FEBRUARY 15, 1916 



SO. There are (.loi-oi;s a: d dozoiis of rerord- 

 ed instances of where bees in one yard will 

 be on the verge of starvation when there is 

 good bee-pasturage iy2 miles away. 



In Mr. Alexander's location at Delanson, 

 N. Y., the bees flew five miles at times, and, 

 on account of this, it was possible for their 

 owner to maintain 700 colonies all in one 

 location. Buckwheat and goldenrod, which 

 were abundant some falls, would furnish 

 nectar the fore j^art of the day, and later 

 the bees would clean up the territory with- 

 in a mile, and then apparently they would 

 keep going further and further in making 

 a clean-up as they went until they would 

 reach out as far as five miles. It would be 

 perfectly natural for them to keep going 

 further and further as long as they could 

 find nectar. We had a very marked case of 

 this at our Hudson apiary two years ago. 



There is still another factor to be consid- 

 ered. If bees can gather a liberal supjDly 

 of honey within % of a mile from the home 



yard, and that supply keeps up, they will 

 not go further than that. In fact, we know 

 of instances where they would go no fur- 

 ther than a thousand feet because there 

 were not bees enough to clean up the range 

 in that distance. 



The conditions in and about Mr. Chad- 

 wiek's home are favorable for long-distance 

 flight, and the same is true at Delanson, N. 

 Y., and other hilly and mountainous parts 

 of the country, and the bees kept on further 

 and further to get a fresh supply. A fa- 

 vorable breeze would carry the aroma of 

 those orange groves right over those bees, 

 and, of course, they would keep on till they 

 found its source. 



Whether bees have long-distance vision, 

 l^robably cannot be definitely proven. Pos- 

 sibly they are governed more by scent, 

 which in the bee is highly developed. If 

 that is the case, favoring winds would have 

 something to do with the length of the 

 flight.— Ed.] 



HIGHER PRICES AND A BETTER DEMAND FOR HONEY 



A Scheme to Raise Money for Advertising 



BY WALTER S. POUDER 



I seldom contribute to the columns of 

 Gleanings, and yet I never pick up a copy 

 without a desire to resj^ond to some of the 

 communications, and occasionally I cannot 

 refrain longer and send in an article. I 

 know that I lack talent and ability ; but I 

 can sweep, carry out ashes, and can even 

 cook a steak to perfection, I live in the 

 Hoosier State, where the very atmosphere 

 has brought forth noted writers — right at 

 the home of James Whitcomb Riley — but 

 " Our Jim " is now down in Florida while 

 I am here in the blizzards, and I think that 

 has something to do with my delinquencies. 

 My little contributions have never been 

 snubbed or ignored by the editors; and 

 when I send in an article I look forward to 

 its appearance thinking that I am going to 

 stir up a hornet's nest, and that the con- 

 tributors higher up will all take off their 

 hats and boost my article! Alas! no one 

 pays any attention to my articles except a 

 vei'y few who write me clirect ; but none of 

 them have asked me to step out and fight, 

 and I guess I still have something for which 

 to be thankful. I am content to find my 

 name in the annual index. 



Well, I have an idea that I believe will 

 interest every beekeeper. Much has been 

 said about boosting honey as to both the 

 price and the demand, and I believe I have 



a solution. Two or thi-ee things have stim- 

 ulated my idea lately, one being how citric- 

 fruit growers have created a demand for 

 their goods by advertising, and the pine- 

 apple industry is following the same course. 

 Evidently it is a success, otherwise their 

 advertising would not continue. Did you 

 ever watch a garbage-wagon going thru an 

 alley? I did, and what do you think I saw? 

 An awful lot of empty karo-cans, evidently 

 sold b}' advertising; and just suppose those 

 cans had been empty honey-cans ! Would 

 not we be a-flying? It takes money to ad- 

 vertise, and no feasible solution has ever 

 been offered, but I know of one. I would 

 have the National issue stamps, beautifully 

 lithographed in two or more colors, giim- 

 med and j^erforated, and the same size of 

 our postage stamps, or, jierhajis, more like 

 our Red Cross stamps. They could be 

 offered by the National and associations, 

 and publishers and supply-dealers would 

 gladly act as agents. They would be used 

 on the backs of letters, and thousands of 

 beekeepers would be glad to use them, even 

 tho they were not members of any associa- 

 tion nor even reading a bee publication. 

 Tliey could be sold at any fixed price, say 

 one dollar per hundred, or may be fifty 

 cents per hundred. The money thus brought 

 in could be used by a committee in judi- 



