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Most ViewedAn Experiment 2An Experiment Burying Bees Expense Of Renewing Combs Time Of Greatest Irritability Remedial Experiments Bee Pasturage Bees Do Not Increase If Full After The First Year In Same Hive One Like Common Hive Preferred Not Properly Understood Least ViewedAn Experiment 2An Experiment Burying Bees Expense Of Renewing Combs Time Of Greatest Irritability Remedial Experiments Bee Pasturage Bees Do Not Increase If Full After The First Year In Same Hive One Like Common Hive Preferred Not Properly Understood |
How Far Will They Go In Search Of A Home?Category: SWARMING. How far they will travel in search of a home, is also uncertain. I have heard of their going seven miles, but could not learn how the fact was proved. I have no experience of my own in this matter, but will relate a circumstance that happened near me a few years since. A neighbor was ploughing, when a swarm passed over him; being near the earth, he "pelted them heartily" with the loose dirt he had ploughed up, which seemed to bring them up, or rather down, as they clustered on a very low bush; they were hived, and gave no further trouble. A man living some three miles from this neighbor, on that day hived a swarm about eleven o'clock, and left them to warm up in the sun as described a page or two back; about three o'clock their stock of patience was probably exhausted, when they resolved to seek a better shelter. They put off in a great hurry, not even waiting to thank their owner for the spread on his table, and the sweet-scented "yarbs" and good things with which he had rubbed their hive. They gave him no notice whatever of their intention to "quit," until they were moving! With all their goods ready packed, they were soon under way, accompanied by their owner with music; but whether they marched with martial precision, keeping time, is uncertain. In this case the bees took the lead; the man with his tin-pan music kept the rear, and was soon at a respectful distance. They were either not in a mood, just then, to be charmed by melodious sounds, or their business was too urgent to allow them to stop and listen! Their means of locomotion being superior to his, he gave up in despair, out of breath, after following about a mile. Another person, about the same time in the day, saw a swarm moving in the same direction of the first; he also followed them till compelled to yield to their greater travelling facilities. A third discovered their flight and attempted a race, but like the others soon came out behind. The before-mentioned neighbor saw them, and thought of the fresh earth that he had ploughed up, which he threw among them till they stopped. How much farther they would have gone, if any, would be guessing. That it was the same swarm that started three miles away, appears almost certain; the direction was the same as seen by all, until they were stopped; the time in the day also exactly corresponded. We will now return to the issuing of the swarms. There will be some emergencies to provide for, and some exceptions to notice. Next: Two Or More Swarms Liable To Unite Previous: Some Compulsion
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