Bees in the more northern parts of the United States for many years
have been placed by some of the best beekeepers in cellars or special
repositories during the coldest parts of the winter. There has been a
growing feeling, however, that if outdoor wintering is practicable, in
most cases it gives better results, and there has been a decided change
from cellar wintering to outdoor wintering within the past decade. The
difficulty seems to be that the methods of cellar wintering practiced
have not been satisfactory and it seems probable that if as much
attention had been given, to the perfection of the methods of cellar
wintering as has been given to an improvement of the methods of outdoor
wintering, there would not have been as great a change to the outdoor
methods as has taken place.
[Illustration: Fig. 1.--Map of the United States showing regions where
cellar wintering is practicable, based on the average temperature of
January. From data furnished by the United States Weather Bureau.]
The placing of bees in a cellar is only another way of putting
insulation about the hives, the only difference being that in the
cellar all of the hives are protected alike and the protection is
placed about the apiary instead of around hives in groups or singly.
It follows that the principles which apply to successful outdoor
wintering apply equally to the protection of the bees in the cellar.
It is urged, therefore, that before attempting to winter bees in the
cellar, the beekeeper study the bulletins[1] of the department in which
these principles are set forth.
[1] Department Bulletin 93, The Temperature of the Honeybee Cluster In
Winter. Farmers' Bulletin 695, Outdoor Wintering of Bees.