34 



THE AMERICAN BEE JOUENAL. 



of some interesting questions in the physiol- 

 ogy of insects, and perhaps have led to the 

 niore full discovery of the laws wliich regu- 

 late the deterioration or improvement of races. 

 Some other intelligent apiarian may hereafter 

 have casually an opportunity to make experi- 

 ments in that direction, whicli it is to be hoped 

 will not be allowed to pass unimproved. 



Extent of Bees' Flight. 



The question of the distance to which a bee 

 can extend its flight is not of that minor import- 

 ance which some persons may be disposed to 

 attach to it, and it is from a total neglect of or 

 indifference to it, that the ruin of many an api- 

 ary is to be attributed. It may also be confi- 

 dently affirmed that the comparative excellence 

 of the position of an apiary depends in a great 

 measure on the greater or less distance whicli 

 the bees have to'fly for their food; for it is a ra- 

 tional deduction "that the bees, who have to 

 travel three or four miles to the fields of their 

 pasture, cannot collect an equal quantity of ho- 

 ney with those who have to travel only half a 

 mile; as the latter can make four journeys, 

 whilst the former can only make one, indepen- 

 dently of the consequent risk whicb the bees 

 incur who have to travel to a great distance, 

 by having to cross rivers and lakes, and of be- 

 ing dashed into them by the wind, or destroyed 

 by some of those other numerous accidents to 

 which the bees are so liable. 



It has been ascertained that the bees of an 

 apiary whose fields of pasture are situate at a 

 distance, are much shorter lived than those 

 whose food is in the immediate vicinity; and 

 tliis arises chiefly from two causes: first, the va- 

 rious dangers to which their longer flights ex- 

 pose them; and secondly, to the wear and tear 

 of their wings, which in the end become so torn 

 and lacerated, that the bees can no longer prose- 

 cute their labors, and they either die in the 

 fields, or from hunger in the hive. We had a 

 very striking proof of the truth of the foregoing 

 remarks in the establishment of a small apiary 

 in the vicinity of Brighton for the late Sir 

 Thomas Clarges. The immediate environs of 

 the town being composed of mere down lauds, 

 little or no food could be found for the bees, 

 with the exception of a scanty supply, which 

 could be gathered from the few straggling flow- 

 ers cultivated in the gardens in the immediate 

 vicinity of the place. The consequence of which 

 was, that although the bees contrived to gain a 

 scanty subsistence, yet we could not succeed in a 

 single instance in obtaining more than one or 

 two pounds of honey from each hive, the bees 

 being in the Iluish hive; and even that small 

 portion which Vv'as taken from them was done 

 at the risk of them perishing in the winter for 

 want of food. Finding the situation so very 

 bad for an apiary, we had the hives removed to 

 a cottager's garden at Pagham, where they 

 throve remarkably well, and yielded a rich har- 

 vest of honey. 



It has been stated by some of the encyclope- 

 dists that the fliglit of a bee extends to four 



miles, and this is said to have been determined 

 by the color of the farina of certain plants being 

 seen on the legs of the bees, which did not grow 

 within the distance of four miles from tlie api- 

 ary. We, however, consider this criterion to 

 be very defective and indefinite, for the color 

 of the farina of plants varies so little in its 

 shade, being almost universally of a yellowish 

 tinge, that it would almost amoimt to an impos- 

 sibility to determine the particular flowers from 

 which it is gathered. It is true that we have 

 seen the i^ellets of farina on the legs of a bee of 

 a dark slaty color, but it would be at best ar- 

 riving at a random kind of a conclusion to de- 

 termine the extent of the flight of the bee from 

 the mere color of the farina, unless it had been 

 unequivocally ascertained that no flowers what- 

 ever flourished in the immediate neighborhood 

 from which the farina of such a particular color 

 could be obtained. We had once an apiary 

 situate about three miles from a range of hills 

 which were covered with heath, and knowing 

 the richness of that shrub in honey, we pur- 

 posed removing our hives to the immediate vi- 

 cinity of so rich a pasturage. Previously, how- 

 ever, to our undertaking the transportation of 

 the hives, we determined to ascertain whether 

 the heath was within the range of the flight of 

 our bees, for which purpose we adopted the fol- 

 lowing expedient. We put some flour in a 

 small pepper-castor, and proceeded to the hills, 

 leaving a person with the hives to keep a strict 

 watch upon them, with a view of ascertaining 

 whether any bees returned to the hives sprinkled 

 with flour. We were not many minutes at the 

 hills before we discovered anumber of bees col- 

 lecting the honey, ewvy one of which we be- 

 sprinkled well with flour. On our return home 

 we were informed that a considerable number 

 of bees had returned with the sprinklings of 

 the flour, and in fact some of them with their 

 miller's jackets on were observed to leave the 

 hive again, and dart away in the direction of 

 the hills. Thus the fact was indisputably ascer- 

 tained that the rich pasturage, although three 

 miles distant, was within the range of the flight 

 of our bees, and therefore we desisted from our 

 project of removing them. Another corrobo- 

 rative proof of the extent of the flight of the bee 

 was obtained during an excursion which \ye 

 made with Bonner, to the Isle of Bas, at the 

 entrance of the Firth of Forth, which is mostly 

 covered with heath, and on wluch, to our great 

 surprise, we saw a number of bees collecting 

 their honey. As not a single hive was kept on 

 the island, it was clear that the bees must have 

 winged their way over the water either from 

 the Lothiaus, or the coast of Fife, the former 

 being about four miles, the latter about eight 

 miles distant. We felt a great desire to ascer- 

 tain from what quarter the bees had arrived at 

 the Isle of Bas, but the solution of the ques- 

 tion was attended Avith such almost insuperable 

 difiiculties, that avc were obliged to relinquish 

 our project. We had, however, so far ascer- 

 tained the point, that the bee will fly above four 

 miles in search of food, and not over even a 

 campaign country, but over the very Avaves of 

 the ocean. What a most Avonderful instinct 



