WINTERING IN CELLARS 
919 
he marks on each hive its relative strength, 
he will be able to determine the degree of 
contraction for each entrance; but, before 
he determines the right contraction, he 
should use thermometers in a few test colo¬ 
nies. 
So far neither the question of food nor 
that of the age of the bees has been touched 
on. Mr. Running said that, of course, he 
would much prefer good stores; for, when 
they are used, there is no bad spotting 
of the hives when the bees are taken from 
the cellar in the spring, even if they have 
been confined from four to five months. 
But tho the bees will not winter as well on 
poor stores as on good, still if they are 
wintered in a properly constructed cellar, 
the amount of food consumed by the 
bees is so small that no serious conse¬ 
quences occur. 
either on account of the presence of a fur¬ 
nace in the adjoining room to heat the 
house, or because of the exposure of the 
walls above ground to outside temperature, 
which is always very variable. The author’s 
experience has shown that where the tem¬ 
perature inside is variable—from 40 to 60 
—there must be a large amount of ventila¬ 
tion, especially at the higher points. Good 
results were secured with the temperature 
ranging between 55 and 60; but when it is 
as high as this there will be a loud roar 
from restless bees, unless there is a con¬ 
stant interchange of air. It is a little 
difficult to bring this about in an ordinary 
house cellar, unless one can use an electric 
fan so placed as to bring about a change of 
air. Where there are a few colonies—10 to 
15—in a room 10 x 12, the matter of venti¬ 
lation is not hard to overcome, especially 
Fig. 6.— F). G. Brown’s upground cellar constructed by setting four fence posts about four feet 
into ground at the four corners of the proposed cellar. The portion of the posts above ground are 
boarded up on the outside. The dirt on the inside is shoveled out, forming an embankment around the 
board fence. The whole is covered with a roof as shown. 
if the door leading from the bee-cellar into 
the furnace-room is left slightly ajar. It is 
put down as an axiom that 10 colonies in a 
house cellar will winter better than 50 or 
75 colonies, provided the temperature does 
not go below 40. If the cellar is not frost¬ 
proof — that is, will not prevent vegetables 
from freezing — it will be a very poor place 
for bees. A cellar reeking with dampness 
is also bad, altho bees have wintered well 
in house cellars where there was a large 
amount of dampness; but it was because 
there was a temperature not lower than 45. 
The question of whether the hives should 
be carried into the cellar without the 
The same authority says that many times 
the beekeeper can not have young bees, and 
many times he will have to put up with in¬ 
ferior stores. But he is strongly of the 
opinion that if bee-cellars are built right— 
and that, of course, means proper drainage 
and protection—one could winter any kind 
of bees. When the cellars are not properly 
protected, good stores and young bees are 
almost a necessity. 
WINTERING IN AN ORDINARY HOUSE CELLAR. 
Wintering in an ordinary house cellar is 
possible and practicable; but it should be 
understood that a house cellar is much 
more subject to variations of temperature, 
