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been wintered in the cellar of the station farmhouse, ami were in about 

 the same condition. Thermometers were so placed that " each hive had 

 one in the cluster and another in the most remote part of the hive body, 

 outside of the cluster, and both of these could be read without disturb- 

 ing or exciting the bees." 



[When the oxporiment was begun] four thick stono bottles, eacb holclinj^ a half 

 pint, were filled with boiling water and placed back of the division board in hive 

 No. 4. This was renewed each morning and evening until June 20, while a record 

 was kept of the thermometer readings for the remainder of the month. The next 

 morning before the water was renewed the common thermometer outside the brood 

 nest in No. 4 stood at 08°, while in No. 14 it was at 60°, The artificial heat had appar- 

 ently increased the temperature of the empty corner of the brood chamber, leaving 

 it at the end of 12 hours 2 or 3 degrees higher than the same s])ace in the other hive. 

 The thermometer among the bees of No. 4 showed a temperature of 86°, both in the 

 morning and at night, whihi in No. 14 it stood at 84° and 87°. The records for the 

 rest of the month showed tliat where the heat was used the average temperature of 

 the cluster at night and in the morning was no higher, and that when there was any 

 difference between the two the temperature of the cluster where the heat had been 

 given was the lower. » » » The records also show that the temperature of the 

 hive outside of the cluster, 12 hours after the hot water was renewed, was many 

 degrees higher tlian where none had been given. » » » 



The weather much of the time was very cold and changeable. The artificial heat 

 was of the greatest value during the night and on chilly or sunless days, and better 

 enabled the bees to cover the additional number of eggs and larvie that they had 

 started to rear during warm, sunny days. * » » 



On May 31, at 11 o'clock, and just before the thermometers were removed for the 

 season, the one in the chister in No, 4 indicated 94°, and out of the cluster 73^°. 

 The bees then covered seven combs, one of which contained honey while six were 

 full of brood. Those in No. 14 registered in the cluster 94°, out of cluster 71°. Of 

 the seven combs, one was empty, another was full of honey, and five were quite well 

 filled with brood, and six of these were covered with bees. No. 4 steadily gained in 

 bees and brood up to .June 20, when the artificial heat was discontinued. No. 4 over- 

 flowed the brood nest long before No. 14 had used all the combs, and by July 1 occu- 

 pied two brood chambers and was about twice as strong. 



Both were run for extracted honey, and on July 18 the honey was extracted from 

 the upper story of each. The amount obtained from No. 4 was 35 pounds, and from 

 No. 14, 15 pounds. There remained in the lower story of the latter 3 or 4 pounds more 

 than in No. 4. As the building of queen cells in No. 4 soon caused us to remove the 

 queen for a time and changed the conditions, the colonies could no longer be com- 

 pared, and this ended the experiment. » * • 



Before such an application of artificial heat can be generally recommended fur- 

 ther work should be done, with the conditions more favorable for accurate com- 

 parison, and on a more extensive scale. In this case apparently just enough heat 

 wasgiven, and in such a way as to increase the rearing of brood without causing an 

 abnormal condition of the colony, a much larger amount of surplus honey being thus 

 secured. 



A doubled colony. — " On July 5 one of the best colonies was removed 

 to the stand [on scales]. The bees of this colony that had been in the 

 field would go back to the old stand. To offset this and make the 

 colony more powerful we gave them the combs of capped brood froir 

 another colony, with the young bees on them and not able to return." 

 A tabular record of the gains and losses in weight of the honey in the 



