April 4, 1907 



279 



American ^ae Journal 



wax (10 pounds;, and 3 pint-jars on top of it. 

 I will leave the reader to );iies8 the rest. 



The year 1900 was a fairly (food year for 

 bee-keeping. I took about IBOO pounds from 

 34 colonies. It was all extrarted honey. 1 

 sold it all at about 10 cents a pound. 



Bees are doing well on the summer stands. 

 O. K. Rick. 



Gray's River, Wash., Jan. 10. 



The CIpan and Upright Character 



of the American Bee Journal is thus referred 

 to by Mr. Charles R. Smith, of Scranton, Pa., 

 when commenting on it as an advertising 

 medium : 



Editor York:— Your reference to adver- 

 tising in the American liee Journal, on page 

 22", is of more than passing account. The 

 important part of the whole article, however, 

 is in Mr. I'ouder's lines— "the readers of the 

 American Bee Journal have confidence in its 

 advertisers." And he could well have added, 

 " and that confidence is established chiefly by 

 the clean and upright characterof the paper." 



I keep a few bees for the pleasure and rec- 

 reation I get from them and the honey for my 

 table, and have occasion, sometimes, to buy of 

 your advertisers, always with satisfactory re- 

 sults. Here is an instance: Never having 

 had, or tasted, alfalfa honey, I ordered a 60- 

 pound can of one of your advertisers. I 

 suppose I shall never be without it on my 

 table hereafter ; and that tirm may expect an 

 order every year for a long time. 

 Yours very truly, 



Charles R. Smith. 



We are very certain that more advertisers 

 would patronize the American Bee Journal if 

 they knew as well as Mr. Pouder about its 

 value in that regard. Unless those who have 

 good things to sell, let people know it, they 

 can't expect to have much demand. 



Proportion of Comb to Honey.— We 



have received the following from Mr. C. P. 

 Dadant, calling attention to an error in re- 

 porting : 



Mk. Editor :— I see on page 237, at the top 

 of the third column, that I am made to say that 

 the proportion of comb to honey is about 25 

 to 40 percent. This was at the Illinois State 

 convention at Springfield. I do not remem- 

 ber this matter, but I am sure I could not 

 have said that, for the proportion of comb is 

 certainly a great deal less. 



I am often made to say, by the reporters, 

 things that I blush to be credited with. I 

 fear, however, that I am to blame for the 

 mistakes thus made. I speak too fast. At 

 the San Antonio convention I was several 

 times cautioned by our stenographer, who 

 said it was out of the question for her to re- 

 port correctly words that came so hurriedly. 

 But I wish to warn the readers against ac- 

 cepting as gospel truth all the small talk of 

 the conventions. C. P. Dadant. 



In referring to the original report as fur- 

 nished by the stenographer to the secretary of 

 the Association, we find it is just as we 

 printed it. But any one who gives the mat- 

 ter any thought at all will readily know that 

 over one-fourth of comb honey is not comb. 

 At a guess we should say the proportion of 

 honey to comb might possibly be as " 16 to 

 1." And that might be rather more comb 

 than there really is. 



Amerikanisclie Ilienenziiclit, 



by Hans Buschbauer, is a bee-keeper's hand- 

 book of 138 pages, which is just what our 

 German friends will want. It is fully illus- 

 trated, and neatly bound in cloth. Price, 

 postpaid, $1.00; or with the American Bee 

 Journal one year— both for $1.75. Address 

 all orders to this office. 





J 



How Far Do Bees Fly for 

 Nectar ? 



BY J. E. CHAMBERS 



During the past year I have noticed 

 many inquiries and comments in the 

 different bee-papers with respect to the 

 distance bees fly in search of nectar. 

 To all of these inquiries there has never, 

 to my certain knowledge, been given a 

 definite answer. It would seem as if 

 some of the teachers should be able to 

 tell us if the time-taught doctrine that 

 bees seldom fly over \]'z miles in search 

 of honey is true or not. 



Editor Root, in a late number of 

 Gleanings, gives the result of certain 

 observations made by him during the 

 time of their basswood flow. These 

 observations, though limited in extent 

 and place, lead him to the conclusion 

 that bees do not generally go beyond 

 the distance specified ; however, he says 

 this was probably due to the fact that 

 they were able to get all they wanted 

 within that range. Among all the 

 writers of note I recall at the present 

 time only Doolittle and Alexander, 

 who claim that bees from choice fly 

 farther than the orthodox \)'z miles. 

 Of course, there are others who know 

 that such belief, though time-honored, 

 is all bosh, and that bees often go over 

 3 miles, and that, too, when honey can 

 be had nearer. But many who know, 

 laugh and let it go — not careless, 

 merely, but indifferent to the right or 

 wrong of an idea that gets scattered 

 broadcast over the wild bee-keeping 

 world. And I may here remark that 

 this is also true of many other current, 

 but nevertheless false ideas. Those 

 who know are not disposed to correct 

 false impressions. 



During the past 6 years I often have 

 called the attention of my neighbors to 

 this idea, that bees go only IJ^ miles, 

 when the merest novice could see my 

 bees 3, 4, and even 5 miles from home, 

 and literally by the thousands, too. 

 This was easily evident from the fact 

 that in all the surrounding country 

 there is not another large apiary, and 

 neither are there any Carniolan bees 

 except mine. Aside from this, I have 

 been peculiarly well situated to make 

 accurate observations during the past 

 several seasons. 



My home apiary is located on land 

 covered sparsely with oak timber. To 

 the east just one mile the sumac 

 growth, lartje and small, sets in ; the 

 ground is hilly, sloping gently to the 

 westward ; ranging far eastward the 

 country is oue dense sumac thicket. 

 But to the southwest the ground is 

 open ZYz miles. At that distance there 

 rises a high hill, and beyond this 

 hill there is a very thrifty growth 



of sumacs. During the period of sumac 

 bloom I have observed the bees going 

 to those sumacs, the line of flight pass- 

 ing about .-,0 feet to the west of my 

 door, and I have often watched the 

 streaming lines of bees moving swiftly 

 toward this hill, gradually rising in 

 order to surmount its eminence. At 

 the foot of this hill the roar of the bees 

 high in the air can be heard fully a 

 half mile to either side, and beyond 

 the thousands of great creamy blooms 

 are covered with the busy little work- 

 ers, the silver-gray bands of the Car- 

 niolans showing up very distinctly 

 against the creamy white of the flowers. 



I have often watched the bees as 

 they rose from the flowers with their 

 loads, and whirled upward in a slow 

 semi-circle, then swiftly darting down- 

 ward on their homeward flight, nearly 

 3 miles away. 



During all these years the closest 

 watch has failed to show any great • 

 flight of bees toward the sumacs on 

 the east only a mile and over. Why 

 this is I am not able to tell, but, never- 

 theless, it is a fact ; at any rate, I know 

 that they go this greater distance from 

 pure choice, as it would be the height 

 of absurdity to imagine that the 

 sumacs of the same kind growing on 

 the same kind of soil did not yield 

 honey in exactly the same locality. 

 However, I think the location of the 

 apiary with regard to the surrounding 

 country has something to do with it. 



Another thing I have noticed, which 

 is, I believe, contrary to the generally 

 accepted belief. The bees in my home 

 yard give yields as great as the best 

 in my out-yards, that, in many cases, 

 are entirely surrounded by sumacs ; 

 and this honey is mostly brought from 

 a distance of 3 miles and more. In 

 short, my observations have satisfied 

 me that those who claim that bees go 

 only I'i miles don't know, have a poor 

 strain or race of bees, or else there are 

 many conditions governing these 

 things about which we know but little. 

 At any rate, I have learned to despise 

 a race of bees that are not good for a 

 crop of honey if it is to be had only 

 3 miles of them. Choice colonies of 

 Carniolans gathered 210 pounds of 

 honey in 14 days, bringing it from a 

 distance of 3 miles. How is that by 

 the side of your I'i-mile stock ? 



Never in a single instance have I 

 known my home bees to get less than 

 the bees in my out-yards ; but if there 

 were as much as some think in the 1 '2- 

 mile claims, they could be expected 

 during the time of sumac bloom to get 

 almost none, as there are but few 

 sumacs within less than a mile, and 

 not a very great many within less than 

 the limit ; but within 2 miles there is a 

 great abundance. Concho Co., Tex. 



