THE BROOD-REARING 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 hone}^dew 
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 pollen 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 scarce^ 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 
she had been crowded out of the second hive body, in which she had 
been laying almost exclusively, into the lower hive body. Even there 
46969°— 25f— Bull. 1349 3 
