4,886, valuing each colony at $3.50. With plenty of stores and 

 proper protection it would not be expected that one-sixth of all the 

 bees in the State, 1,396 colonies, should succumb during winter. The 

 loss was most severe in localities where disease is now known to exist, 

 which suggests that the excessive loss in a measure resulted from the 

 depletion of colonies by disease. 



BEES IjNT GKREEJnHOTTSES. 



The use of bees in cucumber greenhouses is one of the many phases 

 of bee keeping, perhaps the most prosperous or certainly that most 

 peculiar to Massachusetts. The industry is little known outside of 



