THE BEE-KEEPERS' REVIEW, 



167 



Consumption, or whether some other condi- 

 tion, as moisture, was the cause of both, 

 may be made a question ; they will at least 

 be interesting subjects for further experi- 

 mentation. It was perhaps unfortunate that 

 the bees were so well supplied with natural 

 stores last fall that no feeding was necessary, 

 as a considerable number of colonies sup- 

 plied exclusively with stores of sugar syrup 

 in combs free from bee-bread would have 

 added interest and value to the experiment. 

 Besides the colonies included in table A, 

 only three of the colonies weighed were 

 given upward ventilation and the condition 

 of these is given in table F. 



that the upward movement of the air dis- 

 quiets the bees and causes a larger propor- 

 tion than otherwise would to leave the clus- 

 ter and perish. 



Making selections from the colonies on 

 other lines we get some curious if not in- 

 structive results. I have taken the six 

 strongest ones of the thirty-seven and pre- 

 sented them in table G. 



In this case the consumption of stores per 

 unit of strength is 1.34 lbs. In like manner 

 the five weakest ones are given in table H. 



In this case the consumption per unit of 

 strength is the remarkably large quantity of 

 2.39 lbs., 78 per cent, greater than in the oth- 



G 



H 



As will be seen these colonies consumed 

 less per unit of strength, l.M lbs., than even 

 those in table B but taken alone the number 

 of colonies is too small to warrant the pre- 

 diction of any conclusion upon them, but 

 there were thirteen other colonies given up- 

 ward ventilation but not weighed and of 

 these five showed signs neither of diarrhoea 

 nor mould, four showed a little diarrhoea 

 and no mould, one a little diarrhcjea and 

 some mould, two showed some diarrhoea and 

 no mould, and one much diarrhoea and no 

 mould. The average strength of these latter 

 was only .5.54 the least strong of all the 

 classes where division is not made with ref- 

 erence to strength. My conclusion is that 

 upward ventilation appears to increase some- 

 what the tendency to an accumulation of 

 fieces and also at least in this experiment 

 to decrease the strength of the colony and if 

 this appearance is real we may conclude 



er case. Here seems to be an added reason 

 why "keep your colonies strong" is good 

 advice. These results are not particularly 

 surprising, perhaps, for more heat compara- 

 tively would be lost from a weak colony, and 

 this loss must be made good by increased 

 consumption, but having these results in 

 mind and selecting and comparing the col- 

 onies heaviest in stores with those lightest 

 in that respect, one would be apt to be some- 

 what surprised for the division appears to 

 be upon much the same lines as in the last 

 two tables, since in many cases the heaviest 

 colonies are strongest, and lightest weakest. 

 I selected the twelve heaviest, each one 

 weighing without its bottom board more 

 than sixty pounds when put into the cellar, 

 and I found their average strength 7.7.'), aver- 

 age fall weight 63. 4G lbs., average consump- 

 tion 14.33 lbs., and the consumption per unit 

 of strength 1.85 lbs. The nine lighter ones 



