322 



THE BEE-KEEPERS' REVIEW 



trance at the rear cf the laives as 

 well as the front to allow good 

 ventilation which would prevent 

 loafing during the honey flow and 

 at the same time greatly, reduce 

 swarming. When the main honey 

 flow came on he was to give the 

 bees plenty storing room, not to al- 

 low any colonies to clog their brood 

 nest and to see that queens had 

 plenty of room to lay. To do this 

 each brood nest had to be examin- 

 ed every week during the flow. 

 Full sheets of foundation were to 

 be used in frames and sections. All 

 the necessary supplies had been 

 shipped on ahead. 



Accompanied by a good helper he 

 left for the new field while I 

 went about the work of my home 

 business. He was to keep me con- 

 stantly informed as their progress 

 and if difficulties came up I was to 

 Instruct how to proceed. For a 

 while reports from the new field 

 were good. Finally I received a 

 letter that my plans could not be 



carried out, that the situation was 

 such that he would have to solve 

 his own problems as he went. This 

 did not meet my approval at all 

 and I had miserable feelings over 

 the matter all along, but I was fast 

 tied up at home and could not 

 leave. So business went on there 

 for several months and I did not 

 hear much about it. 



Finally early in summer it came 

 time to take off good honey in 

 the country where my new business 

 was. I received word that up 

 honey was in sight and prospects 

 anything but favorable. I knew that 

 would not do and I wrote for him 

 to come in and leave his helper in 

 charge. This he did and after con- 

 versing with him about the matter 

 I let him go. I soon could be spared 

 from my home yard, and went to 

 the new field to look it over. I 

 mentioned good honey above be- 

 cause there had been a flow from 



(Continued on page 355) 



The Temperature of the Honey-Bee Cluster in Winter 



By E. F. PHILIiIPS, Ph. D., 



In Charge of Bee Culture Investiga- 

 tions, and George S. Demuth 

 Apicultural Assistant. 



Method of Heat Production and Conser- 

 vation. 



A colony of bees in cold weather 

 form a compact, approximately 

 spherical cluster, but this cluster is 

 not, as is uually believed, uniformly 

 compact. In order to sudy the for- 

 mation of the cluster and as an 

 aid to interpreting the temperature 

 records in terms of action, a col- 

 ony (C) was placed out of doors in 

 a narrow hive with double glass 

 sides and top, and the stores were 

 so arranged that the only space 

 available for the formation of the 

 cluster was next to the glass on 

 one side, where it could be kept 

 under direct observation. Since the 

 bees did not have room for a sipher- 

 ical cluster, they formed a ring on 

 the glass. Thermometers were 

 then placed close together in the 



outside space, so that the tem- 

 peratures of various points could 

 be determined as desired. This 

 hive was on the roof, and, while 

 one person watched the bees, con- 

 stant communication could be kept 

 up with the person reading the 

 temperatures in the room below 

 by means of a telephone, arranged 

 so that the hands of both observers 

 were free. This colony was of 

 course in the light, but the nor- 

 mal cluster was nevertheless obser- 

 ved. It was disturbed as little as 

 possible. 



The nearly spherical cluster of 

 bees consist, between the combs and 

 sometimes above or below them, of 

 an outer shell of bees close to- 

 gether with their heads toward the 

 center. This ring may be several 

 layers thick. The position with, the 

 heads inward is tyiJical, 



except when condensed moisture 

 drops on the cluster as it often 

 does in cool weather, when the 

 bees at the top turn so that their 

 their heads are upward. The bees 



