WINTERING IN CELLARS 
915 
Fortunately when a warm day comes on 
a day later, these bees, if it has not been 
too cold, will return to their hives. 
Old Dame Nature seems to have made 
some wonderful provisions to preserve bee- 
life. The author is constrained to believe 
that bees can stand, if the temperature is 
not too low, chilling cold for two or three 
days without being killed. 
WINTERING IN CELLARS. — In dis¬ 
cussing methods for wintering bees out¬ 
doors, some principles have been given that 
apply to cellar wintering. However, bees 
while confined do not require more than 10 
or 15 lbs. of stores per colony, altho it is 
an advantage to have more, because it is 
difficult to feed when set out. With a 
larly directed to one man, said to under¬ 
stand with special thoroness the subject of 
indoor wintering. This man, Mr. David 
Running, Eilion, Mich., has wintered bees 
for the last 12 or 15 years in a cellar of 
his own design, with a loss of less than 
one per cent. He is ex-president of the 
Michigan State Beekeepers’ Association, 
and ex-president of the National Beekeep¬ 
ers’ Association. As to wintering he agrees 
in almost every detail with that veteran 
authority, the late G. M. Doolittle. The 
fact that these two men came to precisely 
the same conclusions 30 years apart, the 
one without the knowledge of the other, 
makes the information now about to be 
given very important. 
Mr. Running specifies that the whole 
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Fig. 1.—This is a diagram of the ground plan of the David Running bee-cellar which has wintered 
bees for the last 12 years with a loss of Dss than one per cent. The cellar proper is built in a sidehill. 
The bottom of the cellar is on a level with the ground in front. The w'alls are 6 inches thick, of con¬ 
crete, with a concrete ceiling on top. Directly above the cellar is a concrete workshop and extracting- 
house. Between the ceiling of the cellar and the floor of this building above there is packing material 
of one foot of dry sawdust and one foot of air space; and then another set of joists covered with matched 
flooring. Between the ceiling and cellar roof is 6 feet, and the cellar is capable of holding between 300 
and 400 colonies. It will be noticed that there are three doors to shut out the outside cold. The hives 
are piled as shown in the diagram. The ventilator, or chimney, has a 9 x 13 flue which extends clear up 
thru the building above. The outer cellar is sometimes used for wintering bees in double-walled hives. 
strong force of young bees and good stores, 
one is well equipped to winter bees in the 
cellar, provided he has reasonable control 
of temperature and means for ventilation. 
The author has been giving the matter 
of cellar wintering special consideration. 
He has traveled thousands of miles visiting 
some of the best beekeepers of the United 
States—especially those who wintered in 
cellars with little or no loss. After con¬ 
sulting some of the best beemen, and espe¬ 
cially Government experts, he was particu- 
bee-cellar must be well protected from both 
cold and dampness. It is not enough, he 
says, that the whole of the cellar be under¬ 
ground and the ceiling on a level with the 
ground, unless between the ceiling and 
roof there is three or four feet of saw¬ 
dust. Many and many a good bee-cellar 
gives poor results because the temperature 
of the inside ceiling varies with the out¬ 
side temperature. A cellar where frost 
during severely cold weather can be 
scraped off the ceiling is badly designed 
