The American Apiculturist 



% lournal ^tboitti to ^dmii^t anb Ipradiral geeketphtg. 



ENTERED AT THE POST-OFFICE, SALEM, AS SECOND-CLASS SLiTTER. 



Published Monthly. S. M. Locke & Co., Publishers & Prop'rs. 



WENHAM, MASS., FEBRUARY i, 1886. 



VOL. IV. 



No. 2. 



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TEMPERATURE, A FACTOR 

 IN BEEKEEPING. 



By S. Corneil. 



"All animals, strictly speaking, 

 are warm-blooded." Even amphib- 

 ia and fishes have a temperature from 

 two to four degrees higher than that 

 of the element in which they live. 

 For convenience the higher animals, 

 where temperature is constant, and 

 consequently independent of the 

 temperature of the surrounding me- 

 dium, are called warm-blooded, while 

 those whose temperature is variable, 

 changing with that of the surround- 

 3 



ing medium, are classed as cold- 

 blooded animals. " Like all insects, 

 bees are cold-blooded." They seem, 

 however, to occupy an intermediate 

 place between these two classes. 

 Their temperature, when they are 

 clustered, and in repose, changes 

 with that of the surrounding medium, 

 only to a limited extent. When the 

 temperature of the cluster falls to a 

 point, not definitely ascertained so 

 far as the writer is aware, the bees 

 are roused to activity, and by in- 

 creased respiration, generate heat to 

 prevent the temperature from falling 

 lower. On the other hand, when 

 brood rearing is actively carried on, 

 the heat of the brood nest is so nearly 

 constant, and so nearly independent 

 of that of the outside air, that, for 

 the time being, bees almost meet the 

 requirements, entitling them to be 

 classed as warm-blooded animals. 



Since the normal temperature of 

 the bee varies, ranging from 54° to 

 100°, and since "warmth is the chief 

 necessity of bees and their brood," 

 and since temperature is the meas- 

 ure of their strength," it is important 

 that the beekeeper should be famil- 

 iar with the temperatures most suit- 

 able to the varied conditions of his 

 stocks, at all seasons. On this mat- 

 ter some of the most recent works 

 on bee culture are almost silent, and 

 the information to be gathered from 

 r25) 



