Hi all
I spend a bit of time combing the old bee magazines for items of interest. This is from 1892 and it is the earliest mention I have seen about drone congregation areas (I have broken it into paragraphs; it was originally one long column).
DRONES CONGREGATING.
In a recent paper I see that my name is mentioned in connection with that of A. I. Root and others as having seen queens mated in the apiary by drones from the same apiary, the writer trying to make out the theory true, that is put forth by some, that different races of bees can be kept as near together as two miles and not intermingle. What A. I. Root has seen, I do not know; but when I witnessed the mating of a queen and drone I was at least two miles from any apiary, and gave the fact in connection with the idea that drones had certain places where they congregated, which I then, as now, believe to be the truth in the matter.
If drones congregate in certain places, it would be but natural that they should be drawn to these places; and the fact that one queen was known to mate at such a congregation of drones went quite a way with me in leading me to believe that queens in general were so mated. As many are now trying to improve their stock by rearing queens from one strain of bees and their drones from another Strain, some writing me that they have two queens which they wish to breed from, raising drones from one and queens from the other, this matter of drones congregating should be of interest to such, and also to all who have any ideas of the improvement of stock along certain lines.
If drones do thus congregate, and the queens go to this congregation, it must be apparent to all, that, where there are any bees in the woods, or bees kept by the farmers within the flying distance of drones, our queen will stand a poor chance of mating one of the desired drones, as long as the colonies kept on the let-alone plan will raise ten drones to where our colonies rear one. Where I witnessed the mating of a queen was on a high hill where I was cutting weeds out of a cornfield the fore part of August. On every fine afternoon, from one to three o’clock, there was such a humming in the air overhead that it seemed that a swarm of bees must be going over, and at first I looked for them; but seeing nothing I concluded that it was flies of some kind.
One hot day, being tired I lay down to rest; and hearing this swarming noise I shaded my eyes with my hands and looked steadily up into the clear sky. After a little I could see thousands of living creatures shoot ing in all directions, and finally I saw a dozen or so of these shooting objects give chase after another and overtake it, when the flight was less rapid. Two of them continued circling around, and, nearing the ground, stopped on the tassel of a cornstalk near me. I got up at once; but before l reached the stalk of corn one of them flew away and the other fell to the round. From what I saw of the one which ew away, I called it a queen honey-bee; and upon picking up the one that fell to the ground, I found it was a dead drone.
This solved the mystery of the humming noise; and when I have since heard this same humming in differ ent places I have believed it to be drones in their congregating-places. The fact that this noise is heard only in the early afternoon of pleasant days also proves that drones congregate, or some other insects, for I never heard this noise except at this time of day. If it was made by the worker bees it would be heard in the forenoon as well as in the afternoon.
G. M. Doolittle.
Borodino, N.Y., May 2. 1892
[So far as my experience goes, friend Doolittle is entirely right in what he says in the above. Not only do drones thus congregate, but a kind of flying ants may often be seen during pleasant days along in the fall, congregating and mating. as I have already mentioned at length in an article on the subject, given in GLEANINGS several years ago.] A. I. R.
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