OCTOBER 1, 1912 



formation of a bee-line, the bees are all con- 

 centrated toward a comparatively small 

 spot. They are all moving over the same 

 course to and from the apiar}- — all bent on 

 the same errand, with the result that we 

 have a buzzing, roaring, aerial bee highway 

 between the ajjiary and the point being vis- 

 ited. 



Under favoring conditions it is not so 

 difficult to follow such a bee-line for frac- 

 tions of a mile at least, depending mainly 

 as a guide on the noise made by the bees. 

 It is one of these bee-lines that I shall en- 

 deavor to describe. In the past ten or more 

 years I have noticed a number of them. 

 The one illustrated by the accompanying 

 diagTam occurred late in August, 1901. The 

 diagram was made at that time. A number 

 of other lines have taken place since, but 

 these were less i-ironounced, or at least not 

 so easily followed. It is verj' noticeable, 

 if the weather is fair with little wind, that 

 the course taken is apparently straight and 

 high in the air. If threatening, lowering 

 weather prevails, the flight is low. In the 

 case of high winds I i^resume the flight may 

 become any thing but an orthodox bee-line. 

 The diagram shows how completely the bees 

 have altered their course (at least in this 

 instance) that they may make the most of 

 prevailing conditions. 



It was by accident that my attention was 

 called to this spectacle. I had been work- 

 ing for several days on an out-building 

 near the beeyard (to the west of it), and 

 had noticed the line of bees passing daily 

 back and forth over my head. The weather 

 was warm, humid, and threatening rain, 

 which, however, did not come, so the condi- 

 tions were just right for nectar secretion. 

 This was followed by a sudden clearing at 

 night, a decided drop in the temperature, 

 and high north winds. Resuming my work 

 in the morning following this change 1 at 

 once missed the busy hum overhead, and 

 concluded that the change in the w'eathev 

 liad cut off: the nectar. Glancing over at 

 the apiary I was puzzled to see the bees 

 still working almost. as busily as ever. My 

 curiosity was at once aroused. I soon found 

 the bees were flying in a nearly northerly 

 course instead of the westerly direction 

 which took them straight to the buckwheat 

 before the heavy wind set in. Following 

 the new line I found the bees were heading 

 for a belt of timber to the north of the 

 apiary, w'hich extended in a westerly direc- 

 tion to the buckwheat. The line turned 

 rather sharply to the west just before reach- 

 ing the timber, the bees flying just below 

 the tree-tops, out of the wind until the 

 buckwheat was reached. They were quite 



low; and as a part of the course ran par- 

 allel with a i)ublic road they attracted the 

 attention of passersby. several of whom 

 asked, "What is the matter? Are your bees 

 going to swarm?" 



At points just west of the stream (a 

 and b on the diagram) the bees flew re- 

 markably close together, and the very loud 

 hum could be heard by one approaching, 

 long before a bee could be seen. The bees 

 in the fair-weather course were invisible 

 except a few stragglers who evidently made 

 up the lower edge of the line. 



I have noticed once in a while in Glean- 

 ings some reference to these bee-lines, but 

 am uncertain if the subject has been dealt 

 with in detail. Possibly the topography 

 may have played an important part in the 

 behavior of the bees. 



I may add that the belt of timber re- 

 ferred to extended unbroken for a mile 

 or more to the north and west of the 

 buckwheat-field, thus giving the bees a 

 complete windbreak. I should also explain 

 that buckwheat is seldom sown here, and 

 it rarely happens that more than one field 

 is within range of the bees at the same 

 time. Coming into bloom at a time when 

 there is a general dearth of nectar, the 

 bees make a great fuss over it every morn- 

 ing as long as it lasts. 



Aikin, Md. 



THE EFFECT OF WINDBREAKS IN WINTER 

 Tenement Hives and Ojtyards 



BY H. G. yUIRIN 



The Sept. 1st issue ought to be worth a 

 small fortune to the beginner, as it deals 

 with one of the most vital problems that he 

 has to contend with. We, too, thought that 

 a tight board fence would be a fine thing as 

 a windbreak; so, three years ago, we con- 

 structed about sixty rods seven feet high; 

 but last winter changed our mind on the 

 subject, as the snow drifted inside the fence 

 four to six feet deep. It packed, and event- 

 ually formed solid ice far above the en- 

 trances; to give them air we dug down to 

 the covers and raised the cushions; but 

 most of the colonies having ice above the 

 entrance of the hives did not come through 

 in very good shape. Were it not for our 

 queen-rearing nuclei we would certainly 

 take down this fence, but find it a fine thing 

 to shield them from the winds in early 

 S]Hing. 



We have another yard located on the 

 south side of a woods. This woods is about 

 as bad for catching the snow as the tight 

 board fence. We have still another yard 



