THE BROOD-REARING CYCLE OF THE HONEYBEE 83 
The location of the sealed brood through both years brings out 
also the persistency of the brood area. By persistency of the brood 
area is meant a tendency to rear brood in the cells which have already 
been occupied by brood, and a tendency for any expansion in the 
brood area to take place only in cells on frames immediately adjacent 
to those already thus occupied. In each spring the area of sealed 
brood was expanded rapidly, but during any expansion the area first 
used for brood rearing was kept occupied for that purpose. The 
rapid increase in the number of cells on each frame occupied by brood 
is just as striking as is the increase in the number of frames used. 
The first relinquishment of any part of the brood area for any purpose 
other than brood rearing was due to encroaching nectar. Through- 
out both years the second hive body maintained its predominance as 
the center of brood-rearing activity, even though at times the queen 
carried on extensive egg-laying activity in the other hive bodies. 
TIME RELATION OF BROOD REARING TO NECTAR GATHERED 
It was pointed out at the beginning of this bulletin that the honey 
crop may be reduced (1) by an insufficient number of worker bees, 
(2) by a consumption of surplus honey by bees reared out of season, 
or (3) by swarming induced by a congestion of bees in the 
brood nest. Because colony No. 4 stored more honey than any of 
the other 15, and because its brood-rearing activity during 1921 
presented features more ideal for the region of Washington than did 
the others, only this colony will be discussed in detail from the 
standpoint of the time relation of brood rearing to nectar gathered. 
Although in 1921 the maximum of sealed brood in colony No. 4 
came in conjunction with the height of the honey flow, the honey 
gathered during the main honey flow was not wastefully consumed by 
bees emerging later in the season, as the maximum field force was 
available to take advantage of an intense yield of honeydew. The 
maintenance for this large force during the summer was therefore 
provided through the efforts of the colony itself. In the season of 
1922, although the actual maximum of sealed brood came a week 
late and a rate of emerging bees nearly equal to the maximum was 
maintained during part of the honey flow, the maximum rate had 
been nearly reached during the week prior to the peak. A creditable 
showing was therefore made, three supers being actually used for 
storing nectar, as stated earlier, whereas in 1921 one less super was 
given for this purpose. 
A swarming impulse was scarcely noticeable during either 1921 or 
1922 in any of the colonies under observation. A few queen cells 
were started; following the prompt removal of these no further 
preparations for swarming were observed. In none of the colonies, 
however, was the queen allowed to be so restricted in egg laying at 
any one time as to result in any significant reduction in the actual 
number of young bees needed to care for larvae or perform other hive 
duties. This point is of importance because the presence of an 
overabundance of young bees has been held one cause of swarming. 
Demuth (7, p. 13) has stated: " The fact that the tendency to swarm 
is greatest at about the time the bees are rearing the greatest amount 
of brood has led to the belief that swarming is caused by the presence 
in the hive of a large proportion of young bees not yet ola enough 
for field work." But, since under normal conditions bees not of 
field age perform duties inside the hive, it would seem that the mere 
