BEE KEEPING IN 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 Xew England and the Northern States loss during severe win- 
ters may run as high as TO 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. 
i 
0% 
r B/)RNST/!BL£ 
BR/STOL 
ESSEX 
M/DDLESEX 
NORFOLK 
PLYMOUTH 
ISOEEOL/f 
(BER/YSR/RE 
H/tMPDEN 
H/IMPSH/RE 
^.WORCESTER 
20% 
W/A/TERED /N THE CELL/fR 
WINTERED ON SUMMER STANDS ~\ 
Fig. 1. — Proportionate loss of bees wintered in cellars and on summer stands. 
(Original.) 
In the winter of 190G-7, which was not especially severe, the dam- 
age amounted to 10 or IT per cent (see fig. 1) ; although this was not 
disastrous, it was too great a loss. It taxed the bee keepers of the 
State $4,88G, 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, 1,39G colonies, should succumb during winter. The 
loss was most severe in localities where disease is now known to exist, 
which suggests thai the excessive loss in a measure resulted from the 
depletion of colonies by disease. 
BEES IN GREENHOUSES. 
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 
