Connected with the foregoing subject of transporting bees from place to place, is the question of the distance to which bees extend their flight in search of food, &c.; and the comparative excellence of the position of an apiary depends in some measure on the greater or less distance the bees will have to fly to their pasturage.
Dr. Chambers, and Dr. Hunter were of opinion, that the bee cannot extend its flight beyond a mile, which idea they adopted on the authority of Schirach; but then it must be recollected that the German mile of Schirach is equal to about 3-1/2 English miles.
It was the opinion of Huber, that the radii of the circle of the flight of the bee extended nearly to four English miles. And Huish says "The travelling apiaries of Germany, particularly those of Hanover, are regulated by the prevailing opinion, that the bee can, and does, extend its flight to four and even five miles; and acting upon that supposition, when the bee-masters move their apiaries, they always travel about two stunden, that is, about eight miles, as they then calculate that the bees are beyond the former range of their pasture by four miles." And adds, "a travelling apiary of 80 or 100 hives will exhaust the food within the area of a circle of four miles in about a fortnight or three weeks."
"But certainly there is no reason to fear that any part of this country will be overstocked with bees, for where one hive is now kept, fifty might be kept without running any risk of overstocking the country; for the average number of hives in the various apiaries does not exceed five."
"It has been calculated" says another authority, "that the pastures of Scotland could maintain as many bees as would produce 4,000,000 pints of honey, and 1,000,000 lbs. of wax; and were these quantities tripled for England and Ireland, the produce of the British empire would be 12,000,000 pints of honey, and 3,000,000 lbs. of wax per annum, worth about five shillings per pint for the honey, and one shilling and sixpence per lb. for the wax, making an annual produce in money of about 3,225,000l.
But in consequence of the present neglect of this branch of rural economy, we pay annually nearly 12,000l. for honey alone.
The imports and exports of wax bleached and unbleached were as follows:
| Imported. | Exported. | Returned for home Consumption. | the rate of Duty | ||||||
| 1831. | 1832. | 1831. | 1832. | 1831. | 1832. | £ | s. | d. | |
| Unbleached | 7,005 | } Cwt.4,349 | 1,878 | } Cwt.2,536 | 10,002 | } { Cwt.826 | 1 | 10 | 0 |
| Bleached | 195 | 504 | 94 | 3 | 0 | 0 | |||
| Produce of Duty. | |||||||||
| Unbleached | £ 10,262 | ||||||||
| Bleached | 823 | ||||||||
The price of wax varies (duty included) from 5l. to 10l. a cwt.
In 1831, 7,203 cwt. of wax were imported, of which 3,892 cwt. of it came from Western Africa; 1,551, from Tripoli, Barbary, &c.; and 910 cwt. from the United States.