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(Entered as second-class matter at the Post-Office at Hamilton, 111., under Act of March 3, 18*9.> 



Published Monthly at $1.00 a Year, by American Bee Journal, First National Bank Building 



C. p. DADANT. Editor. 



DR. C. C. MILLER. Associate Editor. 



HAMILTON, ILL, DECEMBER, 1912 



VoL LII-No. 12 



Editorial 



Comments 



How Far Cau Swarms Travel? 



T. W. Swabey, in the British Bee 

 Journal of Sept. 26, asks the above 

 question and quotes a previous writer 

 as authority for the statement that a 

 swarm traveled more than 10 miles, 

 though having settled on a tree about 

 a mile distant from its final abode. 



In Vol. XVIII of the American Bee 

 Journal, page 186, Q. C. Jordan reports 

 having followed a swarm 6 miles. 



In Vol. XX, page 634, James Heddon 

 says that a swarm alighted on a ship in 

 the middle of Lake Michigan. The 

 writer holds that they will go 25 to 50 

 miles. 



In Vol. XXV, page -Oo, H. G. Rogers 

 ridicules the 2o-mile flight, and says : 

 "We will soon have them crossing the 

 Atlantic." 



Eugene Secor, a very reliable writer, 

 in Vol. XXV, page 230, mentions run- 

 away swarms as going 8 to 10 miles, to 

 his knowledge. 



G. M. Doolittle holds that bees will 

 readily go 5 to 9 miles for honey. Why 

 not a swarm, for a home ? 



The flight of bees is variously esti- 

 mated at from 10 to 60 miles an hour. 

 The latter speed was given after having 

 turned bees free from a running train, 

 but Cheshire very properly says that 

 this furnishes " no evidence of their 

 velocity when unaided, since the train 

 carries the air lying in its neighbor- 

 hood along with it, as leaves and paper 

 scraps frequently make clear." His 

 conclusion is that the flight ranges be- 

 tween 2 and 16 miles per hour, depend- 



ing upon the load and nature of the 

 errand. 



When in the enthusiasm and energy 

 of his teens, the writer several times 

 attempted to follow a runaway swarm, 

 but the result was invariably, after a 

 perspiring run over fields, hills and 

 well-nigh, impassable ditches, to be 

 stopped breathless and discouraged 

 against a fence or on the edge of a 

 pond, while the bees went on ; their en- 

 ticing roar finally dying in the dis- 

 tance. The Mississippi River is but a 

 mile and a half away, and at this point 

 a mile wide, but he never succeeded in 

 following them to its shores. 



However, swarms have often been 

 known to cross it to reach the woods 

 on the other side. But an experienced 

 bee-keeper, who lived on the opposite 

 shore, frequently told us that such 

 swarms were almost invariably queen- 

 less. Very probably the queen accom- 

 panying the swarm was unable to sus- 

 tain her flight, and was perhaps dazzled 

 by the sunlight reflected upon the 

 water. 



From all this we conclude that it is 

 useless to tryto establish an exact limit 

 to the possible flight of a swarm, and 

 that this question is not to be settled 

 any more positively than the question 

 we might ask some inveterate angler : 

 " What was the weight of the largest 

 fish ever caught ?" 



The Iowa State 3Ieetiiigr 



The bee-keepers of Iowa are urgently 

 requested to, attend their State conven- 

 tion, which will convene at Des Moines, 



in the Club Room of the Savery Hotel 

 Dec. 12 and 13, 1912, as announced in 

 the November number, page 327. 



It is for the bee-keepers of each 

 State to decide, after earnest and in- 

 telligent discussions, whether they 

 want laws concerning bee-diseases, 

 whether they want courses of study 

 in their industry at the Agricultural 

 Colleges, and also what recognition 

 ought to be given to the production of 

 honey in the State and County Fairs. It 

 is also time for our State Associations 

 to be legally incorporated and endowed 

 by the States in a way similar to the 

 incorpDration and endowment of the 

 State Horticultural Associations. All 

 these things may be done, if we take 

 an interest and show our wants. 



The past few years' work has shown 

 that there is no difficulty in getting 

 recognition from the Legislatures, Col- 

 leges or Agricultural Fairs, if we show 

 ourselves and claim our rights. 



If a concerted action upon the sug- 

 gestions above given is successful, we 

 will get the following results: 



1. Greater information for the public 

 on the uses and value of honey, hence 

 larger and easier sales. 



2. Correct information concerning 

 the usefulness of bees in the fertiliza- 

 tion of flowers and their harmlessness 

 in the puncturing of sound fruit. 



3. Greater protection to the pursuit, 

 in the combat against contagious dis- 

 eases and others. 



4. Increase of information among 

 the bee-keepers themselves. 



These things are worth striving for, 

 even if we do not give consideration 

 to the pleasure of exchanging views, 

 making new and pleasant acqaintances 

 and renewing old ones. The bee-keep- 

 ers are almost as gregarious as their 

 bees, and would often meet were it not 

 for the distance they usually have to 



