AMERICAN BEE JOURNAL. 



433 



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The Location for Bee-Keeping;, 

 and Over-Stocking. 



Written for tlie American Bee Journal 

 BY G. M. DOOLITTLE. 



The above subject has been sent me, 

 desiring that I should give my views in 

 the Amekican Bee Journal on the 

 matter. If I were at liberty to choose 

 a location when I desired, and could find 

 such an one, it would be in a place 

 where the land sloped gently to the 

 southeast, with pasturage as follows : 

 Some willow to stimulate early brood- 

 rearing, with sugar maples to follow; 

 then apple blossoms, as an assurance of 

 plenty of honey from apple to white 

 clover, which should be abundant. 



Next, I should want plenty of bass- 

 wood, and that on a hillside or moun- 

 tain, so as to prolong its bloom, and, 

 lastly, where bucl<wheat was raised. Of 

 course, if asters and golden-rod could be 

 plenty in the fall, it would be still better. 

 But most of us have other ties beside the 

 bees which fix our location, and so we 

 have to put up with such an one as we 

 have, and the man is to be honored that 

 can be contented and bring about good 

 results with only limited bee-pasturage 

 at his own home, where duty calls him 

 to remain. 



If I could have but one of the above- 

 named sources of honey, I would select 

 basswood first, clover second, and, lastly, 

 buckwheat. From all sources of infor- 

 mation I can gather, basswood is the 

 greatest honey-producer in the United 

 States, for the length of time it is in 

 bloom. 



The lay of the laud is not of so much 

 importance as the forage, for tight 

 fences, or belts of evergreens can be 

 placed around the bee-yard to protect it 

 from high winds. 



I would have the hives face the south 

 or east, if possible, as the bees start 

 earlier in the morning than when they 

 face the north and west ; also, our pre- 



vailing winds are from the direction last 

 mentioned. 



My views on over-stocking may not be 

 considered quite orthodox by all, yet 

 after years of experience I find them not 

 far out of the way. If I had a location 

 such as the one above described, I should 

 not fear overstocking it with 400 to 

 600 colonies, but I think that from 150 

 to 200 would be as many as an average 

 location would support to the best ad- 

 vantage, while there are places that 50 

 would be as many as would give good 

 results to their owner. 



When we take into consideration that 

 bees fly, from choice, from two to four 

 miles from home, and are led on, by re- 

 ceding bloom, to five, six and seven 

 miles, this matter of over-stocking is not 

 so much to be feared as many suppose. 



"But," says one, "bees do not go 

 more than 1^ miles from home, and if 

 they did, it could not be made profitable, 

 as so much time would be consumed in 

 flying that it would not pay." To the 

 first I reply that plenty of proof can be 

 brought that bees fly more than 1}4 

 miles, and I will give a bit of experience 

 to the point, without calling in any 

 other, viz : 



About the year 1868, a gentleman in 

 Marietta, a small town three miles dis- 

 tant in a straight line, purchased some 

 Italian bees. The next spring (before I 

 had any Italians, or before there was 

 any of that variety in this locality) I 

 was watching the bees at work on apple 

 blossoms, and presently saw an Italian 

 collecting honey. Upon examination I 

 found that an average of one bee to five 

 were Italians, and this with apple blos- 

 soms in profusion everywhere. 



Once more, in haying, as I was cutting 

 a field of clover, in this same year, one 

 mile from home, or four miles from these 

 same Italians, I saw bees at worlc on the 

 clover. Having heard much about Ital- 

 ian bees working on red clover, I jumped 

 off the mowing machine, and, to my sur- 

 prise, counted five Italians to two blacks, 

 with fields red with clover blossoms 

 everywhere. 



Now, to the last objection,- that it is 

 not profitable for bees to fly so far, I 

 may say that to the southeast of my 

 apiary, the land rises gradually for five 

 or six miles, and at the end of the dis- 

 tance it is 800 to 1,000 feet higher 

 than at the bee-yard. Unless inter- 

 rupted by a long rain, the bees follow 

 the receding bloom of basswood until 

 the top of the hill is reached, and I can 

 see no slackening of work in the sections 

 as long as the bloom is plenty on this 



