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TWENTY-SECOND CHAPTER. 



ON THE EXTENT OF THE FLIGHT OF BEES, AND THE 

 COUNTRIES MOST SUITABLE TO THEIR CULTURE. 



IMPORTANCE OF THE QUESTION OF THE EXTENT OF THE FLIGHT OF THE 

 BEE — ADVANTAGES OF THE PROXIMITY OF FOOD — CAUSES OF THE SHORT 



LIFE OF THE BEE — ESTABLISHMENT OF AN APIARY AT BRIGHTON 



CAUSES OF ITS FAILURE — THE EXTENT OF THE FLIiiHT OF THE BEE, AC- 

 CORDING TO THE ENCYCLOPEDISTS, DETERMINED BY THE COLOUR OF THE 

 FARINA — EXPERIMENT TO DETERMINE THE FLIGHT OF THE BEE — "VISIT 

 TO THE ISLE OF BAS — BEES FOUND ON THE ISLAND — EXTRAORDINARY 

 POWER OF INSTINCT IN THE BEE — OPINION OF L'ABBE DELLA ROCCA — 

 ERRONEOUS OPINION OF DR. CHAMBERS AND DR. HUNTER — TRAVELLING 

 APIARIES OF GERMANY' — ERRORS IN THE CALCULATION OF A GERMAN 

 MILE — OPINION OF HUBER — AN APIARY NOT TO BE SUPPORTED BY" ARTI- 

 FICIAL MEANS — CULTIVATED FLOWERS OF LITTLE USE TO THE EEE — THE 

 PARTICULAR PRODUCE OF A COUNTRY' TO BE STUDIED BY EVERY KEEPER 



OF BEES NUMBER OF HIVES WHICH ANY GIVEN TRACT OF COUNTRY CAN 



MAINTAIN — DANGER OF OVERSTOCKING A COUNTRY WITH HIVES AVER- 

 AGE NUMBER OF HIVES OF THE ENGLISH APIARIES — EXTENSIVE APIARY 

 AT COBHAM, IN KENT ECCENTRIC CONDUCT OF THE PROPRIETOR — EX- 

 TENT OF THE NUMBER OF HIVES TO BE KEPT IN ANY APIARY OPINION 



OF M. LA GRENEE — THE SAME REFUTED — ANALOGY BETWEEN CATTLE 

 AND HIVES OF BEES. 



The question of the distance to which a bee can extend its 

 flight, is not of that minor importance 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 apiary is to 

 be attributed. It may also be confidently affirmed, that the 

 comparative excellence of the position of an apiary depends 

 in a great measure on the greater or less distance, which the 

 bees have to fly for their food ; for it is a rational deduction, 

 that the bees, who have to travel three or four miles to the 

 fields of their pasture, cannot collect an equal quantity of 

 honey with those, who have to travel only half a mile ; as the 

 latter can make four journeys whilst the former can only make 

 one, independently of the consequent risk which the bees 

 incur who have to travel to a great distance, by having to 

 cross rivers and lakes, and of being dashed into them by the 

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