16 BULLETIX 1349, IT. S. DEPARTMENT OF AGEICULTUEE 
weeks, with the emergence of many bees in both the second and third 
hive bodies, the queen had more room and was able to approach a 
rate comparable to that attained in the same period of the following 
year. In the second place, there was an exceptionally large quantity 
of honeydew available, associated with incoming pollen during June, 
and also a certain amount of nectar from sweet clover. Throughout 
this month the queen had all the room needed for a normal response 
to these stimuli. In both seasons, after July 1, the brood curves 
follow parallel courses during the remainder of the major periods. 
At the end of July in each season brood-rearing activity had been 
reduced to approximately one-half that represented by the maximum 
of the same year. 
FINAL CONTRACTION, COLONY NO. 4 
In each year the final seasonal contraction in brood-rearing activity 
took place almost entirely in October, covering only three weeks in 
1921 and four weeks in 1922. The abruptness of the contraction in 
these few weeks is shown from the fact that in the last week of 
September there were practically half as many cells of sealed brood 
as were found in the maximum counts for the respective years. As a 
result, the colony entered each following season strong in bees. 
The brood-rearing record of this colony, although not ideal, is the 
most satisfactory of any of the 16 colonies because the maximum 
brood rearing bears some correlation to the initial expansion. The 
portion of the major period immediately following the period of 
main nectar secretion is not marked by a disproportionate degree of 
brood-rearing activity. In the late stages of the major period, more- 
over, there is an increase in brood rearing, providing a sufficient 
number of newly emerged bees at the beginning of the final contrac- 
tion to insure successful wintering and an auspicious beginning of the 
next active season. That conditions within the colony remained 
nearly constant during the two consecutive years is indicated by the 
striking similarity in the curves of brood-rearing activity during 
both active seasons. (Fig. 18.) At the beginning of the experiment 
this colony was fairly strong; and, although it was subjected to no 
• special manipulations except to have plenty of room and stores 
available at all times, it was fully as strong in bees at the beginning 
of the seasonal suspension in the fall of 1922 as it was in early spring 
in 1921. The performance of this colony, therefore, leads to the con- 
clusion that, other conditions being equal, a strong colony tends to 
remain strong. 
GENERAL OBSERVATIONS ON THE REMAINING COLONIES 
Having given the record for colony Xo. 4 in some detail for the 
two seasons, it is not necessary to discuss so minutely the records 
of the remaining colonies observed during the season of 1921. Only 
the outstanding points regarding the various colonies will be con- 
sidered. Unless otherwise stated, all colonies lived through the 
winter of 1921-22. 
Colony Xo. 1 had been wintered without packing but was provided 
with an abundance of stores and had a 1920 queen. The brood- 
rearing activity of this colony furnishes a good example of the re- 
sponse of a mediocre queen to such a combination of factors as suf- 
ficient stores, sufficient worker bees, and sufficient brood cells at the 
