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.

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.