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Range of Bee's Flight, Bees and Botany, Longevity of the Queen Bee · American Bee Journal

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  Section ten of The American Bee Journal, Volume one, number one, January
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  eighteen sixty one. This is a LibriVox recording. All LibriVox recordings are in
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  the public domain. For more information or to volunteer, please visit LibriVox dot
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  org. Read by Stacem the American Bee Journal, Volume one, number one,
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  January eighteen sixty one. By various range of bee's flight, Bees and
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  botany, longevity of the queen bee. Range of bee's flight, the distance
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  to which bees will fly in search of pasturage and together honey, has been
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  the subject of much discussion and controversy. I regard it as depending so much
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  on circumstances that it is rather a matter for observation in each particular locality than
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  one to which any general rule can be applicable. I conceive it to be
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  the province of each apiarian to study his own location, and to be governed
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  by the circumstances by which he finds himself surrounded. Seasons, climate, the
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  character of the prevalant vegetation, the nature of the cultivated crops, their customary
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  rotation, et cetera, must all be taken into consideration, as they exert
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  a controlling influence on the resources which the bees can't command. As these vary,
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  so also must vary the abundance or scarcity of the pasturage resulting therefrom and
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  the range of the bee's flight in quest of their coveted treasures must necessarily be
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  influenced and determined. Thereby, When distant points present no superior attraction, the
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  bees will certainly not fly far. But when the immediate vicinage withholds what more
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  distant areas offer, their excursions take a wider range and extend very far.
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  These diversities vary with the varying season, are effected did by the prevalent course
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  of the wind, and are influenced by the kind of crop under cultivation.
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  They are governed, too, by the situation of the locality in which bee
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  culture is prosecuted. On an extensive level plane or prairie of uniform climate and
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  uniform vegetation, bees do not usually fly far, and there it does not
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  unfrequently happen that they fail to secure the requisite supplies of honey, because when
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  the ordinary fountains of nectar are dried up, the failure is universal in the
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  entire area to which they have access. In such case, the monotonous character
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  of the vegetation all around necessarily renders failure and famine synonymous so far as the
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  bees are concerned. A fertile valley with its adjacent hills presents a more happy
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  combination, and the bee's flight is less limited, extending sometimes to the distance
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  of three or four miles. The earlier blooming flowers in the bosom of the
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  valley and the later supplies furnished by the flora of the hillsides give to bees
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  their located a decided advantage. Short crops or failures are rare in such situations,
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  because a succession of pasturage is offered to the busy gatherers and provides them
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  with constant employment from spring till fall. Unfavorable weather never cuts off their resources
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  so entirely as to prevent them from providing adequate stores even in the worst years.
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  But it must not be forgotten that very distant sources of supply, such
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  as are situated two or three miles from the aperary, are never of much
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  account, however, ample in themselves, as much time is lost in passing
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  to and fro and many perish on the journey. Hence, it is customary
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  in many parts of Europe for the beekeepers to perform a sort of mahatmatan miracle
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  in behalf of their cherished charge. And as the pasturage cannot come to the
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  bees, they carry the bees to the pasturage by transporting their hives. Thither
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  s s bees and botany. Each species of the genus APIs appears to have
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  some special classes of forage plants assigned to it for use by the creator.
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  The blossom of the red clover and the flowers of bonner veil sympetom of thisenal
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  a bound and honey inaccessible to the common bee, but easily reached and appropriated
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  by the humble bee, which is in its turn unable to gather from the
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  smaller kinds of flowers. The case is similar with the tobacco plant, the
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  purple lamium, the dead nettle, et cetera, which have all been designated
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  by botanists as honey plants. They are visited by the humble bees only and
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  not by the common bees. The same is the case likewise with the asters,
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  the lupins, the dutches, the bees and the beans. Bees generally
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  prefer gathering from the blossoms of one kind of trees or plants exclusively when several
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  kinds are simultaneously in blossom. Thus all other flowers are forsaken. For those
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  of the lindens. While these are in bloom, and those of the locust
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  tree constitute a universal attraction to the exclusion and neglect of all others, they
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  will forsake their favorite rape. If buckwheat be in blossom at the same time,
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  the crown Imperial secretes honey abundantly at the base of the petals. Yet
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  I have never seen a bee gathering therefrom. Whether this be from an aversion
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  to the odor of the plant, or some distasteful quality of its secretions,
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  or because some other more attractive flowers blooming at the same time invite and engage
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  their labors, I have not yet been able to ascertain a longevity of the
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  queen bee. Queen bees usually die in their fourth year, though they have
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  been known to live longer. There is therefore very great advantage in hives,
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  which allow her, when she has passed the period of her greatest fertility,
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  to be easily removed. See our article on hives in this number. End
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  of section ten