THE BEOOD-EEAEING CYCLE OF THE HONEYBEE 17 



beginning of the active season. During the initial expansion a rate 

 of brood rearing was reached almost equivalent to that at the height 

 of the whole season. In fact, the amount of sealed brood (fig. 1 and 

 Table 1) indicates no striking fluctuations in the rate of brood rearing 

 during the three months when this was most active. Even the 

 continued addition of many young bees to the population of the 

 colony during this time failed to heighten the brood-rearing activity. 

 The cold weather of April, the nectar flow of May, the honeydew 

 and pollen yield of June, the pollen of August, and the nectar flow of 

 September, may all be traced by the variations in the quantity of 

 sealed brood. The response to the stimulus in August was only 

 slight. In relation to the number of bees reared during the major 

 period, the initial expansion was not nearly enough pronounced, nor 

 did the final contraction represent a large enough break in brood- 

 rearing activity to insure successful wintering. This colony died 

 during the winter of 1921-22, leaving only a small quantity of stores 

 in the hive. 



Colony No. 2 also had a 1920 queen, plenty of stores, and had been 

 wintered without packing. Although this queen was more prolific 

 than the queen in colony No. 1, as is shown clearly by the curves of 

 sealed brood for these colonies (figs. 1 and 2, Tables 1 and 2), there 

 were not sufficient bees in the colony at the beginning of the active 

 season to cause the maximum brood rearing to be correlated closely 

 with the initial expansion. The maximum was reached only in June, 

 after the population of the colony had increased sufficiently over that 

 obtaining during the initial expansion to take care of an enlarged 

 brood area. This rate was reached coincidently with the honeydew 

 yield in June. As the incoming honeydew was placed within the 

 brood area, restricting the number of cells available to the queen, an 

 abrupt decrease in brood rearing followed in the week immediately 

 after the maximum. A partial recovery in the rate of brood rearing 

 occurred along with a relatively small pollen yield in July, after which, 

 with one exception, brood-rearing activity decreased continuously 

 until the September nectar flow. This exception took place during 

 the poUen yield of August, as is shown by the fact that at this time 

 the curve remained at about the same level for one week. The brood- 

 rearing activity of this colony shows the same responses to weather 

 and incoming pollen and nectar as have been noted for colonies 1 

 and 4, there being, of course, differences in degree. The maximum 

 brood-rearing activity of the season came after the major period was 

 well advanced, and is consequently too much out of proportion to 

 the initial expansion to represent ideal conditions. 



Colony No. 3 was wintered without packing, had been given heavy 

 stores, and had a 1919 queen. This queen had enough bees at the 

 beginning of the active season to support her maximum egg-laying 

 activity, as is shown by the fact that scarcely any more sealed brood 

 was found in the hive on any occasion in May than had been found 

 during the initial expansion in March and April. (Fig. 3 and Table 

 3.) Because the queen was old and about worn out, incoming nectar 

 in May soon severely restricted her activity, the result being a marked 

 drop in the brood rearing for that month. At the beginning of May 

 lie had been crowded out of the second hive body, in which she had 

 been laying almost excl usi rely, into the lower hive body. Even there 



40909° 25f Bull. 1349 3 



