26 



THE AMERICAN APICULTURIST. 



our current bee literature is meagre 

 indeed. From the limited sources 

 within my reach, I have made the 

 following list, which it is to be hoped 

 will be supplemented from other 

 quarters till it covers the whole 

 ground. 



32°. It is said frozen bees may 

 be resuscitated provided they have 

 not remained frozen for more than 

 forty-eight hours, but Dr. Dzierzon 

 says, even if they do recover their 

 vitality they do not regain their for- 

 mer strength. 



50°. Dr. Dzierzon says in their 

 most quiescent state, 50° is about 

 the temperature of the air surround- 

 ing the cluster. This has quite re- 

 cently been verified by careful exper- 

 iment made by Dr. G. L. Tinker 

 of New Philadelphia, O. 



54°. When out of the cluster, 

 bees become chilled in a tempera- 

 ture below 54°. This is the mini- 

 mum for locomotion. 



59° to 66° is the range of temper- 

 ature in the interior of the cluster 

 when the bees are in their most 

 quiet state, according to Dr. Dzier- 

 zon. At this temperature he says, 

 brood will not thrive and the con- 

 sumption of honey, in a tolerably 

 populous colony, is about one pound 

 per month. Huber, Swammerdam 

 and others put the temperature of 

 the cluster at 86° to 88°. I had, on 

 one occasion, an opportunity of push- 

 ing the cylindrical bulb of a ther- 

 mometer into a large cluster, formed 

 beneath the frames of a hive in the 

 cellar, the temperature of the cellar 

 at the time being about 40°. I took 

 fifteen readings extending over eight 



days, and I found the average was 

 69°. 



61°. This is the minimum tem- 

 perature in the shade when it may 

 be said to be safe for bees to fly. 



70°. This is about the best tem- 

 perature for transferring, because it 

 is neither cold enough to chill the 

 brood, nor warm enough to make 

 the combs too soft. 



80.° This is the minimum tem- 

 perature in the brood nest where 

 brood can be successfully raised. 

 Huber says the usual temperature of 

 hives is from 95° to 97°, and John 

 Huber says from 90° to 100° is nec- 

 essary to hatch eggs and rear larvae. 

 I think it probable this range is too 

 high. Newport found the temper- 

 ature of a larva cell 7 7 J- ° in a nest 

 of humble bees, while that of a 

 nymph with nurse bees upon it, was 

 92°, the temperature of the outside 

 atmosphere being 72^-°. 



I have not been able to find, as the 

 result of experiment, the temperature 

 at which comb building can be 

 carried on to the best advantage, but 

 I presume it is about the same as 

 that required for brood rearing. Last 

 spring some of my stocks built full 

 sheets of comb in upper stories be- 

 tween the 6th and 21st of May, the 

 mean temperature of the outside air 

 for that period being 54°. Populous 

 stocks, in single walled hives, cov- 

 ered with quilts of wool, and abun- 

 dant hard maple bloom, were the 

 principal attendant conditions. 



90°. From some very accurate 

 experiments made by a writer in the 

 British Bee Journal, he inferred that 

 90° is the maximum temperature of 



