668 



AMERICAN BEE JOURMAU 



dueries aiid Replies. 



Mating of Young Qneens. 



Query 819.— 1. What is the ordinary 

 distance from the hive that a young 

 queen mates with the drone? — North 

 Carolina. 



I do not know. — E. France. 



I do not know. — R. L. Taylor. 



I " give her up." — H. D. Cutting. 



Nobody knows, or can know. — M. 

 Mahin. 



Anywhere inside of three miles. — J. P. 

 H. Brown. 



I do not know anything about this. — 

 P. H. Elwood. 



Ask Mr. Doolittle. I do not know. — 

 J. M. Hambaugh. 



This is guess-work. Probably a mile 

 or so. — Dadant & Son. 



We may all quote Dr. Miller now, for 

 no one knows. — A. J. Cook. 



I don't know. In all probability, 

 jpear the home yard. — Mrs. J.N. Heater. 



Some say a quarter of a mile, but more 

 think a half mile or more. — C.C.Miller. 



I don't know, but I presume the dis- 

 tance is usually not more than a few 

 rods. — C. H. DiBBERN. 



I don't like to rob Dr. Miller of his " I 

 don't know ;" and if he says he knows, 

 I shall want to kiiow how he knows so 

 much. — A. B. Mason. 



No one can tell positively, but facts 

 go to show that queens often, if not 

 usually, mate at a distance of a mile or 

 more from the hive. — J. A. Green. 



This is a question on which there are 

 many and varied opinions. I do not 

 think that any one can answer positively 

 from actual knowledge. — J. E. Pond. 



I don't know, but I am led to believe 

 that sometimes either the queen or the 

 drone flies a couple of mihss, or else they 

 meet between the two points. — Eugene 

 Secob. 



I don't know. I suppose it is varying 

 from one rod to a mile or two. I don't 

 know how far the drones go. I have 

 known the black and yellow bees to mix 

 four miles apart. — James IIeddon. 



That probably depends upon the num- 

 ber of drones flying at the time the 

 queen makes her bridal tour ; if there 

 are plenty of drones in the air, she would 

 not have to go far. — Mrs. L. Harrison. 



My observation has been that the 

 queen never flies far from the hive, but 

 the drone, having 'powerful wings, flies 

 long distances in the search for young 

 queens. — G. L. Tinker. 



From one-fourth to seven miles, ac- 

 cording to the time of year, and other 

 circumstances. One July and August I 

 had one-fourth of my queens mate 

 drones four miles away. — G. M. Doolit- 

 tle. 



It is owing to circumstances. Wheii 

 drones are plentiful in the yard, I have 

 thought one-half mile safe ; but in rare 

 instances they have been known to go 

 from three to four miles. To divide the 

 distance, I would say IJi to 2 miles. 

 But to answer the question to the point, 

 the ordinary distance my queens are 

 mated is within a short distance from 

 the apiary. — Mrs. Jennie Atchley. 



I really don't know if there is an "oi'- 

 dinary distance" connected with the 

 matter. It depends so much upon cir- 

 cumstances that no one will ever be able 

 to fix the ordinary distance of their 

 flight. I once, to carry out an experi- 

 ment, confined a virgin queen until she 

 became so alarmed about her future 

 usefulness that she mated in less than 

 15 minutes after being set at liberty. In 

 this case she could not have gone far. 

 As a rule, I think queens are mated 

 within one-fourth of a mile of their 

 home. — G. W. Demaree. 



That question is surely " speculative." 

 Who could definitely announce the "or- 

 dinary distance " of such a transaction, 

 when it usually takes place beyond 

 human sight ? The facts are, that but 

 very few have ever seen the act of copu- 

 lation — so very rarely is it accomplished 

 near the apiary. To answer the ques- 

 tion as definitely as possible, it might be 

 said that mating generally takes place 

 within a radius of two or three miles. — 

 The Editor. 



"Wlieii "Writing a letter be sure 

 to sign it. Too often we get letters 

 with the name of the post-office, but no 

 County or State. One such came 

 recently, and we looked into the Postal 

 Guide and found there were places by 

 that name in 13 States. Be sure to 

 stamp your letter, or it may go to the 

 dead letter office, in Washington, D. C. 



