Page:How to Keep Bees.djvu/192

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152
HOW TO KEEP BEES

covered with sawdust; access to the cellar stairs is gained through a trap door. Such a cellar as this should be built on a dry knoll. Mr. Bingham has wintered successfully ninety colonies in this house; and it will hold nearly twice as many.

The bees may come out of the hives and die in great numbers when they are wintered in a cellar. If any such seem distended and swollen they have probably died of dysentery, and the matter should be looked into immediately. However, many of the bees that die in winter are likely to be the old ones which are not vigorous enough to stand the strain of the cold. The cellar floor should be swept several times during the winter and all the dead bees removed so they shall not pollute the atmosphere. The cellar should always be dark, but the bees can be easily examined with a lamp, or what is better, a bull's-eye lantern.

The carrying of hives into the cellar is an onerous task when the apiary is large. The entrance to the hive should be closed the night before so as to be sure the whole family is moved. The hives should be carried with as little perturbance to the occupants as may be; several methods of carrying the hives easily and quietly have been invented. Mr. Root uses a wire bent like a V with the wooden piece of a common pail bale at the angle. The prongs of the V are bent at right angles into hooks which hook under the bottom board; two men carry the hive, one on each side, each with a carrier just described. Mr. Miller has a simple rope carrier that slips under