194 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE. 



Apr 1 



CONVERSATIONS WITH 

 DOOLITTLE 



AT Borodino, New York. 



OVERSTOCKING; HOW FAR DO BEES FLY? 



" Mr. Doolittle, I have not forgotten what we 

 were talking about last month, and I have been 

 inquiring of every man whom I tliought would 

 know any thing about the matter for a location 

 for bees similar to the one you described." 



" Well, what have you found, Mr. Smith?" 



" Very nearly what you hinted at in the last 

 thing you told me before I left — that it would be 

 impossible to find all the necessary plants and 

 irees in any one locality to give me the very best 

 location. But I did hear of one place nicely 

 sheltered by a piece of woodland, where there 

 are willows in plenty, hard maple and fruit bloom 

 to a fairly good extent, white and alsike clover 

 by the hundreds of acres, and a few basswood- 

 trees in some gullies, and scattered up a hillside 

 two miles away. The farmers make quite a busi- 

 ness of raising buckwheat, many of them sowing 

 from ten to twenty-five acres; but there are no 

 fall flowers save a little goldenrod about the road- 

 side, fence-corners, and other rough places. Do 

 you think I can do better than this?" 



" It is very doubtful; and I should be inclined 

 to think that you might find a good baS)Wood 

 yield, for the majority of people do not think 

 that the trees in gullies and out in the open are 

 of any consequence, because they are of little 

 value for lumber; but as a rule such trees give 

 very much more nectar than the straight tall ones 

 which grow in a thick forest. Rough crooked 

 trees not only have twice the twigs and branches, 

 but they seem to give more nectar to each How- 

 ret than do those growing in the sheltered wood- 

 land." 



" That is encouraging, and I think that is the 

 place I shall settle upon. Then this is the only 

 place I have heard of where there are no bees kept 

 within three miles. At other places which seem- 

 ed equally good there were from one to three 

 apiaries with from twenty to one hundred colo- 

 nies. You would not think it advisable to go 

 where there were apiaries already established, 

 would you?" 



" No; and I am glad to know that you are so 

 conscientious that you would not think of locat- 

 ing in territory already occupied by some one 

 else. To do this would not only be an injury to 

 the one already keeping bees in such a locality, 

 but it would lessen your chances of success as 

 w<:ll." 



" From what I have told you of this place, how 

 many colonies do you think I can eventuaUy 

 keep with the best results?" 



" My views on overstocking may not be con- 

 sidered quite orthodox by all; yet I think I can 

 give facts to prove my position. If I had a lo- 

 cation such as you describe I should not fear 

 overstocking it if I had three or even five hundred 

 colonies. When we consider that bees fly, from 

 choice, from two to four milea from home, and 

 are led on by receding bloom to five, six, and 

 seven miles, as up a hill or mountain si.le, this 

 ma'ter of overstocking is not so much to be fear- 

 ed as many suppose." 



" But I have been told by several that bees do 

 not go more than one and a half miles from 

 home." 



"I have been told the same; but from much 

 experience during the past I am sure that such 

 statements are fallacious." 



" What has been your experience, or what 

 proof can you bring to prove your seven-mile 

 theory?" 



"In my early years of bee-keeping we had 

 nothing but the common or black bees in this 

 part ot the world. After a while a bee-keeper 

 living three miles distant procured the Italians, 

 increasing them to about twenty colonies the 

 first year by artificial means, so that no swarms 

 ran away. The next spring, before I had any 

 Italians, I was watching the bees at work on ap- 

 ple-blossoms, and presently I saw an Italian bee 

 collecting honey or nectar. This led to a care- 

 ful examination by way of a count which show- 

 ed that an average of one bee in five was an Ital- 

 ian, and this with apple-blossoms in profusion 

 everywhere. That same season, when cutting a 

 field of red clover one mile further oflt from these 

 Italian bees, or four miles in a straight line, I 

 was attracted to beesat work on the clover bloom. 

 Having read how the Italians worked on the red 

 clover while the common bees did not, I jumped 

 off the mowing-machine, and, to my surprise, 

 counted five Italians to two blacks, as the average 

 of several countings, with fields red with clover 

 everywhere." 



" But you do not claim that bees can work 

 profitably thus far from home, do you?" 



" This question shows me that you are acquaint- 

 ed with the objections of the past — that it is not 

 profitable for bees to fly so far. Let me tell you 

 of some of the things I know in this matter. To 

 the southeast of where we are now talking the 

 land rises more or less gradually for six miles, 

 or to the highest point in this county, where it is 

 from 850 to 900 feet higher than where we are 

 sitting. Unless interrupted by a long rain the 

 bees follow the receding basswood bloom till the 

 top is reached, and I can see no slacking of work 

 in the sections as long as the bloom is plentiful 

 on the hilltop. The bees, also, nearly all work 

 in that direction." 



" What has the rain to do with the matter?" 



"Just this: If it rains so long that a strip of 

 bloom, say half a mile wide, has gone during 

 this rain, the bees, when the weather is clear 

 again, go where they last found nectar, and, not 

 finding any, they seem to think that the bloom 

 must all be gone, so return without looking 

 further, and thus the mile or more of bloom be- 

 yond is of no use to me." 



"Well, I hope you are right; but I had the 

 one and a half miles so thoroughly fixed in my 

 mind that it is hard to get away from it." 



" If proof could be given that this short dis- 

 tance was really the range of flight of the bee, 

 then I should say that your proposed locality 

 might he overstocked with from 150 to 200 colo- 

 nies But Mr. Alexander's 700 colonies, profit- 

 ably kept in one place, should convince any one 

 of the fallacy of the one-and-one-half-mile-flight 

 theory. Keep your colonies strong, and espe- 

 cially so when your clover, basswood, and buck- 

 wheat bloom is at its height, and you will have 

 no cause to complain, I am sure." 



