246 



THE BEE-KEEPERS' REVIEW. 



amounts of brood reared equal, or, at least, 

 unless the amounts of brood reared by 

 several colonies bears the same proportion 

 to their several strengths, this matter is in 

 the highest degree important. It is evident, 

 referring to the accompanying table, that 

 the disparity between the strength of the 

 artificial swarms of June Gth and the natural 

 swarms of the same date is so great, and the 

 amount of brood of each class bears such 

 different ratio to its strength, as compared 

 with that of the other, that it would be futile 

 to attempt to show that either class did the 

 better, without knowing the amount of hon- 

 ey required for the rearing of a pound of 

 brood, and it would be equally impossible 

 to make a valid argument showing the 



bers, consisting of a single section of the 

 Heddon hive, e&ch furnished with full sheets 

 of foundation. As will be seen, hives, bees, 

 and supers were carefully weighed sepa- 

 rately so that at the end of the experiment, 

 July 11th, it was easy to determine the 

 amount of the increase in each. At the 

 same time the hives were gone over care- 

 fully to determine the amount of brood in 

 each, which is expressed in Heddon frames, 

 and the weight of the brood is determined 

 from the showing in the case of the colonies 

 4 to 7 whose hives were practically free 

 from honey, and the frames full of brood 

 had an average weight of about one and a 

 fourth pounds. From this, when the 

 amount of brood is determined, it is easy 



Artificial 



Swarms 1 



liived June 2 



6, 1896. 3 



Total 



Fdn 



M^ 



^^5^.2 



16(4 

 17-M 

 16% 



6^3 



6^ 



31 



1414 



iiM 



14 14 





£1 o 



as 



a ctf 



414 



^.B 



£9 





8 

 3% 



8% 



'9 20 20>^ 27 



lO-^B 



8?8 



Natural 



Swarms 



hived June 



6, 1896. 



Total 



!7 



1714 

 16ki 

 17^^ 



m 



6« 



7!4 



7 

 28!4 



22)4 -^7 



20 

 23 

 1414 



79-M 



26^ 

 29 



7% 10 



10 

 10 

 IIH 



4IV4I 79^ 



amount of honey required for the rearing of 

 a given amount of brood, unless it is first 

 determined whether the two classes gathered 

 honey equally well in proportion to their 

 strength. Still, if we assume that the two 

 classes gathered honey with equal zeal, 

 which is probably not a very violent as- 

 sumption, we may, especially if supported 

 by facts drawn from the swarms of June 

 28rd, arrive at a tentative conclusion, and, 

 perhaps, open the way for a satisfactory so- 

 lution of these (luestions hereafter. 



First a few words in explanation of the 

 table. Of the swarms of June (ith, the first 

 three are artificial ; that is, made by shak- 

 ing the bees with the queen from a hive in 

 which no preparations for swarming had 

 been made, and hiving as in the case of a 

 natural swarm, ('olonies 4-7, inclusive, are 

 natural swarms of the same date. As the 

 table indicates, all were given brood cham- 



to find the amount of the honey in each 

 brood chamber. In the case of the swarms 

 of June 28rd the same course was pursued, 

 except that 8, 9 and 10 were hived on start- 

 ers, 9 being an artificial swarm, and 10 a 

 natural swarm with a virgin queen. 



Starting with the above assumption, then, 

 that the two classes of swarms of June Gth 

 each gathered the same amount of honey 

 per pound of bees, it is only necessary (not 

 to be captious about minor points) in order 

 to find the amount of honey expended in 

 the rearing of brood to find the number 

 which multiplied by the number of pounds 

 of brood in each class will give results which 

 if added respectively to the number repre- 

 senting the pounds of honey in evidence in 

 each class will give sums which will take the 

 second and fourth place in a true propor- 

 tion in which the numbers representing the 

 weight of the bees in the two classes are the 



