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STATE HORTICULTURAL SOCIETY. 



single gauze, though at some inconvenience, so as to feed them the 

 digested food. In the second case this would be impossible and the drones 

 could only get honey for food. In the third case the drones were caged 

 but could be and were freely visited by the workers, as the workers could 

 pass freely through the perforated zinc, which the drones could not do. 

 It will be seen that in the single wire cloth cage the drones were some- 

 what neglected. These experiments agree very closely with those pre- 

 viously tried. 



The following table gives the results: 



THE HEAT CONDUCTIVITY OF WAX. 



It is a common practice among beekeepers to confine the bees in winter 

 to a portion of the hive thus to economize heat and the better to preserve 

 the health and vigor of the bees. Some experiments in France seem to 

 show that the combs are as good a protection as is a division-board, 

 especially if fastened to close-fitting frames, or, as in nature, to the side 

 of the hive. To test this matter we used a common division-board, a close- 

 fitting empty comb, and a close-fitting comb full of honey. These were 

 used successively to confine the bees to one part of the hive and leave a 

 vacant space on the other side. A thermometer was suspended in this 

 empty space and the temperature observed several times daily, and esti- 

 mates made with reference to the outside temperature. The average 

 showed no difference with respect to the division-board and the empty 

 comb, but did show a slight difference in favor of the comb full of honey. 

 We then used an empty hive, divided it into three equal compartments 

 by use of a wooden and empty comb division-board, and again by the use 

 of the wooden board and a full comb of honey, the combs being made as 

 tight fitting as the wooden division-board. A small lamp was placed in 

 the middle apartment and thermometers in the other two. The hive was 

 set in the cellar where the thermometer marked a temperature of 58° F. 

 The temperature in the compartment of the hive with the lamp was 110° 

 F. In case of board and empty comb there was no difference in the tem- 

 perature in the outer compartments, while with the comb of honey the 

 temperature was 4i-° F. cooler beyond the division, showing this to be a 

 poorer conductor of heat and a better protection for the bees than either 

 the board or empty combs. Thus we see that for winter protection, 

 special division-boards are unnecessary if we but use close-fitting frames 

 of comb, or make such frames close-fitting in the winter time. It is 

 also apparent that combs full of honey are better as non-conductors than 

 are empty frames. Thus in nature bees are well fortified against the 

 cold of winter, as they are walled in on each side by several full combs 

 which are fastened to the side of the receptacle. We also see that close- 

 fitting frames or else frames with wide or close-fitting top and end bars 



