234 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE 



liet^s working on flour during a dearth of natural pollen in the spring. 



From Byron S. Hastings, Brooksvil 



Tnd. 



STRAIGHT A§ A BEE = LINE; ECCENTRICITIES OF BEE = FLIGHTS 



BY GEORGE H. REA 



The cover picture of Gleanings for De- 

 cember 15th -remincls me of a visit to this 

 yard late last summer. It was during buck- 

 wheat bloom, about the middle of the after- 

 noon of a hot day. We had driven out in 

 the auto truck to feed (this is the yard 

 where we fed the Porto Rican honey, see 

 page 4, Jan. 1). 



Very little nectar was to be had in the field 

 excepting from a small field of buckwheat 

 on the north side of the yard, but it was 

 the wi'ong time of daj^ for that ; so that you 

 can imagine my astonishment when entering 

 the yard to observe the bees lining off to- 

 ward this buckwheat-field by the thousands. 



Now look at that picture (cover, Jan. 1). 

 The north is at your left. Observe that 

 there is a fifty-foot embankment to the 

 south, or right-hand side, covered with 

 trees. The west side, or the front of the 

 picture, is open ground, as is also the em- 

 bankment on this side of the yard. 



I told the boys that while they fed the 

 bees I would determine, if possible, where 

 the supposed honey-flow was coming from. 

 I intended following the bees; but before so 

 doing several of the incoming workers were 

 relieved of their burden, and in every case 

 it was found to be water, pure and simple. 



I was puzzled to know why they should line 

 o& toward cultivated fields where no water 

 was in sight, when a copious stream flowed 

 in the ravine at the base of that bank not 

 more than one hundred feet away. 



To my astonishment this is what I found : 

 The flight was in a stream out over tlie fence 

 on the north side and into the field to a 

 point a little beyond a small tree, which 

 shows in the mai'gin of the picture. There 

 they turned sharply to the east, continued 

 over the corn-field in the backgi'ound, and 

 out over a plowed field nearly a quarter of 

 a mile beyond, keeping parallel with the 

 wooded ravine. Here the ravine spreads 

 out, the high banks diminish, and the stream 

 is skirted with low-growing trees. Here the 

 flight of the bees rose almost beyond vision, 

 and turned again abruptly to the right, or 

 south, and continued to (urn out over the 

 shrubbery, and flew directly back down the 

 stream on the opposite side. 



They were found watering in a swampy 

 place at a point almost directly oi)iiosite Ihe 

 apiary, most of them not five hundred feet 

 from where they started. Why did tliesc 

 bees fly fully half a mile to get wafer so 

 close to their hives? 



Three reasons, J tliiiik; namely, protec- 



