60 



(J LEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE. 



Jan. 15. 



builds high, there will be severe winter or high 

 water." 



Very likely: this is just as likely to occur as 

 though the little rodent built low. Happily the 

 muskrat does not make the weather. 



4. " Some bee-keepers say, if the drones are 

 killed early, the winter will be severe, and vice 

 versa. Is there any truth in it?" 



The past season, di-ones were killed in early 

 summer, and yet the wc^athei- is and has beeii 

 remarkably mild. The same was true a year 

 ago. The weather at the time, in affecting the 

 harvest, leads to this premature destruction. 

 There is, howevei', no pi)ssil>le I'clation lietween 

 such events and the future. When men knew 

 little of nature they were ripe for such super- 

 stitions. With the development of science, 

 such beliefs will become wholly a thing of the 

 past. A. J. Cook. 



Agricultural College, Mich., Jan. 3. 



[I want to say amen to Prof. Cook's replies: 

 Our nation is full of rural people, especially 

 those well along in yeai'S, who insist that ani- 

 mals have foreknowledge of the weather; and 

 the amount of time spent watching these sense- 

 less movements, if turned in the line of scientif- 

 ic investigation, would enrich the world. Let 

 us do away with superstition, and tuin our 

 brains to the solution of real problems.] 



ARRANGEMENT OF OUT-APIARIES. 



dadant's systf:.m along the Mississippi 



lilVER. 



Friend Rijot:— The very interesting article of 

 Mr. France, on out-apiaries, page 88.3, has in- 

 duced US to give you our own experience in this 

 matter, not because we can throw any more 

 light on the question, but because our practice, 

 which extends back to 1871, in the mattei- of 



In the accompanying diagram you will per- 

 ceive that these apiaries are all located on land 

 sloping toward tlie Mississijjpi River, and are 

 sepai'ated from one another by creeks and 

 groves of timbei- land. The Gr'ubb apiary is 

 owned by D. W. McDaniel, who has had chai'ge 

 of our apiaries also for a few years past. Of all 

 these apiaries, the Sherwood is the best in the 

 product of both spring and fall crops, although 

 there are seasons like the past when the fall 

 croj) fails there altogether. 



The Villemain apiary has the poorest location, 

 to all appearances; but it is located near the 

 only basswood grove there is in the counti-y, 

 and has also quite a fall pasture from blossoms 

 that grow on the islands near it. But what 

 will you think of the Sack apiary, which is lo- 

 cated a little over two miles south of the La- 

 met apiary, with another apiary close to the 

 latter, and not shown on the diagram, and only 

 one mile and a quarter north of another apiary 

 of <)() colonies, owned by A. Dougherty? Yet 

 this Sack ajnary gives us the best average of 

 honey of all, excepting the Sherwood apiary. 

 The reason of it is, that the pasturage is all 

 west of it on the river bottoms, and very abun- 

 dant. It is probable that the bees in this 

 apiary go as far west as the river, about three 

 miles, while they perhaps do not travel over a 

 mile <>ast on the bluffs. Their course north and 

 south, in the direction of those other apiaries, 

 is over a hilly country covered more or less with 

 timber, which makes their flight more difficult. 



The two small circles in the north ])art of the 

 diagram show spots on which we have had 

 apiaries formerly, and which, you will perceive, 

 were furtlier away from home than the present. 

 At that time the Sherwood apiary did not ex- 

 ist, nor did the (Jrubb apiary; and yet we must 

 say that we can see no difference in the yield of 

 the home apiary. We are satisfied that the 

 Grubb bees go east, the Sherwood bees and the 

 home bees northeast, for their crop. When we 



HorrpffX 



o 



c 

 "i 



3 



THE DADANT SYSTEM OF OUT-APIAKIES ALONG THE MISSISSIPPI IJIVER. 



out-apiaries, confirms the views of both ]\Ir. 

 France and Dr. Miller, and will add weight to 

 their statements. 



Under ordinary circumstances it is not advis- 

 able to place apiaries nearer than four miles 

 apart; but Dr. Miller is undoubtedly right 

 when he says that the configuration of t^he land 

 has a great deal to do with the greater or lesser 

 distance tiiat the bees will travel in certain di- 

 rections. 



say the bees go in a certain direction, we do not 

 mean all the bees, but the greater part of them. 

 We can give you one convincing instance of the 

 correctness of this opinion. 



By glancing at the diagram you will notice 

 that the home apiary is just about a mile and a 

 half from the north point of an island in the 

 river. In certain seasons these islands are cov- 

 ered with water in June; and after th(! waters 

 recede they become covered with a luxuriant 



