THE BROOD-REARING CYCLE OF THE HONEYBEE 29 
colonies; in fact, a rate nearly equal to the maximum was maintained 
throughout June. On July 19 the queen was confined to the lower 
hive body. Little response was made to the fall nectar flow. The 
brood-rearing activity of this colony did not augur well either for 
surplus or strength for winter. 
Colony D (fig. 22 and Table 21) is the only other of the 1920 colo- 
nies comparable to colony A. It underwent the checks to brood 
rearing in April and May before reaching its maximum at the begin- 
ning of June. Colony A had reared more brood during this time 
than had colony D. Brood rearing in colony D, as in colony A, 
suffered a decrease immediately after the maximum. On July 7 the 
queen was confined to the lower hive body, was allowed the freedom 
of the second hive body on July 13, but was again confined to the 
lower hive body on July 20. Throughout the remainder of the season 
the brood nest was in the lower hive body. On August 10 the super 
was removed. During the last week of August the old queen was 
superseded. The combination of a new queen and the fall nectar flow 
caused a rather large increase in brood-rearing activity during 
September. 
Colony E (fig. 23 and Table 22) lost its queen in early spring and a 
laying queen was introduced, the result being a condition somewhat 
equivalent to an early spring supersedure. The giving of a laying 
queen undoubtedly made the break in continuity of brood rearing 
shorter than would have resulted had it been necessary to wait for the 
mating of a virgin queen so early in the year. Even so, the colony 
did not reach its maximum brood-rearing activity until the second 
week in June. A decline ensued, the sharpness of which indicates a 
restriction due to incoming nectar. A rather slight recovery was 
made during the last week of June, followed in turn by a sharp decline. 
On July 2 the queen was confined to the lower hive body; was given 
access to the second hive body again on July 10, but on July 16 was 
confined to the lower hive body once more, where she remained for 
the rest of the season. On August 13 the super was removed. This 
colony made little response to the fall nectar flow. 
In none of the five colonies did the initial expansion proceed without 
a check. The maximum brood-rearing activity of the season was 
reached too late to be of greatest value during the main honey flow, 
which, in the vicinity of Washington, D. C, usually occurs in May. 
With the possible exception of colonies B and C, in none of the colo- 
nies did brood rearing become so active just prior to the final con- 
traction as to insure the number of young bees needed for good 
wintering conditions. As in the curves for 1921 (figs. 1 to 16), so 
in the curves for 1920 (figs. 19 to 23) there is shown a tendency for 
brood-rearing activity in the vicinity of Washington to reach its 
maximum during the fore part of the active season; this is succeeded 
in turn by a midseasonal decline broken more or less by incoming 
pollen or nectar. This decline is usually checked somewhat during 
the latter part of the active season by an abundant pollen yield in 
August and a nectar flow in September. Thus, barring differences 
due to variation in seasons, strength of colonies, and certain other 
factors within the hives which would cause in different colonies a 
variation in the responses even to identical stimuli during the same 
year, the general character of brood-rearing activity in the colonies 
under observation in 1920 is strikingly similar to that of brood- 
rearing activity in the colonies under observation in 1921 and 1922. 
