THE BEE-KEEPERS' REVIEW. 



scarcely a bee to be seen on them, while 

 the entire force of the yard was going 

 miles from home, in search of the same 

 kind of honey. 



In conclusion I will say that the bee- 

 keeper who has a large yard of bees, and 

 counts his crop of honey by the ton, and 

 supposes that it is gathered in a two- or 

 three-mile range, has but a limited knowl- 

 edge of the range that his bees will oc- 

 cupy. 

 De Kai^b Junction, N. Y., Dec. 6, 1899. 



INTER - TEMPERATURE 

 OF THE CLUvSTER. 

 BY HARRY S. HOWE. 



A discussion in the Review 

 leads me to look up the subject of hive- 

 temperatures. Among the literature on 

 the subject I found a thesis written for 

 the degree of B. S. 

 by Mr. H. C. Mc 

 Lallen, in Cornell 

 University. This 

 I have reviewed, 

 and think it may 

 be of interest from 

 two points of view; 

 one to show the 

 class of work un- 

 dertaken at Cor- 

 nell, the other on 

 account of its prac- 

 tical bearing upon the wintering problem. 

 In these experiments eight colonies 

 were used. Three were wintered in the 

 cellar; the others out of doors. In each 

 hive a thermometer was placed so as to 

 have the bulb in the cluster. In part of 

 the hives there was also one out of the 

 cluster but in the same hive. The read- 

 ings of these were taken twice each day. 

 Owing to the bees moving away from 

 the thermometer there was occasional!)' 

 great fluctuations of temperature, which 

 I have taken no account of in this resume. 

 It was also found that when the bees were 

 disturbed the temperature would sudden- 



ly go up three or four degrees. For pur- 

 poses of comparison the winter has been 

 divided into seven periods during which 

 the average daily temperature of the at- 

 mosphere was about the same. In the 

 thesis curves were given showing the varia- 

 tions of temperature for each twelve 

 hours, but the table on the opposite page 

 will show the results fairly well. 



The figures I have given in round num- 

 bers; disregarding the fractions in the 

 original. It will be noticed that the 

 temperature of the cluster was lower in 

 the cellar than out. 



It will also be seen that the changes in 

 the outside temperature were followed 

 by similar ones in the cluster. This is 

 shown in a still more striking manner in 

 the table showing the temperature by 

 day. 



At the time of packing and of setting 

 out in the spring the honey and the bees 

 in each colony were carefully weighed. 



By a study of the table given it was 

 shown that the colonies having the low- 

 est average temperature used the least 

 amount of honey to the pound of bees. 



One of the aims of CornL-11 is to work 

 out things of practical value in each de- 

 partment. It is to be regretted that Mr. 

 McLallen did not follow his experiments 

 through the whole year. 



Ithaca. N. Y., Dec. 8, 1898. 



ood things 



From Other Journals. 



SELECTED BY A. B. MASON. 



TALKING BEES AND HONEY TO SCHOOL 

 CHILDREN. 

 It seems that the example of the editor 

 of the American Bee Journal is becoming 

 contagious, for in the October number of 

 the Progressive Bee-Keeper editor Leahy 

 says: — 



