THOUSAND ANSWERS 
271 
A. I never tried it, but those who have tried it generally con- 
demn the practice. I remember especially E. D. Godfrey, of Iowa, 
who, years ago, suffered loss by it. When the bees find them- 
selves imprisoned, they make such a to-do as to stir up the whole 
colony. I have used wire-cloth at entrances in winter, but it was, 
of course, three meshes to the inch. 
Q. Do bees in the cellar change the location of their cluster 
during the winter? 
A. Bees do both ways, both in the cellar and out. Sometimes 
honey is carried from an outer comb, without changing the place 
of the cluster. Usually the cluster moves gradually backward or 
upward, as the bees eat their way into the full combs. 
Q. When bees are fed in the cellar at a temperature of about 
40 or 45 degrees, will the queen go to laying and hatching brood? 
A. Hardly, unless the feeding be kept up regularly for some 
time. 
Q. There is a whitish liquid running out of some of the hives 
in my cellar, and others have a dry substance like fine sawdust 
in front of the entrance. The hives from which the liquid comes 
seem to be wet inside and nasty. What is the cause of this? They 
have plenty of stores. 
A. I he sawdust-looking material is the gnawings from the 
cappings and other debris, and indicates nothing wrong. The 
liquid is the moisture from the vapors condensing in the hive. 
Your cellar is too cold, and hive-entrances hardly large enough. 
Q. In American Bee Journal, R. H. Smith says the best tem- 
perature for wintering bees is 45 to 48 degrees above zero. If 1 
remember rightly, all our best authorities agree on 42 to 45 de- 
grees for most successful wintering in cellars. I have one 
Standard barometer and three Fahrenheit thermometers. One of 
the latter is filled with quicksilver or mercury, and the others 
with colored fluids. I have all these in my cellar, and the varia- 
tion from the one that shows the highest to the one that shows 
the lowest, is 10 degrees. Upon which can I depend for the de- 
sired 42 to 45 degrees which is necessary for successful wintering 
of bees, as claimed by our best authorities? 
A. So you’re up against that mixed matter of temperature in 
cellar. Latest investigations seem to show that the right tem- 
perature is about fifty or fifty-five degrees. But, as you have found 
out, thermometers vary. You will also probably find that cellars 
vary, perhaps on account of the difference in dryness, perhaps for 
some other reason, so that if the same thermometer is used in two 
cellars, it may need to be higher in one than the other. I don’t 
