PUBLISHED MONTHLY BY THE W. T FALCONER MANPG CO 



VOL. VII. 



DECEMBER, 1897. 



NO. 12. 



Dififerent Temperatures Inside 

 the Cluster of Bees. 



BY G. M. DOOIJTTLE. 



For many years the temperature in- 

 side the cluster of bees, during winter 

 and at other times was unknown, as 

 it was hard to get this temperature 

 with the ordinary thermometer, for as 

 soon as the thermometer was taken 

 from the cluster it would commence 

 to lower so fast that on a cold morn- 

 ing it would run down several degrees 

 while taking from the cluster and 

 looking at it, do as spry as work as 

 we might. Being determined to know 

 something of this matter I procured a 

 self-registering spirit thermometer, 

 which would register cold as well as 

 heat, and suppose I would have an 

 easy time with this, in getting the 

 lowest temperature inside the cluster 

 on any cold day. In this I was mis- 

 taken, however, for in the necessary 

 disturbance caused by prying the 

 frames apart, etc., to get it in the 

 hive, the bees were aroused from their 

 quiet slumbers, always taken by any 

 colony of bees when wintering suc- 

 cessfully, to an activity near equalling 

 that of summer. The thermometer 

 was put in at about four o'clock one 

 afternoon when the mercury outside 



marked six degrees below zero. The 

 next morning it was still colder, so I 

 concluded that if I got the temper- 

 ature when it was as cold as this it 

 would not be far from what it would 

 average, taking the very coldest 

 weather together with that more mild. 

 But when I went to take the ther- 

 mometer out I saw that I could only 

 take the degree registered when the 

 bees were at their warmest point of 

 excitement, caused by my opening 

 the hive, for tlie registered heat stood 

 at 87°, while that at which it stood on 

 taking the thermometer from the hive 

 was much lower. I now saw that I 

 must work my thermometer the other 

 way, so I placed it near the stove un- 

 til 100 degrees above zero was marked, 

 when I drew the steel registering bars 

 down to that point, wrapped it in a' 

 warm cloth and took it to the hive. 

 The weather now became very severe 

 for Central New York, and continued 

 so for several days. During this time 

 the mercury went as low as 16 degrees 

 below zero, but when 1 thought best 

 to remove the thermometer from the 

 hive it was standing 18 degrees above. 

 I now heated a cloth to take with me 

 to the hive so I could put the ther- 

 mometer in it as soon as I could re- 



