WINTERING IN CELLARS 
917 
level of the ground to the bottom of the 
cellar. If the cellar is halfway below 
ground and halfway above, the entrance 
and exit are made easy by means of steps. 
If it is located under a sidehill, so that 
the bottom of the cellar is on a level with 
the ground in front, the conditions are 
ideal. 
To recapitulate: “The important thing 
to remember/’ said Mr. Running, “is to 
make the cellar room so that it will not be 
subject to any outside variations of tem¬ 
perature; and to prevent these variations 
the sides, ends, and ceiling must have 
enough protection of dry earth or sawdust 
to keep the bee-cellar at the right tempera¬ 
ture.” In localities where there are deep 
snows less insulation would be needed; 
but, as there are some winters with little 
snow, it is well to have a large dry dirt 
embankment. 
The temperature of Mother Earth, ac¬ 
cording to Mr. Running, is about right for 
43 or even 40. Taking the two extremes, 
45 seems to be the average. It is evident 
in some cases that a high temperature is 
better, and in others a low temperature. If 
the entrances are large, % inch deep by the 
full width of the hive, a higher tempera¬ 
ture may be maintained than where the en¬ 
trances are contracted to, say, % inch deep, 
by 6 inches wide. In the latter ease the 
internal temperature of the hive itself, the 
colony being of the same strength, would 
be higher than where the entrance is % 
inch deep by the full width of the hive. 
The real consideration after all is the tem¬ 
perature of the cluster of bees. That tem¬ 
perature should be approximately 57 de¬ 
grees. Large, powerful colonies would 
probably require a lower cellar tempera¬ 
ture, other things being equal, than weak 
ones. Again, a cellar that has powerful 
colonies with contracted entrances should 
doubtless have a lower temperature; and 
the same colonies with a large entrance or 
Fig. 3.—This cellar belongs to L. C. Gordon, of Bellaire, Mich. According to David Running’s idea 
the roof should have extended over the side embankment. But these embankments are made up of sand 
that dries out very quickly; and in spite of the fact that it is not covered, it makes a good insulator. Mr. 
Gordon once told the author that in this 12 x 20-foot bee-cellar the preceding winter he wintered 151 
colonies without the loss of a colony. This cellar has the ventilation recommended by Mr. Running. 
cellar wintering. Mother Earth varies all 
the way from 41 to 50 degrees. He said 
the best results in a cellar would be where 
the variation of the temperature is between 
43 and 47 degrees. 
While 45 degrees F. seems to be the 
nearest right point according to most au¬ 
thorities, there are some who hold that it 
may be as high as 50, and others as low as 
bottoms removed entirely might have a 
temperature of 50 or even higher. 
Taking all of these factors into consid¬ 
eration, it is easy to see how some, without 
knowing why, would favor a comparatively 
high temperature, and others a low one, 
and yet both would be right for their re¬ 
spective conditions. Coming back to the 
fundamental principle, that the tempera- 
