WINTERING IN CELLARS 
923 
Culture, page 286, Yol. XXXIV., gave 
a plan open to none of these objections. 
“First, get everything ready for a big 
job, and watch the weather closely, espe¬ 
cially after a few nice days, for it is quite 
changeable at this time of the year. Then 
when the wind gets around in the east, and 
it commences to become overcast with heavy 
clouds, and has every appearance of bad 
weather for the morrow, we commence 
about sundown and carry out all our bees 
—yes, even if it takes not only all night 
but into the next day; and if it commences 
to rain before we are done, all the better, 
for we don’t want any to try to fly until 
they have been out two or three days if we 
can help it. By this time they will have 
become nice and quiet; and when a fair 
day arrives they will commence to fly, only 
a few at a time, and get their location 
marked, so there will be no mixing up or 
robbing, because they all have their first fly 
together. Then when the day is over we 
find by examining our hives that nearly 
every one has apparently retained all its 
bees.” 
The plan here given avoids “drifting” 
on the part of the bees. (See Drifting.) 
When bees di'ift from one hive to another 
it means that the strong become stronger 
and the weak weaker. Moreover, there is 
danger of robbing. When bees are set out 
at two or three different times, those first set 
out, having marked their locations and hav¬ 
ing quieted down, are quite liable to rob 
those set out afterward, because the last lot 
of bees are more or less demoralized until 
they can mark their locations and recover 
from their excitement. 
SHALL THE COLONIES BE PUT BACK ON THE 
OLD STANDS IN THE SPRING? 
After bees have been shut up in the 
cellar over winter they can be placed back 
on the old stand they formerly occupied 
or they can be put anywhere in the yard, 
or, in fact, anywhere on the premises. 
Bees after long confinement apparently 
lose all knowledge of their former location, 
and will stay anywhere they may be placed. 
If one finds it necessary or desirable to 
move his bees a short distance, it is a good 
plan to wait until they are taken out of 
the cellar the following spring, when they 
may be placed anywhere. 
CARRIERS FOR HIVES. 
A wheeled vehicle is not as good for 
moving bees in and out of a cellar as some 
sort of carrier. 
A wheelbarrow, if the paths are smooth, 
does very well. If the cellar steps are not 
too steep, a plank runway can be provided 
so that the load of bees can be delivered 
into the cellar itself. 
Greiner’s hive-carrier. 
Two men can easily carry as many as 
five hives in this way. Where the cellar is 
located some little distance from the apiary 
this is the most convenient method yet de¬ 
vised. 
Instead of constructing a regular hive- 
carrier as shown, it is possible to get along 
quite well by the use of two poles, but they 
are by no means as good. These should 
be about two inches square and six or eight 
feet long. They are placed on the ground 
in a parallel position, and as many hives 
placed on them as can be carried; perhaps 
three hives would be all that could be man¬ 
aged easily with the poles. It is much 
more satisfactory, however, to have the 
poles nailed together with a framework, 
making a regular hive-carrier. 
SOME THINGS TO REMEMBER IN CELLAR 
WINTERING. 
1. The temperature of the bee-cellar 
should be approximately 45 degrees. 
Whether it should be higher or lower will 
depend on the size of the colonies and the 
entrances of those colonies. 
2. An excess of dampness in the cellar 
does no harm provided the temperature of 
the cellar is such as to make the tempera¬ 
ture of the cluster approximately 57 de¬ 
grees F. 
3. A low temperature in the cellar, say 
35 to 40 degrees, or any temperature at 
which the heat of the cluster is much above 
or below 57, with an excess of dampness, 
is a very bad condition. 
