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diff --git a/.gitattributes b/.gitattributes new file mode 100644 index 0000000..d7b82bc --- /dev/null +++ b/.gitattributes @@ -0,0 +1,4 @@ +*.txt text eol=lf +*.htm text eol=lf +*.html text eol=lf +*.md text eol=lf diff --git a/LICENSE.txt b/LICENSE.txt new file mode 100644 index 0000000..6312041 --- /dev/null +++ b/LICENSE.txt @@ -0,0 +1,11 @@ +This eBook, including all associated images, markup, improvements, +metadata, and any other content or labor, has been confirmed to be +in the PUBLIC DOMAIN IN THE UNITED STATES. + +Procedures for determining public domain status are described in +the "Copyright How-To" at https://www.gutenberg.org. + +No investigation has been made concerning possible copyrights in +jurisdictions other than the United States. Anyone seeking to utilize +this eBook outside of the United States should confirm copyright +status under the laws that apply to them. diff --git a/README.md b/README.md new file mode 100644 index 0000000..cf96a09 --- /dev/null +++ b/README.md @@ -0,0 +1,2 @@ +Project Gutenberg (https://www.gutenberg.org) public repository for +eBook #65820 (https://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/65820) diff --git a/old/65820-0.txt b/old/65820-0.txt deleted file mode 100644 index ec1b964..0000000 --- a/old/65820-0.txt +++ /dev/null @@ -1,1449 +0,0 @@ -The Project Gutenberg eBook of The Bee Hunter, by George Harold -Edgell - -This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere in the United States and -most other parts of the world at no cost and with almost no restrictions -whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or re-use it under the terms -of the Project Gutenberg License included with this eBook or online at -www.gutenberg.org. If you are not located in the United States, you -will have to check the laws of the country where you are located before -using this eBook. - -Title: The Bee Hunter - -Author: George Harold Edgell - -Release Date: July 10, 2021 [eBook #65820] - -Language: English - -Produced by: Tim Lindell, David E. Brown, and the Online Distributed - Proofreading Team at https://www.pgdp.net (This book was - produced from images made available by the HathiTrust - Digital Library.) - -*** START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE BEE HUNTER *** - - - - - -_THE BEE HUNTER_ - - - - - _The_ BEE HUNTER - - By GEORGE HAROLD EDGELL - - [Illustration] - - 1949 - - HARVARD UNIVERSITY PRESS - CAMBRIDGE, MASSACHUSETTS - - - Copyright 1949 - BY GEORGE HAROLD EDGELL - - _Printed at_ UNIVERSITY PRESS, INC. - CAMBRIDGE, MASSACHUSETTS, U. S. A. - - LONDON: GEOFFREY CUMBERLEGE - OXFORD UNIVERSITY PRESS - -[Illustration] - - - - -THE BEE HUNTER - - -This little treatise is in part the child of frustration, in part -the child of irritation. In a modest way, the writer has been an -author. The first book he ever wrote, an opus of several chapters, -was called “The Bee Hunter.” The writer was then eighteen. Submitted, -on the advice of the late Robert W. Chambers, to his publisher in New -York, the young author was surprised to learn that his manuscript was -rejected. The publisher tactfully pointed out that even the English -translation of Maurice Maeterlinck’s _La Vie des Abeilles_ had lost -money for its publisher. - -The manuscript was put away to gather dust. I believe and trust now -that it is lost. It was terrible. - -So much for the frustration. Now for the irritation. Being an unsung -author on the subject and, more important, a successful bee hunter -of fifty years’ experience, the writer has read a certain number of -articles on bee hunting. One appears every year or two. Starting with -two essays by John Burroughs, one fact is common to all. They are -written by men who never possibly could have found a bee tree, at least -by pursuing the methods they describe. Burroughs came nearest the -truth, but even he seems to have got his account from some farmer with -more imagination than experience. It is time for someone who has hunted -bees and found bee trees to write the facts. For bee hunting is rapidly -becoming a lost art. - -The writer’s interest in the sport began at the age of ten when he -was initiated by an old Adirondacker who had sunk to driving his -grandfather’s mules in Newport, New Hampshire. George Smith, as I shall -call him, was a character, to the youngster as fabulous as Paul Bunyan. -He took his whiskey neat. He smoked and chewed at the same time and -could spit without removing the pipe from his mouth. His profanity -could take the bluing off a gun barrel. Withal, he was one of the -kindest and most generous of men and a mighty bee hunter before the -Lord, or the devil if one prefers. He introduced the boy to the simple -equipment necessary for the art, and though through the years I have -improved it slightly, the fundamentals of the few objects have remained -the same. - -The most important item is the bee box. This one can make oneself if -one is clever, or employ a cabinetmaker to do it from specifications -if, like the writer, one is not. The box should be of wood, about five -and one-half inches long, three inches wide, and three inches deep. -The wood of an old-fashioned cigar box is an excellent material but if -used, the box should be left outdoors some time to weather, as bees -do not like the odor of tobacco. The box should be divided into two -compartments, the front one open with a hinged lid. In the lid there -should be a small glass window which can be darkened by a wooden slide. -Between the front and rear compartments there should be an opening at -the bottom two-thirds of an inch wide which can be opened and closed -by a wooden slide manipulated from the outside. The rear of the inside -compartment should be of glass, covered with a wooden slide which can -be raised on occasion to admit light to the compartment. The box should -be nicely and tightly constructed, shellacked after completion, and -lightproof. Remember, it will be out in all sorts of weather and the -older it is, and the more weathered it becomes, the better the bees -will like it. - -[Illustration: A BEE BOX] - -Provided with the box, the rest is easy. One needs a couple of -pieces of empty honeycomb cut square to drop easily into the front -compartment. The best is old, black comb from an old bee tree, but any -empty comb will do. For nectar it is not necessary to use real honey. -A syrup of common white sugar one-third, and water two-thirds, boiled -for fifteen minutes and then cooled, seems to be as tempting to bees -as real honey. If one keeps it so long that it begins to ferment, no -matter. Bees’ taste is not nice in such matters. Bees will cheerfully -work the fermented juice of a rotten pear. As a refinement, it is well -to provide oneself with a tiny bottle of the oil of anise. If used -sparingly, this will attract bees, and the faint odor on a bee’s feet -will attract others. When I say sparingly, I mean more than the word -ordinarily implies. The cork of the anise bottle rubbed on the comb -and the comb then licked with the tongue will provide anise enough for -one’s purpose. More will make the bees quite drunk, they will refuse to -suck but buzz around looking for the anise and eventually retire to the -flowers to sober up, and you will lose your line. To fill the comb, a -common eye dropper is very handy though not absolutely necessary. It is -handy, too, to have a stand made of an upright piece of wood such as a -four-foot section of a rake handle with a flat board nailed on top and -the lower end sharpened so it can easily be thrust in the ground, but a -stand can always be improvised using a young spruce cut off at the top -or a few stones pilfered from a stone wall. It is also handy to have -another small box with a lid, not a bee box, in which to carry small -objects. The paraphernalia is therefore very simple, and a good bee -hunter can get along if necessary with less. George Smith and I once -started a line using an empty 32 calibre cartridge box and a bit of -comb stolen dangerously from a nest of paper wasps. Finally it would be -well to have a cloth bag or knapsack in which the smaller articles may -be carried, leaving the hands free. - -[Illustration: FILLING THE COMB - -A medicine dropper is convenient when filling the piece of comb with -sugar syrup] - -We are now ready to start but should consider the season. There is -no point in going bee hunting if one can find no bees. Bees begin to -work as soon as spring gets warm and continue until severe frost. This -can be proved by examining any hive on any warm day, but what the -bees are working on is another question. They are hard to find except -during some definite honey flow such as the white clover season or the -milkweed or the goldenrod. Especially the last two are favourable. On -the bee box I have used for a good many years, I have scribbled the -dates of the findings of fifty-six bee trees. Eighty per cent are in -July or September. Only occasionally does one occur in June or August -and practically never in October. July and September mean milkweed and -goldenrod to the bee hunter. - -Let us assume that it is a warm day in mid-July and the milkweed -is in bloom. We find a patch and find it teeming with honey bees. -Incidentally the first step should be to learn what a honey bee looks -like. He resembles a refined and streamlined horsefly and is totally -unlike the fuzzy bumble bee that so many mistakenly regard as honey -bees. One’s first task is to catch a bee. This is done by bringing the -box up sharply under him with the lid open as he sits on the edge of -a bloom and slapping the lid home as he tumbles into the box. It is -not so hard as it sounds, especially if the bee is on a high bloom of -milkweed or goldenrod. It is essential that the bee be caught. During -the midst of a good honey flow a bee will never voluntarily abandon -the flowers and go to a comb, no matter with what aromatic lure you -may have anointed it. Forget for all time the accounts of writers -who drench a handkerchief with anise and throw it over a bush near a -stand with loaded comb. No bee would come near it. During a starvation -period when flowers are scarce, especially after the autumnal frosts, -a bee will light on the comb if he finds it. Ninety-nine times out of -a hundred, however, the bees will be somewhere else and no bee will -find the comb. There have been exceptions as I shall show, but the only -sensible procedure is to hunt bees during a honey flow when they are -easy to find, and introduce them into the box by violence. - -[Illustration: CATCHING THE BEE - -The bee will be scooped into the outer compartment and the lid snapped -shut simultaneously] - -Having caught the bee in the outer compartment and verifying the fact -that he is there by looking in the window, the next step is to close -the window, darken the outer compartment, open the slide to admit him -to the rear and open the rear window. Seeing the light, the bee will -promptly go in there, seeking escape. Then one can close the rear -compartment and open the front so as to catch another bee. One can -start a line with one bee, but the chance of success is greater if one -has a dozen, and during a good honey flow, if the tree is not too far -away, these can be caught in ten minutes. - -Provided with a dozen bees one is ready to start the line. Fill one of -the pieces of comb with syrup. Thrust in the stand if you have one. -Open the window into the outer compartment and the door between and -admit three or four bees to the part with the comb. They will come if -you open the window in front and darken the rear. Then put the box -down gently, darken the whole box, put your hat over it and leave it -still for three or four minutes. Meanwhile, fill the other comb. -After three or four minutes, place the box on the stand and gently -open the lid. If conditions are right, the bees will have found the -syrup and taken a load in the darkness. Sometimes one or two will not -have finished loading and will sit quietly until they are stuffed to -capacity. If they are loaded, they will fly comparatively slowly as -they take off to return to the hive. When they have left, repeat the -whole process and let out more bees until all have gone. You are now in -the stage of starting to establish the line. - -[Illustration: TRAPPING THE BEE IN THE REAR COMPARTMENT - -The slide on the side of the box is pulled to open the entrance to the -rear compartment, the rear window is opened, and the bee follows the -light into the rear compartment] - -Where most of the nature fakers fall down conspicuously is in -describing how to establish a “bee line” giving the exact direction -of the bee tree. Actually, when a bee leaves for the first time he is -both suspicious and anxious to establish the position of the stand. He -leaves in slowly expanding spirals and figure eights. The hunter rolls -round on his back trying to follow the convolutions of the bee flight -in the air. Usually it ends by the bee flying between the eye and the -sun and thus being lost to view. If the hunter can establish when the -bee leaves for the first time, whether the tree is more north than -south or more east than west, he is doing well. It is not until a bee -has come and gone eight or ten times that he becomes familiar with the -stand, loses his suspicions, and, on taking off, goes in approximately -the direction of the tree thus at last creating a “bee line.” - -[Illustration: LETTING OUT THE BEES - -Two bee boxes are on the stand in this illustration. The lid of the -outer compartment of the top box has just been opened, and the bees are -about to emerge] - -If conditions are right, of your dozen bees four or five will return -for a second load. Again if conditions are right, in an hour or two -these will communicate in some mysterious way with other workers in the -hive that there is free lunch obtainable and the number of bees on the -line will increase. Especially if the tree is near and the flowers -not too profuse, this will happen quickly. At best I have had a hundred -or more bees running my line half an hour after the first bee left. -At times, and this is a common occurrence, no bee will come back at -all. Sometimes the original bees will go back and forth but bring no -companions. Often the bees will refuse to suck at all but will return -on release to the flowers. When that happens, you had best pack up and -go home and wait for more propitious conditions. - -Why bees will load sometimes and not others, fifty years of experience -has left unrevealed. In general, bees run better at the beginning -and end of a honey flow when the flowers are not too profuse and too -plentiful. Certainly if you are fortunate enough to catch a bee after -heavy frosts, yet on a warm day, you will probably establish a roaring -line in a short time. Why, however, sometimes bees will load eagerly -and sometimes ignore the comb is a mystery. No changes in the thickness -of the syrup, no substitution of true honey for the sugar, no aromatic -oils like anise applied to the comb will cause bees to suck if they do -not choose. They will often suck eagerly in the midst of the heaviest -goldenrod season and refuse to suck at other times when flowers are -scarce. Nothing is more frustrating than to catch box after box of -bees and find them unwilling to load. In such case there is nothing -to do but wait a week and try again. The most important quality for a -successful bee hunter is patience. - -[Illustration: BEES ON THE COMB - -The original bees have spread the word to their fellow-workers about -the “free lunch.” The box in this illustration is the one used for -storage of extra comb, the medicine dropper, the bottle of anise, etc.] - -Let us assume, however, that conditions are favourable this July -morning. About ten minutes after the release of the first bee, a bee -comes back. This is one of the most exciting moments in the hunt. An -experienced hunter recognizes the sound of a honey bee instantly, but -for the last five minutes he has jumped at the sound of every doodle -bug that has flown by the stand. The behaviour of the returning bee is -very different from that of the departing one. He dashes in circles -round the stand, darts away again across the field until you think he -will not return, whizzes back to circle the stand again and finally, in -narrowing circles, poises above the comb like a helicopter, his buzz -still shrilling. One waits with bated breath. The buzz ceases. The bee -has come to rest and is loading. The line is started. - -Soon others arrive, and the first comer departs. Once more you try -and take his line but once more he fools you as he leaves in widening -circles. However, one has got the general direction and can take a -position to see better. More information comes as each bee leaves. In -an hour’s time the comb may have twenty bees on it at once and the -arrivals and departures are frequent. Now the bees have begun to be -accustomed to the stand and frequently jump off and fly straight so -that in a good light the eye can follow one for fifty or a hundred -yards. Thus you establish your “bee line.” It is never exact, however. -No two bees have exactly the same idea as to the best way home. If, -for example, there is a large tree in the direction of the hive and -perhaps a hundred yards from the stand, one bee may bypass it to the -right, another to the left, and a third may lift and go over it. One is -constantly revising one’s decision as to the true line. - -[Illustration: WATCHING THE BEES LEAVE THE COMB - -The general direction of the bees’ flight has been established, and the -hunter has taken up a position a few feet from the stand (_arrow_) from -which he can easily follow the path of the bees in the air] - -By now we are ready to time a bee and see how long he is gone. This -will give one a fair estimate of the distance from the stand to the -tree. A bee takes between one and two minutes to load and as much time -to unload. He may also have to crawl some distance in the tree to -reach the place to deposit his load. He flies at about the speed of a -human sprinter, say a quarter of a mile a minute. If he is gone eight -minutes, the tree is not too far away. If he is gone twelve minutes, -the hunter has a long job ahead. If he is gone four minutes, the tree -is very close. The longest I remember having a bee absent and still -being able to run a line and find the tree was fifteen minutes. The -shortest was two and one-half minutes, and then the tree was actually -in sight of the stand, though I did not know it at the time. Twenty -minutes is hopeless. No bee will bring others back at that distance, -and it is better to abandon the stand, move a mile or more in the -direction the bee has taken, catch more bees, and repeat the whole -process nearer the tree. - -In order to time a bee it is necessary to be able to identify an -individual. George Smith used to do this by extracting some seed or -pollen from the bud of a small mossy plant and sprinkling a little -of the green dust on the back of a bee. At best it was an uncertain -process as the dust was liable to be blown off before the bee’s -return, and even if not, was hard to see. I have evolved a simpler and -better system. To our equipment as already described, let us add a -small bottle of water, a tiny camel’s hair brush, and a piece of blue -carpenter’s chalk. With the blade of a penknife, scrape some dust from -the chalk onto the back of a smooth stone or the blade of a hand axe -if you carry one. Incidentally a small scout’s axe is a handy thing -to have for clearing brush, making stands, marking the bee tree when -you have found it, and blazing a trail from it if it is deep in the -woods and should be hard to find again. On the chalk dust, with the -brush, drop a few drops of water and stir till the water is coloured -blue. Then with the wet brush dab the rear of a loading bee. This must -be done deftly and gently. Bees do not like to be painted. A good -hunter can guess which bee is apt to be unreasonably phlegmatic and, -especially if one is loading from a half empty cell, with the shoulders -buried and his tail raised, he can be painted without disturbing him. -Once daubed, the new decoration does not annoy him in the least and is -not noticed by his fellows. When wet, the spot shows only slightly, but -by the time the bee returns, the chalk dust will be dry and will stand -out like a beacon so vivid that it can be spotted even before the bee -alights. We now have an identifiable bee and can time him. - -Let us suppose he takes seven or eight minutes a trip to the tree and -back. One should time him two or three times to be accurate and not be -disturbed if the time varies a little. We now have a bee line and some -idea of the distance of the tree. - -Now it is time to move. One might ask why, knowing the direction and -the approximate distance, one does not immediately hunt for the tree. -The answer is that there are ten thousand trees in the woods and only -one the bee tree. One can never be sure of the exact line or, with any -exactitude, the distance. Sometimes when one has narrowed the problem -to an area of a hundred yards square, it is hard to find the tree. So -once more the bee box is placed on the stand, a loaded comb dropped -into the front compartment and the lid left open. The spare comb should -be hidden carefully. Great ire on the part of the bees. They again -become suspicious and do not want to enter the box. As more arrive, -the air is filled with a disgusted humming. In time the temptation is -too great and one after another a bee drops down to the comb. When ten -or a dozen have done so, snap down the lid of the box and drive them -into the rear compartment as before. They are reluctant to go, but a -puff of cigarette smoke blown through a crack in the lid will send -them scurrying to the rear in search of purer air. Close the slide, -reopen the box, place it on the stand and catch another lot. Catch all -you can. Then pull up the stand, gather up your paraphernalia and move -three or four hundred yards down the line. Then set up the stand and -release the bees in batches of eight or ten. - -This is another critical moment. Will the bees stand moving? If you -have mistaken the line and moved off it too far to the left or right, -the bees may not come back, and you will have to return to the first -stand and start over again. The same is true if the swarm is weak or -the flowers too tempting. The time seems interminable. I have a theory, -which I cannot prove, that on the first move the bees return to the -first stand before investigating the possibilities of the second. -Conditions are right on this day, however, and after a time we hear the -welcome hum of the first returning bee, quickly followed by a second -and a third. The bees will stand moving. Success seems assured. - -Theoretically it is. All one has to do is to continue to move the bees -until the tree is reached or passed, in which case the line reverses -and proves that the tree is between the last and the next to the last -stands. If it were as simple as that, bee hunting would not be the art -and the fun that it is. In the first place, in order to reestablish a -line, the stand should be set up in a clearing. We have now reached the -woods and possibly no clearings are available. Released in the woods, -a bee circles up into the trees and disappears. Sometimes it is hard -to tell whether he goes forward or back. The moves have to be shorter. -Often if one moves beyond the tree, the bees will not come back, and -you have lost your line. Above all, the lining must be straight. If you -meet a swamp, you must go through it. If you meet a cliff, you must -go up it. If you meet a pond, you must go round it and set up at just -the right point on the opposite side. All this takes time. You must be -prepared to spend two or three days before finding the tree. Meanwhile, -as the tree draws near, the bees tumble out in greater numbers until -literally there are hundreds buzzing about and going back and forth, -and one has to refill the comb frequently. - -This brings up another point: the danger of being stung. The newcomer -is apt to be terrified as the bees buzz round his head while the hunter -is tending the stand. The answer I can give categorically. There is -absolutely no danger whatever of being stung while running a line. The -bees are entirely friendly. They will fight among themselves if two -swarms are involved. They will fight a hornet if he has accidentally -found the comb. The hunter who is supplying them with free syrup they -would not think of molesting. The only possibility of getting stung -is some careless accident. I was once stung when a friendly bee had -lighted on my khaki shirt and, not noticing him, I put my arm down -and squeezed him against my side. Naturally, he let drive at my ribs. -The fault was mine, not his. One can even imprison a bee in one’s -cupped hands and he will crawl round and try to find his way out, but -if you do not squeeze him, he will not think of stinging you. I once -was lining a swarm in the middle of the goldenrod honey flow when a -terrific hailstorm came up and leveled all the flowers. The next day -the bees were desperate. Their bee pasture was gone and they were mad -for syrup. I soon had what seemed to be half the hive around me. They -came not in hundreds, but in thousands. Even to an old hunter it was -a little terrifying, but absolutely harmless. One had to exercise -caution. Feeling a curious tickling on the left side of my breast, I -discovered that some two dozen bees had found the anise bottle in my -shirt pocket and had gone in to investigate. It was quite a job to get -the anise bottle out and persuade the bees to come too, but I did it -without accident. The only danger to the amateur is that he lose his -head and try to slap a bee that he thinks is dangerously near his face. -If he does, he may be stung. He ought to be. It is worth repeating -because to the newcomer it seems incredible. There is absolutely no -danger of being stung while running a bee line. - -As we draw nearer the tree, the moves are shorter and made more -quickly. Now there is no worry about losing the line. Indeed, the bees -not trapped will often follow the hunter on a short move and, as the -imprisoned bees are released, others, arriving from behind, will drop -on the comb. Now the hunter is convinced that the tree must be in -sight. Usually it isn’t. As soon as it is established that the line -still goes ahead, the hunter will go down the line, carefully examining -every likely tree. This gives him exercise, puts in the time, and -enables him to find a good place for the next stand if it is necessary -to establish one. Usually it is. At last, however, one of two things -happens. Either the hunter finds the tree or, after a move, the bees -will be a long time coming back, or, if it is a long move, though it -should not be, they may not come back at all. When bees have been -running well and suddenly are slow to return, it is suspicious and -auspicious. When the line is at last reestablished, the behaviour of -the bees is odd. They will circle off in all directions in the most -exasperating fashion. At last one or two will fly reasonably straight, -and it dawns on the hunter that the line has reversed itself and the -bees are going back. The tree is between this and the last stand. It is -only a matter now of looking carefully enough to discover the tree. - -Even then one cannot consider the battle won. A bee tree can be -extraordinarily hard to find. The likeliest trees are maples, beeches, -and hemlocks, but the hunter must look everywhere. Smith used to have -a theory that if the bees rose high as they left the stand, the hole -was high in the air. If they pitched low, the hole was low. He also -pretended to guess the kind of tree that the bees were in by the colour -of the bees. Light-coloured bees were likely to be in a maple. Very -dark ones might be in a dead pine. There is something in all this but -not much. One time we were running a line of light-coloured bees that -pitched high, and I told Smith we had better look high up in maples. -His reply was: - -“You look high in the maples and low in the cedars and up and down all -trunks and branches, hard wood and soft, big enough to hold a hive and -you can be sure of just one thing. When you do find them, they’ll be -where you don’t expect them.” - -A sound aphorism and worth following. It was this same Smith one time -when we were fishing for trout and not finding them in one or two -favoured holes, tried elsewhere in less likely places and found them, -who said: - -“If you want to catch fish, you’ve got to fish where the fish is, and -if they ain’t there, you fish where they ain’t and there they’ll be.” - -Of course, the greatest thrill of the hunt comes when one finds the -tree. Sometimes it is abrupt, if the hole is in an unshaded limb or -bole in plain view. More often it is in a position where one has to -manoeuvre to see it, and the first warning comes when one sees the -flash of wings in the air and, in an agony of hope and doubt, moves -about until the hole can be seen and the presence of the swarm truly -verified. Even when the tree is pinned between two stands, it may take -a long time. I remember one tree that we had so pinned. I had with me -my son, who is a good bee hunter, a companion of his, and a couple of -rank amateurs. The five of us tramped the area between the two stands -for an hour before I found the hive. It was in a smallish swamp maple -that divided into two boles four feet above the ground. Neither hole -was big enough to hold bees, so we had passed it unsuspecting. In the -crotch where the boles divided was a hole and into this the bees were -dropping, making their home in the short trunk near the ground. After -we had found it we noted that we had actually trampled a path through -the ferns within fifteen feet of the tree. - -[Illustration: THE BEE TREE - -The bees have entered the hole indicated by the arrow in an otherwise -sound maple tree. Bees rarely choose a dead tree in which to make their -hive] - -The commonest and most foolish question I am asked is how long it -takes to find a bee tree. According to my experience it is somewhere -between forty-three minutes and two years. I have already mentioned the -accident of setting up a stand within sight of the tree and finding it -in less than an hour. Another time it was not an accident but a well -calculated guess. In late September I was gunning in the Blue Mountain -Forest area in New Hampshire. The day was unseasonably warm. I found -no game, but observed a great many bees working the few goldenrod that -were left and some late asters. I well knew the terrain. A little to -the southwest was a small old sugar bush with large maples. To the -northwest but still near was another somewhat larger. Beyond and in all -directions had been pine forest that had recently been lumbered. There -would be almost no chance for bees to set up in that area and therefore -they must be in one of the two sugar groves. I went home, got my bee -box and started a line near the small sugar bush. The line came quickly -and I never moved. Following the line from the box, I found the bees in -the third tree I examined. It took less than three quarters of an hour. - -Now for the other end of the scale. Years ago when I was still a -boy, Smith and I started a line that ran up the steep slope of the -southern-saddleback of Croydon Mountain. The timber was thick, the -slope at times ladder-like, and the hunting difficult. We made -several moves and then hunted for the tree. We could not find it and -eventually gave it up. The following summer we struck the same line and -hunted it again. Evidently the bees had wintered well, but still we -could not find the tree. The next summer we got the same line. By that -time our dander was up and we decided to find that tree. We ran a line -as well as possible. Then we began to examine the timber horizontally -back and forth across the line, blazing our paths to make sure that the -whole area was covered. After a time, I heard a yell and considerable -profanity accompanying it. It was below me, and I scrambled down the -steep slope. The profanity seemed to come from a clump of young spruce -out of which projected the old bole of a fallen maple. Smith had -stepped on the bole, slipped, and shot through the young spruces ending -with his legs on either side of the stump of the fallen tree. The bees -were in that. One could have passed within ten feet and not known that -there was anything there that could harbour a colony of bees. We had -our tree, but it had taken a little over two years to find it. - -A word about cross lining. The literary experts seem always to find -their quarry by cross lining. They catch a bee, release it, and take -its line. Then they move a quarter of a mile, catch another and take -its line. By triangulation, where the two lines meet, there will be the -tree. _Pas plus difficile que ça!_ Unfortunately, as we have seen, one -cannot get even remotely an accurate line the first time a bee leaves. -Moreover, if one could, there would be a good chance that bee number -two came from another colony. One would get a line north and another -northwest, and where they met, there would be the tree. Nevertheless, -cross lining should not be ruled out. Sometimes one will get a line too -weak to be worth following. Trying in another place one may get another -weak line that seems to cross at a distance the first. If one goes to -about where the two seem to meet, there is a good chance that one will -be near a bee tree. - -Let me illustrate with an amusing example. Three years ago I was bee -hunting on the hills not far from my home in New Hampshire. I got -a weak line nearly east and directly toward the little village of -Croydon Flat. I decided that I must have got onto a tame swarm, though -I could think of no one in Croydon Flat who kept bees. However, it -was obviously time to try another area and I drove to the Flat and -took a road northwest for a mile and a half, caught bees, and set up -a stand. I got a weak line southeast, again directly toward Croydon -Flat. I hunted up a friend who lived there, one Orrin Pillsbury, and -he assured me that nobody in the Flat kept bees. The village is tiny, -the intervale small, there is good hard wood timber near and no reason -why a wild swarm should not have located near the village. I caught -bees and set up in the vegetable garden back of Orrin’s house. I soon -had a good line northeast, but it went over the house, and since some -energetic bees flew over the house, others preferred to clear only -the ell and still others went round, we had no accurate line. I moved -across the village street to a field on the other side. The bees were -a long time coming back and when they did, they established a line -northwest. Here was a cross line with a vengeance. We investigated, -thinking the bees were in one of the elms of the village street. I -soon found them pouring in and out of a chimney on the house of one Cy -Cummings. Cy had two chimneys and he only used one. The bees had set -up in the other. That was one wild swarm I found that did me no good. -Cy obligingly let us into the house, but when I suggested opening the -disc in the second floor designed for the admission of a stove pipe, he -mutinied. That was not unreasonable as I could not have got my head in -to see, and the bees could have got out into the bedroom. Cy distrusts -bees. I believe subsequently he built a fire in the chimney and brought -down a mass of spoiled honey, dead bees, and melted wax. A great waste. - -This brings up another point. The writer has been fortunate in that the -bulk of his hunting has been within the preserve of the Blue Mountain -Forest Association in Sullivan County, New Hampshire. There, if one -starts a line of bees, one can be sure it is a wild swarm. There are -no farms with domestic bees in the area. Most hunters, however, have -to hunt in country districts where there are farms, the owners of -which may well keep bees. It will be wise, therefore, before going -hunting, to ascertain the localities where tame bees are kept. Nothing -is more frustrating than to start a line, get it going well, run it -several moves, and end in a farmer’s backyard with the revelation that -a hard day’s work has done no more than adulterate his honey with a -half a pint of sugar syrup. This happened to me once, but it has not -happened again. New Hampshire is largely wooded, and if a line heads -for a deep woods on a mountain slope, one can be reasonably sure that -one is trailing a wild swarm. Do not, however, let that prevent you -from lining a wild swarm near a locality where there are tame bees. -Many wild swarms are simply once removed from the domestic variety. -Even a good apiarist often loses a colony when his bees swarm at an -inconvenient time, and the new colony may set up quarters not far -from the old. For years I refrained from starting a line from my own -lawn because of the presence a mile and a quarter away of a number -of colonies belonging to a gentleman known as Chicken Smith. Chicken -Smith’s bees used my flowers regularly. Then one day I decided to start -a line anyway just for interest and found a wild swarm in my own sugar -bush. - -One question often asked is how much honey one gets from a bee tree. -The amount varies enormously. My record is ninety-seven pounds of -unstrained honey from one tree. It was not a large tree, but it had -a large hollow. It involved a terrific fight with the bees, as one -would expect, and both my companion and I were rather well stung, but -we filled a wash boiler with honey and then had to go home for more -containers. On the other hand, one may take up a tree and get only a -pound or two. I remember taking up an old rock maple. Its branches were -so wide that when we cut it down, it merely leaned on its elbows and -we had to cut it three times before we could get to the entrance to -the hive. The wood was so heavy and the grain so gnarled that a steel -wedge held against the wood and struck with a sledge, would bounce off. -To get into the hollow was about as easy as cracking a safe, and it -took three of us over three hours. Our reward was one piece of filled -comb smaller than the palm of my hand. It is all a gamble and part of -the fascination of the hunt. As an average, I should say one ought to -expect to get eighteen to twenty pounds of strained honey from a tree. - -As to the number of moves, that varies from no move at all, as we have -seen, to a dozen or even more. The longest line I remember I started -years ago in the clearing at the base of Croydon Mountain. The line -took me up the steepest slope to the ridge just north of the summit. -Thence it carried over the ridge and down the opposite side. When it -came time to take up the tree, it was easier to come in from the north -than from the south along the line I had followed. It took me three -days, and I made fifteen moves. When bees are running well, one can -leave them in the late afternoon and pick them up again next day. On -leaving them, one fills every available piece of comb, weights the box -with a stone so it will not be blown off in case of a sudden wind, and -puts one piece of comb in the outer compartment with the lid propped -up only half an inch so that in case of rain at least one comb will -retain undiluted syrup. In spite of all this, when one returns next -day, usually every piece of comb is empty and the bees gone. It is hard -not to be discouraged, but there is no need to be. Fill the comb and -wait. In five, ten, or twenty minutes a bee will come for one more look -to see if a trifle of sweet may still be gleaned. He will load, depart, -and in half an hour you will have a roaring line once more. - -Bee hunting brings some odd experiences. As boys, my brother and I were -bee hunting with Smith and found the bees in the base of a rock maple -on the edge of the woods, in a fissure not five feet from the ground. -It was late September and we decided to take up the tree forthwith. It -was not necessary to fell the tree, but merely to cut into the hollow -to get the honey. We had, however, no nets or gloves, so we built a -smudge to drive back and stupefy the bees while we were getting the -honey. We made a good haul and drove back to camp three miles away that -evening and had ourselves a Gargantuan meal of brook trout, flapjacks, -and new honey. After supper we went out to listen to the bugling of -the elk with which the preserve was stocked and, looking across the -valley, we saw a bright light. Our smudge had set fire to the tree. -We drove back and found the hollow interior a furnace. There was no -water available, and the fire had burned high up in the hollow. We -had no means to extinguish it, nor did we dare leave it for fear the -tree would fall and the fire spread. The elk were bugling merrily, and -in those days an old bull in the rutting season was quite capable of -attacking a man. We finally climbed onto a large branch of the nearest -maple and spent a restless night telling stories and waiting for the -fire to burn itself out. Fortunately, by morning it had. - -Sometimes the attempt to find a tree is unusually baffling. One time -my son and I lined and cross lined a swarm until we narrowed the -search to two or three trees. The likeliest was a beech, but though we -occasionally got a glitter of wings in the air, we could not be sure -that we had the tree. It was not until we had gone home and returned -with a powerful pair of field glasses that we were able to distinguish -the bees in the foliage forty-five feet in the air and near enough the -hole to make us certain that we had our bee tree. The actual hole -itself we did not see until we felled the tree and took up the swarm. -Another time I had run the line to the top of a mountain and then the -line reversed itself. Between the two last stands there was nothing -but bull spruce not big enough to hold a colony, and moreover I had -never heard of bees in a spruce. Tree by tree I examined the terrain. I -finally found the bees dropping down into the roots of a spruce where -there was a hollow partly in the wood and partly in the ground where -the colony had settled. It was a miserable little swarm, and I never -bothered to take it up. The next summer it was gone, as I had expected -in the case of a foolish swarm that had selected so unsuitable an -habitation. - -Does one ever find a bee tree by accident? Yes, but very, very rarely. -I once was eating my luncheon beside a mountain brook and noticed a -honey bee loading water at a wet spot. He flew off and soon came back. -I got out my watch and timed him. He was gone two minutes. I rose and -went in the direction of his departure and found the tree fifty yards -away. This was without benefit of bee box or syrup, but did involve -lining of a sort. On the other hand, I once found a tree on top of a -mountain and, choosing a different way down, found another bee tree -two hundred yards from the first. My guess is that the older colony -had swarmed, and the new commune had decided to set up in the nearest -suitable place to the old. Another tree I found accidentally due to an -amusing mistake. My companion had had some experience in bee hunting, -and when I started out to catch some bees I asked her to fill the comb -for me so as to be ready when I returned with the bees. She did so, -however filling the comb from the anise bottle instead of the syrup -bottle. There was nothing for it but to go all the way home for fresh -comb and start over again. On the way back we discovered a large colony -of bees in a huge pine which we had passed unnoticed as we had gone out -the first time. These are the only trees I remember having discovered -by accident, and I have looked longingly into thousands of likely -trees. To find bees one must hunt them and not rely on chance. - -Sometimes bees, for such sagacious insects, show remarkably little -sense in the abode they select. I once found a colony in a small dead -poplar (or popple I should prefer to call it) so weak and rotted that -I could have pushed it over with my weight. Those bees I decided to -save for pets. My wife, the farmer, and I drove that night to a place -a few hundred yards from the tree. The hole was about five feet up. -The family was all at home of course, and I plugged the hole with moss -to keep them there. Then we attached a rope to the tree as far up as -we could reach and sawed it off at the base, lowering it gently to the -ground. Then we cut off the top above the hollow which sheltered the -bees. The farmer and I easily carried it to the buckboard and brought -it home in triumph. I had already prepared a place for it in a tub sunk -in the ground and cement ready to puddle around it. Soon our bee tree -was standing erect in the cow pasture near the house with a saucepan -over the top to keep rain from seeping into the hollow. I unplugged the -hole and went to bed. Next morning I went out to see how my guests did. -They were six miles from where they had gone to bed the night before -and were quite untroubled by it. They had already organized perfectly. -The temperature of the hive apparently had risen, and a ring of fanners -was around the hole fanning air into the interior with their wings -where it was caught up by other fanners and driven through the hive. -The ventilation system was humming. The bees had already discovered the -small brook a few yards away, and a bucket brigade was busily fetching -water. The bulk of the workers had discovered my neighbor’s buckwheat -patch and were busily gathering nectar. I kept them for several years -and got much fun from watching them, nor did they ever show the -slightest resentment toward me for shifting their home. Eventually they -died in an unusually severe winter. - -Apropos of starting a line without catching a bee, it can be done but -only by the rarest accident. I did it once. I had gone out to hunt -after the autumnal frosts, hoping to find a late flower or two on which -I could catch a bee. I went to a sheltered clearing and, leaving my -spare box open with the empty comb exposed on a boulder, I wandered -round the clearing searching for a bee. Finding none after fifteen or -twenty minutes, I returned to gather up my kit and found a bee buzzing -round the empty comb. He had found it by accident, having flown near -enough to get a scent of the comb and anise. I succeeded in filling the -dropper with syrup and squirting it onto the comb without frightening -the bee. He found the syrup promptly, loaded, and left. I then filled -the comb properly. I had hardly finished when the bee returned with -three friends. In fifteen minutes I had a roaring line, and in three -moves and about two hours I found the tree. This was a good example of -how well bees will run on a warm fall day after the flowers have gone -by. It is also the only example I remember of my being fortunate enough -to start a line in this way. - -The most ancient bee tree I ever found was approximately twenty-four -hundred years old. My wife and I were examining the ruins of one of the -Greek temples at Selinunte, the ancient Selinus in southern Sicily. -Of one of the temples, all but two of the columns had been overthrown -by an earthquake. One of those standing had been terribly worn by the -hot sirocco wind that blows periodically from the African coast. In -order to preserve it, the top had been capped with cement, but there -was a large hollow underneath. As I neared it, some telepathic cell -in my brain began to signal “bees.” Without thinking what I did, I -stepped to the column and ran my eye up it as I would have done had I -been looking for a bee tree. At the top the members of a busy swarm -were pouring in and out from the hollow under the cement. That was a -bee tree I could not take up. I had a similar experience several years -later in the ruined abbey of San Galgano south of Siena in Tuscany. -The abbey was built by French Cistercians in the early thirteenth -century, and the walls and apse are still standing though the roof -has long since disappeared. The ruin is fenced off and locked, but a -neighboring peasant brings the key and admits one for a few _soldi_. -I was examining the alien architecture with a professional interest -when once more the bell rang in my brain and something said “bees.” I -ran my eye up one of the columns and soon saw so many bees coming and -going from an aperture in the triforium that the original colony must -have increased enormously in almost unconfined space. I turned to the -peasant and said: - -“Ci sono api in quest’edificio.” - -He answered: - -“Si Signore, ma Lei è il primo che l’ha mai osservato.” - -I also found a lively swarm in the triforium of the ruined abbey of -Jumièges in Normandy which antedated San Galgano by a hundred years. So -it is possible to combine the discovering of wild bees with the study -of the history of art. - -Perhaps the tree I remember most vividly is the first one ever -discovered unaided. When I hunted with Smith, he was invariably the -one who first saw the bees. Since his death years ago, I have hunted -with many people and only twice has my companion seen the bees before -I did. There is something telepathic in the way an old hunter senses -the nearness of bees, though even he is often fooled. In order to -find a tree entirely on my own I had to escape from Smith’s tutelage. -The great day came when I was about fifteen. I caught bees in front -of my father’s house in Newport, N. H., and soon got a good line -running straight up the side of Coit Mountain. There was a long upland -pasture and beyond that the woods. Four moves took me to the forest -edge and timing and numbers both told me the tree was near. I went up -the line to look for the bees or for a clearing and soon found the -swarm in a good-sized rock maple. I have received a number of great -thrills in a long life, such as the notification that I had qualified -for my doctorate, the reception in New York harbour in late December -1918 after the first World War, the citation from the President on -receiving an honorary degree from Harvard, but, believe me, these -thrills are all in class B as compared to the one I got when I first -found a bee tree unaided. - -The finding had an amusing sequel. The hole was about eight feet up -the bole, too far to reach but near enough for the bees to be very -conscious of an intruder. I started proudly to blaze my initials on -the tree when I became conscious of a roar and the air seemed to grow -dark above me. I turned and ran just in time, nor did I return to -finish blazing the tree. Later, I related the event to George Smith who -covered me with contumely. That a man should find a tree and then be -driven off by the bees before he could blaze it, Smith regarded as a -disgrace. He assured me that he would take up the tree himself without -benefit of veil or gloves. I knew better than to argue, but on the -appointed time when he, my brother and I went to take up the tree, I -brought two veils and two pairs of gauntlets. When we got to the tree I -set about collecting dry stuff for a smudge, a matter which Smith said -was quite unnecessary. I was downhill from the tree when he went to -work. I heard the axe fall perhaps a half a dozen times, and then there -was a siren-like wail of profanity, and Smith came charging through the -woods, a stream of angry bees behind him like a comet’s tail. That was -one swarm which defeated the intrepid Smith. He borrowed my brother’s -net and gloves, my brother went off and hid in the woods, and with net -and glove protection and a smudge as well, we cut into the tree and -took up the swarm. We got sixty pounds of honey. - -In this article I have alluded many times to “taking up” a bee tree. -The phrase may be colloquial, but it sticks. Smith never cut a bee -tree. He always “took it up.” Moreover, he always referred to a bee as -“he.” I am well aware that a working bee is a sterile female, but I -cannot bring myself to call it “she.” There is nothing feminine about a -working bee but its anatomy. “She” is “he” to me. - -A word or two in more detail about the taking up of a bee tree may -not be amiss. It brings us face to face with one unpleasant fact: the -cruelty of the performance. For once a tree is taken up, the bees soon -die. It is done in the autumn, and the cold soon kills the bees. They -are deprived of food and shelter and have no time to gather more of the -one or repair the other. They have laboured hard and are pitilessly -robbed not only of the fruits of their labour, but of their very lives. -They have been friendly during the running, and one has acquired an -affection for them. How then can a reasonably tender-hearted person -bring himself to destroy them? - -A reason I can give, though I do not maintain that it is an excuse. -Bees are perhaps the most thoroughly communistic creatures extant. The -individual counts for nothing. The spirit of the hive is all. I am told -that the life of a working bee during a heavy honey flow is only six or -eight weeks. The workers work themselves until they shortly die; the -hive is kept alive by the steady hatching of larvae who in turn carry -on the work and die. The queen, who alone of the colony lives several -years, has one nuptial flight and spends the rest of her life crawling -over the comb and dropping an egg into each cell. Though she, more than -anything else, is responsible for the spirit of the hive, she is more -of a slave than her workers. As autumnal cold descends, work stops, -and the bees torpidly cling together for warmth and maintain existence -by consuming their store of honey. In the spring work and laying start, -and the worn workers live just long enough to see the process started -once more and enough larvae hatched to replace them and assure the -continued existence of the hive. A bee will do everything for the hive; -nothing for a fellow bee. A bee from a strange swarm, alighting on the -comb, will be instantly attacked. On the other hand, if one tries the -experiment of killing a bee on the comb, pinning him with the blade of -a knife, he will set up a screaming buzz that sounds horribly anguished -even to the human ear--and his fellow worker, loading half an inch -away, will pay absolutely no attention to him. When a tree is taken up, -the spirit of the hive is killed then and there. The queen is usually -crushed or lost. The living thing that is the hive is extinguished, and -the individual bees become mere insects doomed to winter destruction -as are so many of the common flies. For the individual, the hunter has -merely hastened dissolution by a little. He has killed the hive with -the crash of the tree. I state this not as an apology, but as a fact, -an explanation of why one’s conscience does not trouble one after -taking up a tree. Illogical it may be, but it is true. - -To return to the process. The days have lengthened, and October has -come. Frost has killed the flowers. The bees have gathered the maximum -of honey and will have begun to consume the store. It is time to take -up. For equipment you will need a couple of axes, a crosscut saw, a -sledge, and at least three stout steel wedges. Plenty of twine is -essential. Take as many bee nets as necessary. These can be made -extemporaneously out of black mosquito netting, but it is easier and -safer to get the regular professional beekeeper’s veils. For every -participant there should be a stout pair of linesman’s gauntlets. Wear -old clothes, dungarees or old riding trousers. You are sure to get -pretty well smeared with honey before you are done. Select a clear day -or an overcast one, but not one with a threat of rain. If any water -finds its way into the honey, it might as well be thrown away. It will -surely ferment and spoil. You will need help, one or, better yet, two -good woodsmen. In New Hampshire they are not hard to find. Probably -they are working for you on your own place or for your neighbour. A few -men have a rooted fear of bees and will be unavailable. The average -lumberman, if promised reasonable protection, will come along and face -the hard work for the fun. Taking up a bee tree is an exciting and -thrilling performance. Lastly, bring plenty of receptacles for the -honey. The humiliation of returning with five pounds of comb in a wash -boiler is nothing as compared to the exasperation of filling a couple -of buckets and finding you have no way of transporting the rest of the -honey that is left in the tree. - -Thus equipped you sally forth, hunter, woodsmen, and usually one or -two camp followers in the way of guests or the curious. Your tree -has been marked with your initials and a trail blazed to it with -your hand axe so you have no difficulty in finding it. If it is on -your property, well and good. If not, your New Hampshire farmer is -usually a reasonable being if you treat him properly. A bee tree is -not valuable. The mere fact that it has a hollow generally proves -that it is not commercially valuable for anything but firewood, and -after it is felled, if the owner wants to work it up into firewood, he -is at liberty to do so. A proper approach and the promise of a jar or -two of honey will usually win you permission to take up the tree, and -the owner will come along to watch the fun. In all my many years of -experience, I have only once been refused permission to take up a bee -tree without payment. - -Arriving at the tree a council of war will follow as to how best to -fell it. If you are wise, you will allow this decision to be made by -your woodsmen. If possible, it should be felled so that the hole is -on one side or on top. If possible, it should not be felled across -boulders, as it is very desirable not to have the hole split. Sometimes -a tree will be so leaning, however, that there is no choice in the -matter, and one must do the best one can. While the woodsmen are -chipping the trunk and beginning to saw, the hunter should gather moss, -the fronds of ferns, or other stuff to plug the hole when the tree is -brought down. As the saw bites deeper and the scarf widens, the top -of the tree will begin to sway. Now is the time for the hunter to don -his veil and gloves. Before putting on the veil, it is well to turn up -the collar of one’s jacket. It is not even an act of supererogation -to tie tightly some twine around one’s waist. I once had an ambitious -bee crawl up under my jacket, down through the band of my trousers, up -under my shirt and undershirt and sting me in the small of the back. -For protection of the legs, nothing is better than a light pair of -fisherman’s rubber boots. Failing them, tie the bottom of your trousers -or dungarees tightly round the tops of your shoes. Do _not_ wear low -shoes. My companion did that the time we took up the ninety-seven pound -tree. It was in a swamp and, in addition to the discomfort of wet feet, -he found that a couple of dozen bees, stupefied by the smudge, fell -into the water, revived, and relieved their feelings by swimming across -to his ankles and stinging them. The next day his legs looked as though -he had elephantiasis, and never thereafter could I get him to help me -take up a bee tree. He could not seem to comprehend that the fault was -his for wearing low shoes. - -The cut deepens. The tree sways wider. It begins to heave, and one -hears the first pistol-like reports of the cracking trunk. Slowly -at first then with rapid momentum the tree falls with a thunderous -roar. The axemen have snatched the saw from the cut and jumped back. -The hunter rushes in, his hands full of moss, finds the aperture and -plugs it before the bees can escape. At least he tries to. Sometimes -he misses a subsidiary aperture, and some bees escape to enliven the -proceedings. Sometimes the bole splits at the hollow and nothing can -be done about that. Usually the hole can be plugged, and one can take -one’s time preparing to open the hollow. - -The woodsmen now put on their nets and gloves, if indeed they have not -done so just before felling the tree. All debate as to whether the -hollow extends above or below the hole, often a matter of guesswork. -Then the saw comes into play again. The lumbermen cut deep scarves -above and below the area where the honey is supposed to be. When rotten -wood (and at times honey!) shows on the blade, one can be sure the -hollow is entered. Then a wedge is placed at the base of one of the -scarves and driven home with the sledge. Another, parallel to it, is -driven in further down, and a third parallel at the lower scarf. As the -wedges are driven home, the bole will split and a great section may be -lifted off like a lid, exposing the honey and the bees. Of course, I -am describing an ideal performance. Often the tree makes trouble, has -to be sawed several times, and the opening enlarged with the axe. As -the crack widens under the impact of the wedges, the bees pour out, and -the fight is on. They will attack viciously, and one is aware of the -ping of bees dashing themselves against the wire netting of the veil. -If one has taken proper precautions, one is safe, though, to be honest, -one usually gets stung once or twice in taking up the tree. Humans -vary in susceptibility to bee stings. I am lucky in that they trouble -me little, and usually the swellings are slight. On the other hand, my -brother when once stung in the back of the hand, found his arm next -morning thrice its normal size to the armpit. Those so constituted had -better stop at home when a tree is taken up. - -Once the fight is on it is well to get at the honey as soon as -possible. Once the comb is well broken, the bees lose most of their -fight. They will dash around in a bewildered way, bunch up on a bush, -gorge themselves with spilled honey, and generally give evidence that -the spirit of the hive is dead. Only a few doughty fighters will -continue the battle. The comb will be in layers, up and down the -length of the hollow, sometimes in pieces two or two and one-half -feet long, with spaces between to admit the workers. In describing -the equipment I neglected to add a large iron spoon and a couple of -table knives. Usually it is necessary to cut the comb to get it into -convenient sizes, and a good deal of honey will escape and run down -into the hollow whence it can be spooned out and added to the spoil -in the boiler. If a certain amount of chips, dead wood, and even dead -bees and larvae are included, do not be disturbed. It will all be -strained anyway. I have long since given up trying to save wild honey -in the comb. When the last available drop is garnered, gather up your -equipment and retreat. A hundred yards away and you are quite safe and -can doff the nets and gloves that by this time are unbearably hot and -sticky. Then you have your first taste of delicious honey. - -Either wild honey is more tasty than the domestic variety or one’s -exertions have made it seem so. My guests have always agreed that -my wild honey is more aromatic than any one can buy. I imagine the -answer is that strained wild honey is a blend, while domestic honey is -generally of one variety. The taste of honey varies widely according -to the flowers from which it is made. Clover honey, foolishly the -most prized, is the most insipid. Golden rod honey is golden yellow -and spicy. Buckwheat honey is, if anything, too pungent and heavy as -molasses. The honey of Provence, made from wild thyme, has a special -piney taste. In straining wild honey no attempt is made to separate the -varieties, and the result is a blend, varying somewhat according to -tree or season, but always more interesting than the domestic variety. -Having sampled your honey and found it good, you can now go home and -weigh your spoil. Unless, indeed, you have more than one tree to take -up. I have taken up four in a day. - -The rest is an epilogue. The straining of the honey is a matter for the -distaff side. My wife makes large bags of cheesecloth, and the comb is -broken up and introduced into these. They are then hung over pans in a -warm kitchen. The honey drips slowly into the pans. One fears that a -lot will be wasted, but not so. In thirty-six hours or more the comb -will be dry beeswax, and the honey can be run off from the pans into -glass jars. When sealed, the honey will keep indefinitely. After a -while it will sugar into a kind of paste. I like this better for eating -than the liquid variety, but if anyone disagrees, it is necessary only -to place the jar in warm water for a while, and the honey will return -to its liquid state. - -So much for bee hunting and how it is done. This account has one -virtue, perhaps only one: it is true. It is based on experience, and -there is nothing in it that I have not done myself. I have relied on -nothing that I have been told; there is no hearsay. I have made no -attempt to discuss the life of the bee and the fascinating details of -its domestic economy. For the curious in these matters, I recommend -Maeterlinck’s _Life of the Bees_. I imagine what he says is true, but -I cannot prove it by my own certain knowledge. It is certainly very -beautiful and perhaps it is more important for a poet to make a thing -beautiful than to make it true. These matters are not of my concern. -For a more factual but equally fascinating account, I recommend _Bees’ -Ways_ by George de Clyver Curtis. - -I have also tried very hard to avoid purple passages. It has not been -easy. Bee hunting is one of the most fascinating of sports, and one -could go on describing different illuminating episodes for many pages. -The sport combines almost everything that is desirable. It is played -out of doors. It requires exercise both of the muscles and the brain. -It is a sport of brawn and of craft. It can be played alone. Moreover, -it can be played at any tempo. Time was when I could scramble up and -down Croydon Mountain like a squirrel and could push the pace. That I -can no longer do, but I can move more slowly, consider more carefully, -draw on the craft and knowledge of long experience and find as many -trees as when I was young and impetuous. The sport is one of infinite -variety, of suspense, disappointment, perseverance, and triumph. You go -out into the fields. Before you is a wooded mountain with ten thousand -trees. One of those trees is a bee tree. With a very simple equipment -you set out to find it, pitting your skill and your knowledge against -the wiles of probably the most intelligent insect in the world. You -try. You fail. You try again. You succeed. Your ostensible object is -honey. It is the least of your rewards. The reward is when, after hours -or days of trial and error, your eye catches the flash of wings in the -tree and once more you are able to say checkmate in one of the most -difficult, complicated, and fascinating games in the world. - - - - -TRANSCRIBER’S NOTES: - - - Italicized text is surrounded by underscores: _italics_. - - Obvious typographical errors have been corrected. - - Inconsistencies in hyphenation have been standardized. - -*** END OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE BEE HUNTER *** - -Updated editions will replace the previous one--the old editions will -be renamed. - -Creating the works from print editions not protected by U.S. copyright -law means that no one owns a United States copyright in these works, -so the Foundation (and you!) can copy and distribute it in the -United States without permission and without paying copyright -royalties. 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You may copy it, give it away or re-use it under the terms -of the Project Gutenberg License included with this eBook or online -at <a href="https://www.gutenberg.org">www.gutenberg.org</a>. If you -are not located in the United States, you will have to check the laws of the -country where you are located before using this eBook. -</div> - -<p style='display:block; margin-top:1em; margin-bottom:1em; margin-left:2em; text-indent:-2em'>Title: The Bee Hunter</p> - <p style='display:block; margin-top:1em; margin-bottom:0; margin-left:2em; text-indent:-2em'>Author: George Harold Edgell</p> -<p style='display:block; text-indent:0; margin:1em 0'>Release Date: July 10, 2021 [eBook #65820]</p> -<p style='display:block; text-indent:0; margin:1em 0'>Language: English</p> - <p style='display:block; margin-top:1em; margin-bottom:0; margin-left:2em; text-indent:-2em; text-align:left'>Produced by: Tim Lindell, David E. Brown, and the Online Distributed Proofreading Team at https://www.pgdp.net (This book was produced from images made available by the HathiTrust Digital Library.)</p> -<div style='margin-top:2em; margin-bottom:4em'>*** START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE BEE HUNTER ***</div> - - -<div class="figcenter"><img src="images/cover.jpg" width="50%" alt="" /></div> - -<hr class="chap x-ebookmaker-drop" /> - - - -<h1><i>THE BEE HUNTER</i></h1> - -<hr class="chap x-ebookmaker-drop" /> -<div class="chapter"> -<div class="figcenter"><img src="images/i_title.jpg" alt="" /></div> -</div> -<hr class="chap x-ebookmaker-drop" /> - -<div class="titlepage"> -<p><span class="xlarge"><i>The</i> BEE HUNTER</span></p> - -<p><span class="large">By GEORGE HAROLD EDGELL</span></p> - -<hr class="tb" /> -<div class="figcenter"><img src="images/i_titlelogo.jpg" alt="" /></div> -<hr class="tb" /> -<p><span class="large">1949</span></p> - -<p><span class="large">HARVARD UNIVERSITY PRESS</span><br /> -CAMBRIDGE, MASSACHUSETTS</p> -</div> - - -<hr class="chap x-ebookmaker-drop" /> -<div class="chapter"> -<p class="center"> -Copyright 1949<br /> -<span class="smcap">By</span> GEORGE HAROLD EDGELL<br /> -<br /> -<br /> -<i>Printed at</i> UNIVERSITY PRESS, INC.<br /> -CAMBRIDGE, MASSACHUSETTS, U. S. A.<br /> -<br /> -<br /> -<span class="smcap">London: Geoffrey Cumberlege</span><br /> -OXFORD UNIVERSITY PRESS<br /> -</p></div> - - - - - - -<hr class="chap x-ebookmaker-drop" /> - -<div class="chapter"> -<span class="pagenum" id="Page_5">[5]</span> - -<div class="figcenter"><img src="images/i_005.jpg" alt="" /></div> - -<h2 class="nobreak">THE BEE HUNTER</h2> -</div> - - -<p class="drop-cap">THIS little treatise is in part the child of frustration, in -part the child of irritation. In a modest way, the -writer has been an author. The first book he ever wrote, -an opus of several chapters, was called “The Bee Hunter.” -The writer was then eighteen. Submitted, on the advice of -the late Robert W. Chambers, to his publisher in New York, -the young author was surprised to learn that his manuscript -was rejected. The publisher tactfully pointed out that even -the English translation of Maurice Maeterlinck’s <i>La Vie des -Abeilles</i> had lost money for its publisher.</p> - -<p>The manuscript was put away to gather dust. I believe -and trust now that it is lost. It was terrible.</p> - -<p>So much for the frustration. Now for the irritation. -Being an unsung author on the subject and, more important, -a successful bee hunter of fifty years’ experience, the -writer has read a certain number of articles on bee hunting. -One appears every year or two. Starting with two essays -by John Burroughs, one fact is common to all. They are -written by men who never possibly could have found a bee -tree, at least by pursuing the methods they describe. Burroughs -came nearest the truth, but even he seems to have<span class="pagenum" id="Page_6">[6]</span> -got his account from some farmer with more imagination -than experience. It is time for someone who has hunted -bees and found bee trees to write the facts. For bee hunting -is rapidly becoming a lost art.</p> - -<p>The writer’s interest in the sport began at the age of ten -when he was initiated by an old Adirondacker who had -sunk to driving his grandfather’s mules in Newport, New -Hampshire. George Smith, as I shall call him, was a character, -to the youngster as fabulous as Paul Bunyan. He -took his whiskey neat. He smoked and chewed at the same -time and could spit without removing the pipe from his -mouth. His profanity could take the bluing off a gun barrel. -Withal, he was one of the kindest and most generous -of men and a mighty bee hunter before the Lord, or the -devil if one prefers. He introduced the boy to the simple -equipment necessary for the art, and though through the -years I have improved it slightly, the fundamentals of the -few objects have remained the same.</p> - -<div class="figcenter"><img src="images/i_007.jpg" alt="" /></div> -<p class="caption">A BEE BOX</p> - -<p>The most important item is the bee box. This one can -make oneself if one is clever, or employ a cabinetmaker to -do it from specifications if, like the writer, one is not. The -box should be of wood, about five and one-half inches long, -three inches wide, and three inches deep. The wood of an -old-fashioned cigar box is an excellent material but if used, -the box should be left outdoors some time to weather, as bees -do not like the odor of tobacco. The box should be divided -into two compartments, the front one open with a hinged -lid. In the lid there should be a small glass window which -can be darkened by a wooden slide. Between the front and -rear compartments there should be an opening at the bottom<span class="pagenum" id="Page_7">[7]</span> -two-thirds of an inch wide which can be opened and -closed by a wooden slide manipulated from the outside. -The rear of the inside compartment should be of glass, -covered with a wooden slide which can be raised on occasion -to admit light to the compartment. The box should -be nicely and tightly constructed, shellacked after completion, -and lightproof. Remember, it will be out in all sorts -of weather and the older it is, and the more weathered it -becomes, the better the bees will like it.</p> - -<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_8">[8]</span></p> - -<div class="figcenter"><img src="images/i_008.jpg" alt="" /></div> -<p class="caption">FILLING THE COMB<br /> - -A medicine dropper is convenient when filling the piece<br /> of comb with sugar syrup</p> - -<p>Provided with the box, the rest is easy. One needs a -couple of pieces of empty honeycomb cut square to drop -easily into the front compartment. The best is old, black -comb from an old bee tree, but any empty comb will do.<span class="pagenum" id="Page_9">[9]</span> -For nectar it is not necessary to use real honey. A syrup -of common white sugar one-third, and water two-thirds, -boiled for fifteen minutes and then cooled, seems to be as -tempting to bees as real honey. If one keeps it so long that -it begins to ferment, no matter. Bees’ taste is not nice in -such matters. Bees will cheerfully work the fermented juice -of a rotten pear. As a refinement, it is well to provide oneself -with a tiny bottle of the oil of anise. If used sparingly, -this will attract bees, and the faint odor on a bee’s feet will -attract others. When I say sparingly, I mean more than -the word ordinarily implies. The cork of the anise bottle -rubbed on the comb and the comb then licked with the -tongue will provide anise enough for one’s purpose. More -will make the bees quite drunk, they will refuse to suck but -buzz around looking for the anise and eventually retire to -the flowers to sober up, and you will lose your line. To fill -the comb, a common eye dropper is very handy though not -absolutely necessary. It is handy, too, to have a stand made -of an upright piece of wood such as a four-foot section of a -rake handle with a flat board nailed on top and the lower -end sharpened so it can easily be thrust in the ground, but -a stand can always be improvised using a young spruce cut -off at the top or a few stones pilfered from a stone wall. -It is also handy to have another small box with a lid, not a -bee box, in which to carry small objects. The paraphernalia -is therefore very simple, and a good bee hunter can get along -if necessary with less. George Smith and I once started a -line using an empty 32 calibre cartridge box and a bit of -comb stolen dangerously from a nest of paper wasps. Finally -it would be well to have a cloth bag or knapsack in which<span class="pagenum" id="Page_10">[10]</span> -the smaller articles may be carried, leaving the hands -free.</p> - -<p>We are now ready to start but should consider the season. -There is no point in going bee hunting if one can find no -bees. Bees begin to work as soon as spring gets warm and -continue until severe frost. This can be proved by examining -any hive on any warm day, but what the bees are working -on is another question. They are hard to find except -during some definite honey flow such as the white clover -season or the milkweed or the goldenrod. Especially the -last two are favourable. On the bee box I have used for a -good many years, I have scribbled the dates of the findings -of fifty-six bee trees. Eighty per cent are in July or September. -Only occasionally does one occur in June or August -and practically never in October. July and September -mean milkweed and goldenrod to the bee hunter.</p> - -<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_11">[11]</span></p> - -<div class="figcenter"><img src="images/i_011.jpg" alt="" /></div> -<p class="caption">CATCHING THE BEE<br /> - -The bee will be scooped into the outer compartment<br /> and the lid -snapped shut simultaneously</p> - -<p>Let us assume that it is a warm day in mid-July and the -milkweed is in bloom. We find a patch and find it teeming -with honey bees. Incidentally the first step should be to -learn what a honey bee looks like. He resembles a refined -and streamlined horsefly and is totally unlike the fuzzy -bumble bee that so many mistakenly regard as honey bees. -One’s first task is to catch a bee. This is done by bringing -the box up sharply under him with the lid open as he sits -on the edge of a bloom and slapping the lid home as he -tumbles into the box. It is not so hard as it sounds, especially -if the bee is on a high bloom of milkweed or goldenrod. -It is essential that the bee be caught. During the -midst of a good honey flow a bee will never voluntarily -abandon the flowers and go to a comb, no matter with what -aromatic lure you may have anointed it. Forget for all -time the accounts of writers who drench a handkerchief -with anise and throw it over a bush near a stand with loaded -comb. No bee would come near it. During a starvation -period when flowers are scarce, especially after the autumnal -frosts, a bee will light on the comb if he finds it. Ninety-nine -times out of a hundred, however, the bees will be somewhere -else and no bee will find the comb. There have been -exceptions as I shall show, but the only sensible procedure -is to hunt bees during a honey flow when they are easy to -find, and introduce them into the box by violence.</p> - -<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_12">[12]</span>Having caught the bee in the outer compartment and -verifying the fact that he is there by looking in the window, -the next step is to close the window, darken the outer compartment, -open the slide to admit him to the rear and open -the rear window. Seeing the light, the bee will promptly -go in there, seeking escape. Then one can close the rear -compartment and open the front so as to catch another -bee. One can start a line with one bee, but the chance of -success is greater if one has a dozen, and during a good -honey flow, if the tree is not too far away, these can be -caught in ten minutes.</p> - -<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_13">[13]</span></p> - -<div class="figcenter"><img src="images/i_013.jpg" alt="" /></div> -<p class="caption">TRAPPING THE BEE IN THE REAR COMPARTMENT<br /> - -The slide on the side of the box is pulled to open the<br /> entrance to the -rear compartment, the rear window<br /> is opened, and the bee follows -the light into the<br /> rear compartment</p> - -<p>Provided with a dozen bees one is ready to start the line. -Fill one of the pieces of comb with syrup. Thrust in the -stand if you have one. Open the window into the outer -compartment and the door between and admit three or -four bees to the part with the comb. They will come if you -open the window in front and darken the rear. Then put -the box down gently, darken the whole box, put your hat -over it and leave it still for three or four minutes. Meanwhile, -fill the other comb. After three or four minutes, -place the box on the stand and gently open the lid. If conditions -are right, the bees will have found the syrup and -taken a load in the darkness. Sometimes one or two will -not have finished loading and will sit quietly until they are -stuffed to capacity. If they are loaded, they will fly comparatively -slowly as they take off to return to the hive. -When they have left, repeat the whole process and let out -more bees until all have gone. You are now in the stage -of starting to establish the line.</p> - - - -<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_14">[14]</span>Where most of the nature fakers fall down conspicuously -is in describing how to establish a “bee line” giving the -exact direction of the bee tree. Actually, when a bee leaves -for the first time he is both suspicious and anxious to establish -the position of the stand. He leaves in slowly expanding -spirals and figure eights. The hunter rolls round on his -back trying to follow the convolutions of the bee flight in -the air. Usually it ends by the bee flying between the eye -and the sun and thus being lost to view. If the hunter can -establish when the bee leaves for the first time, whether the -tree is more north than south or more east than west, he is -doing well. It is not until a bee has come and gone eight -or ten times that he becomes familiar with the stand, loses -his suspicions, and, on taking off, goes in approximately the -direction of the tree thus at last creating a “bee line.”</p> - -<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_15">[15]</span></p> - -<div class="figcenter"><img src="images/i_015.jpg" alt="" /></div> - -<p class="caption">LETTING OUT THE BEES<br /> - -Two bee boxes are on the stand in this illustration.<br /> The lid of the -outer compartment of the top box has<br /> just been opened, and the -bees are about to emerge</p> - -<p>If conditions are right, of your dozen bees four or five -will return for a second load. Again if conditions are right, -in an hour or two these will communicate in some mysterious -way with other workers in the hive that there is free lunch -obtainable and the number of bees on the line will increase.<span class="pagenum" id="Page_16">[16]</span> -Especially if the tree is near and the flowers not too profuse, -this will happen quickly. At best I have had a hundred or -more bees running my line half an hour after the first bee -left. At times, and this is a common occurrence, no bee will -come back at all. Sometimes the original bees will go back -and forth but bring no companions. Often the bees will -refuse to suck at all but will return on release to the flowers. -When that happens, you had best pack up and go home -and wait for more propitious conditions.</p> - -<p>Why bees will load sometimes and not others, fifty years -of experience has left unrevealed. In general, bees run -better at the beginning and end of a honey flow when the -flowers are not too profuse and too plentiful. Certainly if -you are fortunate enough to catch a bee after heavy frosts, -yet on a warm day, you will probably establish a roaring -line in a short time. Why, however, sometimes bees will -load eagerly and sometimes ignore the comb is a mystery. -No changes in the thickness of the syrup, no substitution of -true honey for the sugar, no aromatic oils like anise applied -to the comb will cause bees to suck if they do not choose. -They will often suck eagerly in the midst of the heaviest -goldenrod season and refuse to suck at other times when -flowers are scarce. Nothing is more frustrating than to -catch box after box of bees and find them unwilling to load. -In such case there is nothing to do but wait a week and try -again. The most important quality for a successful bee -hunter is patience.</p> - - - -<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_17">[17]</span></p> - -<div class="figcenter"><img src="images/i_017.jpg" alt="" /></div> -<p class="caption">BEES ON THE COMB<br /> - -The original bees have spread the word to their<br /> fellow-workers about -the “free lunch.” The box in this<br /> illustration is the one used for -storage of extra comb, the<br /> medicine dropper, the bottle of anise, etc.</p> - -<p>Let us assume, however, that conditions are favourable -this July morning. About ten minutes after the release of -the first bee, a bee comes back. This is one of the most<span class="pagenum" id="Page_18">[18]</span> -exciting moments in the hunt. An experienced hunter -recognizes the sound of a honey bee instantly, but for the -last five minutes he has jumped at the sound of every -doodle bug that has flown by the stand. The behaviour -of the returning bee is very different from that of the departing -one. He dashes in circles round the stand, darts -away again across the field until you think he will not -return, whizzes back to circle the stand again and finally, -in narrowing circles, poises above the comb like a helicopter, -his buzz still shrilling. One waits with bated breath. -The buzz ceases. The bee has come to rest and is loading. -The line is started.</p> - -<p>Soon others arrive, and the first comer departs. Once -more you try and take his line but once more he fools you as -he leaves in widening circles. However, one has got the -general direction and can take a position to see better. -More information comes as each bee leaves. In an hour’s -time the comb may have twenty bees on it at once and the -arrivals and departures are frequent. Now the bees have -begun to be accustomed to the stand and frequently jump -off and fly straight so that in a good light the eye can -follow one for fifty or a hundred yards. Thus you establish -your “bee line.” It is never exact, however. No two bees -have exactly the same idea as to the best way home. If, -for example, there is a large tree in the direction of the hive -and perhaps a hundred yards from the stand, one bee may -bypass it to the right, another to the left, and a third may -lift and go over it. One is constantly revising one’s decision -as to the true line.</p> - -<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_19">[19]</span></p> - -<div class="figcenter"><img src="images/i_019.jpg" alt="" /></div> -<p class="caption">WATCHING THE BEES LEAVE THE COMB<br /> - -The general direction of the bees’ flight has been established, and the<br /> hunter has taken up a position -a few feet from the stand (<i>arrow</i>) from<br /> which he can easily follow the path of the bees in the air</p> - -<p>By now we are ready to time a bee and see how long he is<span class="pagenum" id="Page_20">[20]</span> -gone. This will give one a fair estimate of the distance from -the stand to the tree. A bee takes between one and two -minutes to load and as much time to unload. He may also -have to crawl some distance in the tree to reach the place -to deposit his load. He flies at about the speed of a human -sprinter, say a quarter of a mile a minute. If he is gone -eight minutes, the tree is not too far away. If he is gone -twelve minutes, the hunter has a long job ahead. If he is -gone four minutes, the tree is very close. The longest I -remember having a bee absent and still being able to run a -line and find the tree was fifteen minutes. The shortest -was two and one-half minutes, and then the tree was actually -in sight of the stand, though I did not know it at the time. -Twenty minutes is hopeless. No bee will bring others back -at that distance, and it is better to abandon the stand, move -a mile or more in the direction the bee has taken, catch -more bees, and repeat the whole process nearer the tree.</p> - -<p>In order to time a bee it is necessary to be able to identify -an individual. George Smith used to do this by extracting -some seed or pollen from the bud of a small mossy plant -and sprinkling a little of the green dust on the back of a bee. -At best it was an uncertain process as the dust was liable to -be blown off before the bee’s return, and even if not, was -hard to see. I have evolved a simpler and better system. -To our equipment as already described, let us add a small -bottle of water, a tiny camel’s hair brush, and a piece of blue -carpenter’s chalk. With the blade of a penknife, scrape -some dust from the chalk onto the back of a smooth stone or -the blade of a hand axe if you carry one. Incidentally a -small scout’s axe is a handy thing to have for clearing<span class="pagenum" id="Page_21">[21]</span> -brush, making stands, marking the bee tree when you have -found it, and blazing a trail from it if it is deep in the woods -and should be hard to find again. On the chalk dust, with -the brush, drop a few drops of water and stir till the water -is coloured blue. Then with the wet brush dab the rear -of a loading bee. This must be done deftly and gently. -Bees do not like to be painted. A good hunter can guess -which bee is apt to be unreasonably phlegmatic and, especially -if one is loading from a half empty cell, with the -shoulders buried and his tail raised, he can be painted -without disturbing him. Once daubed, the new decoration -does not annoy him in the least and is not noticed by his -fellows. When wet, the spot shows only slightly, but by -the time the bee returns, the chalk dust will be dry and will -stand out like a beacon so vivid that it can be spotted even -before the bee alights. We now have an identifiable bee -and can time him.</p> - -<p>Let us suppose he takes seven or eight minutes a trip to -the tree and back. One should time him two or three times -to be accurate and not be disturbed if the time varies a little. -We now have a bee line and some idea of the distance of the -tree.</p> - -<p>Now it is time to move. One might ask why, knowing -the direction and the approximate distance, one does not -immediately hunt for the tree. The answer is that there are -ten thousand trees in the woods and only one the bee tree. -One can never be sure of the exact line or, with any exactitude, -the distance. Sometimes when one has narrowed the -problem to an area of a hundred yards square, it is hard to -find the tree. So once more the bee box is placed on the<span class="pagenum" id="Page_22">[22]</span> -stand, a loaded comb dropped into the front compartment -and the lid left open. The spare comb should be hidden -carefully. Great ire on the part of the bees. They again -become suspicious and do not want to enter the box. -As more arrive, the air is filled with a disgusted humming. -In time the temptation is too great and one after another a -bee drops down to the comb. When ten or a dozen have -done so, snap down the lid of the box and drive them into the -rear compartment as before. They are reluctant to go, but a -puff of cigarette smoke blown through a crack in the lid -will send them scurrying to the rear in search of purer air. -Close the slide, reopen the box, place it on the stand and -catch another lot. Catch all you can. Then pull up the -stand, gather up your paraphernalia and move three or -four hundred yards down the line. Then set up the stand -and release the bees in batches of eight or ten.</p> - -<p>This is another critical moment. Will the bees stand -moving? If you have mistaken the line and moved off it too -far to the left or right, the bees may not come back, and you -will have to return to the first stand and start over again. -The same is true if the swarm is weak or the flowers too -tempting. The time seems interminable. I have a theory, -which I cannot prove, that on the first move the bees return -to the first stand before investigating the possibilities -of the second. Conditions are right on this day, however, -and after a time we hear the welcome hum of the first returning -bee, quickly followed by a second and a third. The -bees will stand moving. Success seems assured.</p> - -<p>Theoretically it is. All one has to do is to continue to -move the bees until the tree is reached or passed, in which<span class="pagenum" id="Page_23">[23]</span> -case the line reverses and proves that the tree is between -the last and the next to the last stands. If it were as simple -as that, bee hunting would not be the art and the fun that -it is. In the first place, in order to reestablish a line, the -stand should be set up in a clearing. We have now reached -the woods and possibly no clearings are available. Released -in the woods, a bee circles up into the trees and disappears. -Sometimes it is hard to tell whether he goes forward or -back. The moves have to be shorter. Often if one moves -beyond the tree, the bees will not come back, and you have -lost your line. Above all, the lining must be straight. If -you meet a swamp, you must go through it. If you meet -a cliff, you must go up it. If you meet a pond, you must go -round it and set up at just the right point on the opposite -side. All this takes time. You must be prepared to spend -two or three days before finding the tree. Meanwhile, as -the tree draws near, the bees tumble out in greater numbers -until literally there are hundreds buzzing about and going -back and forth, and one has to refill the comb frequently.</p> - -<p>This brings up another point: the danger of being stung. -The newcomer is apt to be terrified as the bees buzz round -his head while the hunter is tending the stand. The answer -I can give categorically. There is absolutely no danger -whatever of being stung while running a line. The bees -are entirely friendly. They will fight among themselves if -two swarms are involved. They will fight a hornet if he has -accidentally found the comb. The hunter who is supplying -them with free syrup they would not think of molesting. -The only possibility of getting stung is some careless accident. -I was once stung when a friendly bee had lighted<span class="pagenum" id="Page_24">[24]</span> -on my khaki shirt and, not noticing him, I put my arm down -and squeezed him against my side. Naturally, he let drive -at my ribs. The fault was mine, not his. One can even -imprison a bee in one’s cupped hands and he will crawl -round and try to find his way out, but if you do not squeeze -him, he will not think of stinging you. I once was lining a -swarm in the middle of the goldenrod honey flow when a -terrific hailstorm came up and leveled all the flowers. The -next day the bees were desperate. Their bee pasture was -gone and they were mad for syrup. I soon had what seemed -to be half the hive around me. They came not in hundreds, -but in thousands. Even to an old hunter it was a little -terrifying, but absolutely harmless. One had to exercise -caution. Feeling a curious tickling on the left side of my -breast, I discovered that some two dozen bees had found -the anise bottle in my shirt pocket and had gone in to investigate. -It was quite a job to get the anise bottle out and -persuade the bees to come too, but I did it without accident. -The only danger to the amateur is that he lose his head and -try to slap a bee that he thinks is dangerously near his face. -If he does, he may be stung. He ought to be. It is worth -repeating because to the newcomer it seems incredible. -There is absolutely no danger of being stung while running -a bee line.</p> - -<p>As we draw nearer the tree, the moves are shorter and -made more quickly. Now there is no worry about losing -the line. Indeed, the bees not trapped will often follow -the hunter on a short move and, as the imprisoned bees are -released, others, arriving from behind, will drop on the -comb. Now the hunter is convinced that the tree must be<span class="pagenum" id="Page_25">[25]</span> -in sight. Usually it isn’t. As soon as it is established that -the line still goes ahead, the hunter will go down the line, -carefully examining every likely tree. This gives him exercise, -puts in the time, and enables him to find a good place -for the next stand if it is necessary to establish one. Usually -it is. At last, however, one of two things happens. Either -the hunter finds the tree or, after a move, the bees will be a -long time coming back, or, if it is a long move, though it -should not be, they may not come back at all. When bees -have been running well and suddenly are slow to return, -it is suspicious and auspicious. When the line is at last -reestablished, the behaviour of the bees is odd. They will -circle off in all directions in the most exasperating fashion. -At last one or two will fly reasonably straight, and it dawns -on the hunter that the line has reversed itself and the bees -are going back. The tree is between this and the last -stand. It is only a matter now of looking carefully enough -to discover the tree.</p> - -<p>Even then one cannot consider the battle won. A bee -tree can be extraordinarily hard to find. The likeliest trees -are maples, beeches, and hemlocks, but the hunter must look -everywhere. Smith used to have a theory that if the bees -rose high as they left the stand, the hole was high in the air. -If they pitched low, the hole was low. He also pretended to -guess the kind of tree that the bees were in by the colour -of the bees. Light-coloured bees were likely to be in a maple. -Very dark ones might be in a dead pine. There is something -in all this but not much. One time we were running -a line of light-coloured bees that pitched high, and I told -Smith we had better look high up in maples. His reply was:</p> - - - -<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_26">[26]</span>“You look high in the maples and low in the cedars and -up and down all trunks and branches, hard wood and soft, -big enough to hold a hive and you can be sure of just one -thing. When you do find them, they’ll be where you don’t -expect them.”</p> - -<p>A sound aphorism and worth following. It was this same -Smith one time when we were fishing for trout and not -finding them in one or two favoured holes, tried elsewhere -in less likely places and found them, who said:</p> - -<p>“If you want to catch fish, you’ve got to fish where the -fish is, and if they ain’t there, you fish where they ain’t and -there they’ll be.”</p> - -<p>Of course, the greatest thrill of the hunt comes when -one finds the tree. Sometimes it is abrupt, if the hole is in -an unshaded limb or bole in plain view. More often it is in -a position where one has to manoeuvre to see it, and the -first warning comes when one sees the flash of wings in the -air and, in an agony of hope and doubt, moves about until -the hole can be seen and the presence of the swarm truly -verified. Even when the tree is pinned between two stands, -it may take a long time. I remember one tree that we had -so pinned. I had with me my son, who is a good bee hunter, -a companion of his, and a couple of rank amateurs. The -five of us tramped the area between the two stands for an -hour before I found the hive. It was in a smallish swamp -maple that divided into two boles four feet above the -ground. Neither hole was big enough to hold bees, so we -had passed it unsuspecting. In the crotch where the boles -divided was a hole and into this the bees were dropping, -making their home in the short trunk near the ground. -After we had found it we noted that we had actually -trampled a path through the ferns within fifteen feet of the -tree.</p> - -<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_27">[27]</span></p> - -<div class="figcenter"><img src="images/i_027.jpg" alt="" /></div> -<p class="caption">THE BEE TREE<br /> - -The bees have entered the hole indicated by the arrow in<br /> an otherwise -sound maple tree. Bees rarely choose a dead<br /> tree in which to make -their hive</p> - -<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_28">[28]</span>The commonest and most foolish question I am asked is -how long it takes to find a bee tree. According to my -experience it is somewhere between forty-three minutes and -two years. I have already mentioned the accident of -setting up a stand within sight of the tree and finding it in -less than an hour. Another time it was not an accident -but a well calculated guess. In late September I was gunning -in the Blue Mountain Forest area in New Hampshire. -The day was unseasonably warm. I found no game, but -observed a great many bees working the few goldenrod -that were left and some late asters. I well knew the terrain. -A little to the southwest was a small old sugar bush with -large maples. To the northwest but still near was another -somewhat larger. Beyond and in all directions had been -pine forest that had recently been lumbered. There would -be almost no chance for bees to set up in that area and -therefore they must be in one of the two sugar groves. I -went home, got my bee box and started a line near the -small sugar bush. The line came quickly and I never -moved. Following the line from the box, I found the bees -in the third tree I examined. It took less than three -quarters of an hour.</p> - -<p>Now for the other end of the scale. Years ago when I was -still a boy, Smith and I started a line that ran up the steep -slope of the southern-saddleback of Croydon Mountain. -The timber was thick, the slope at times ladder-like, and -the hunting difficult. We made several moves and then<span class="pagenum" id="Page_29">[29]</span> -hunted for the tree. We could not find it and eventually -gave it up. The following summer we struck the same -line and hunted it again. Evidently the bees had wintered -well, but still we could not find the tree. The next summer -we got the same line. By that time our dander was up and -we decided to find that tree. We ran a line as well as -possible. Then we began to examine the timber horizontally -back and forth across the line, blazing our paths -to make sure that the whole area was covered. After a -time, I heard a yell and considerable profanity accompanying -it. It was below me, and I scrambled down the steep -slope. The profanity seemed to come from a clump of -young spruce out of which projected the old bole of a fallen -maple. Smith had stepped on the bole, slipped, and shot -through the young spruces ending with his legs on either -side of the stump of the fallen tree. The bees were in that. -One could have passed within ten feet and not known that -there was anything there that could harbour a colony of -bees. We had our tree, but it had taken a little over two -years to find it.</p> - -<p>A word about cross lining. The literary experts seem -always to find their quarry by cross lining. They catch a -bee, release it, and take its line. Then they move a quarter -of a mile, catch another and take its line. By triangulation, -where the two lines meet, there will be the tree. <i>Pas plus -difficile que ça!</i> Unfortunately, as we have seen, one cannot -get even remotely an accurate line the first time a bee -leaves. Moreover, if one could, there would be a good -chance that bee number two came from another colony. -One would get a line north and another northwest, and<span class="pagenum" id="Page_30">[30]</span> -where they met, there would be the tree. Nevertheless, -cross lining should not be ruled out. Sometimes one will -get a line too weak to be worth following. Trying in -another place one may get another weak line that seems to -cross at a distance the first. If one goes to about where the -two seem to meet, there is a good chance that one will be -near a bee tree.</p> - -<p>Let me illustrate with an amusing example. Three years -ago I was bee hunting on the hills not far from my home in -New Hampshire. I got a weak line nearly east and directly -toward the little village of Croydon Flat. I decided that I -must have got onto a tame swarm, though I could think of -no one in Croydon Flat who kept bees. However, it was -obviously time to try another area and I drove to the Flat -and took a road northwest for a mile and a half, caught -bees, and set up a stand. I got a weak line southeast, again -directly toward Croydon Flat. I hunted up a friend who -lived there, one Orrin Pillsbury, and he assured me that -nobody in the Flat kept bees. The village is tiny, the intervale -small, there is good hard wood timber near and no -reason why a wild swarm should not have located near the -village. I caught bees and set up in the vegetable garden -back of Orrin’s house. I soon had a good line northeast, -but it went over the house, and since some energetic bees -flew over the house, others preferred to clear only the ell -and still others went round, we had no accurate line. I -moved across the village street to a field on the other side. -The bees were a long time coming back and when they -did, they established a line northwest. Here was a cross -line with a vengeance. We investigated, thinking the bees<span class="pagenum" id="Page_31">[31]</span> -were in one of the elms of the village street. I soon found -them pouring in and out of a chimney on the house of one -Cy Cummings. Cy had two chimneys and he only used -one. The bees had set up in the other. That was one wild -swarm I found that did me no good. Cy obligingly let us -into the house, but when I suggested opening the disc in -the second floor designed for the admission of a stove pipe, -he mutinied. That was not unreasonable as I could not -have got my head in to see, and the bees could have got -out into the bedroom. Cy distrusts bees. I believe subsequently -he built a fire in the chimney and brought down -a mass of spoiled honey, dead bees, and melted wax. A -great waste.</p> - -<p>This brings up another point. The writer has been fortunate -in that the bulk of his hunting has been within the preserve -of the Blue Mountain Forest Association in Sullivan -County, New Hampshire. There, if one starts a line of bees, -one can be sure it is a wild swarm. There are no farms -with domestic bees in the area. Most hunters, however, -have to hunt in country districts where there are farms, -the owners of which may well keep bees. It will be wise, -therefore, before going hunting, to ascertain the localities -where tame bees are kept. Nothing is more frustrating than -to start a line, get it going well, run it several moves, and -end in a farmer’s backyard with the revelation that a hard -day’s work has done no more than adulterate his honey -with a half a pint of sugar syrup. This happened to me -once, but it has not happened again. New Hampshire is -largely wooded, and if a line heads for a deep woods on a -mountain slope, one can be reasonably sure that one is<span class="pagenum" id="Page_32">[32]</span> -trailing a wild swarm. Do not, however, let that prevent -you from lining a wild swarm near a locality where there -are tame bees. Many wild swarms are simply once removed -from the domestic variety. Even a good apiarist -often loses a colony when his bees swarm at an inconvenient -time, and the new colony may set up quarters not far from -the old. For years I refrained from starting a line from -my own lawn because of the presence a mile and a quarter -away of a number of colonies belonging to a gentleman -known as Chicken Smith. Chicken Smith’s bees used my -flowers regularly. Then one day I decided to start a line -anyway just for interest and found a wild swarm in my -own sugar bush.</p> - -<p>One question often asked is how much honey one gets -from a bee tree. The amount varies enormously. My -record is ninety-seven pounds of unstrained honey from -one tree. It was not a large tree, but it had a large hollow. -It involved a terrific fight with the bees, as one would -expect, and both my companion and I were rather well -stung, but we filled a wash boiler with honey and then had -to go home for more containers. On the other hand, one -may take up a tree and get only a pound or two. I remember -taking up an old rock maple. Its branches were -so wide that when we cut it down, it merely leaned on its -elbows and we had to cut it three times before we could -get to the entrance to the hive. The wood was so heavy -and the grain so gnarled that a steel wedge held against -the wood and struck with a sledge, would bounce off. To -get into the hollow was about as easy as cracking a safe, and -it took three of us over three hours. Our reward was one<span class="pagenum" id="Page_33">[33]</span> -piece of filled comb smaller than the palm of my hand. -It is all a gamble and part of the fascination of the hunt. -As an average, I should say one ought to expect to get eighteen -to twenty pounds of strained honey from a tree.</p> - -<p>As to the number of moves, that varies from no move at -all, as we have seen, to a dozen or even more. The longest -line I remember I started years ago in the clearing at the -base of Croydon Mountain. The line took me up the steepest -slope to the ridge just north of the summit. Thence it -carried over the ridge and down the opposite side. When -it came time to take up the tree, it was easier to come in -from the north than from the south along the line I had -followed. It took me three days, and I made fifteen moves. -When bees are running well, one can leave them in the late -afternoon and pick them up again next day. On leaving -them, one fills every available piece of comb, weights the -box with a stone so it will not be blown off in case of a -sudden wind, and puts one piece of comb in the outer -compartment with the lid propped up only half an inch so -that in case of rain at least one comb will retain undiluted -syrup. In spite of all this, when one returns next day, -usually every piece of comb is empty and the bees gone. -It is hard not to be discouraged, but there is no need to be. -Fill the comb and wait. In five, ten, or twenty minutes a -bee will come for one more look to see if a trifle of sweet -may still be gleaned. He will load, depart, and in half an -hour you will have a roaring line once more.</p> - -<p>Bee hunting brings some odd experiences. As boys, my -brother and I were bee hunting with Smith and found the -bees in the base of a rock maple on the edge of the woods,<span class="pagenum" id="Page_34">[34]</span> -in a fissure not five feet from the ground. It was late -September and we decided to take up the tree forthwith. It -was not necessary to fell the tree, but merely to cut into the -hollow to get the honey. We had, however, no nets or -gloves, so we built a smudge to drive back and stupefy the -bees while we were getting the honey. We made a good -haul and drove back to camp three miles away that evening -and had ourselves a Gargantuan meal of brook trout, -flapjacks, and new honey. After supper we went out to -listen to the bugling of the elk with which the preserve was -stocked and, looking across the valley, we saw a bright -light. Our smudge had set fire to the tree. We drove back -and found the hollow interior a furnace. There was no -water available, and the fire had burned high up in the -hollow. We had no means to extinguish it, nor did we -dare leave it for fear the tree would fall and the fire spread. -The elk were bugling merrily, and in those days an old bull -in the rutting season was quite capable of attacking a man. -We finally climbed onto a large branch of the nearest maple -and spent a restless night telling stories and waiting for the -fire to burn itself out. Fortunately, by morning it had.</p> - -<p>Sometimes the attempt to find a tree is unusually baffling. -One time my son and I lined and cross lined a swarm until -we narrowed the search to two or three trees. The likeliest -was a beech, but though we occasionally got a glitter of wings -in the air, we could not be sure that we had the tree. It -was not until we had gone home and returned with a -powerful pair of field glasses that we were able to distinguish -the bees in the foliage forty-five feet in the air and -near enough the hole to make us certain that we had our<span class="pagenum" id="Page_35">[35]</span> -bee tree. The actual hole itself we did not see until we -felled the tree and took up the swarm. Another time I had -run the line to the top of a mountain and then the line reversed -itself. Between the two last stands there was nothing -but bull spruce not big enough to hold a colony, and moreover -I had never heard of bees in a spruce. Tree by tree I -examined the terrain. I finally found the bees dropping -down into the roots of a spruce where there was a hollow -partly in the wood and partly in the ground where the colony -had settled. It was a miserable little swarm, and I never -bothered to take it up. The next summer it was gone, as I -had expected in the case of a foolish swarm that had -selected so unsuitable an habitation.</p> - -<p>Does one ever find a bee tree by accident? Yes, but very, -very rarely. I once was eating my luncheon beside a -mountain brook and noticed a honey bee loading water at -a wet spot. He flew off and soon came back. I got out -my watch and timed him. He was gone two minutes. I -rose and went in the direction of his departure and found -the tree fifty yards away. This was without benefit of bee -box or syrup, but did involve lining of a sort. On the other -hand, I once found a tree on top of a mountain and, choosing -a different way down, found another bee tree two hundred -yards from the first. My guess is that the older colony -had swarmed, and the new commune had decided to set up -in the nearest suitable place to the old. Another tree I -found accidentally due to an amusing mistake. My companion -had had some experience in bee hunting, and when -I started out to catch some bees I asked her to fill the comb -for me so as to be ready when I returned with the bees.<span class="pagenum" id="Page_36">[36]</span> -She did so, however filling the comb from the anise bottle -instead of the syrup bottle. There was nothing for it but -to go all the way home for fresh comb and start over again. -On the way back we discovered a large colony of bees in a -huge pine which we had passed unnoticed as we had gone -out the first time. These are the only trees I remember -having discovered by accident, and I have looked longingly -into thousands of likely trees. To find bees one must hunt -them and not rely on chance.</p> - -<p>Sometimes bees, for such sagacious insects, show remarkably -little sense in the abode they select. I once found a -colony in a small dead poplar (or popple I should prefer to -call it) so weak and rotted that I could have pushed it over -with my weight. Those bees I decided to save for pets. My -wife, the farmer, and I drove that night to a place a few -hundred yards from the tree. The hole was about five feet -up. The family was all at home of course, and I plugged the -hole with moss to keep them there. Then we attached a -rope to the tree as far up as we could reach and sawed it -off at the base, lowering it gently to the ground. Then we -cut off the top above the hollow which sheltered the bees. -The farmer and I easily carried it to the buckboard and -brought it home in triumph. I had already prepared a -place for it in a tub sunk in the ground and cement ready -to puddle around it. Soon our bee tree was standing erect -in the cow pasture near the house with a saucepan over the -top to keep rain from seeping into the hollow. I unplugged -the hole and went to bed. Next morning I went out to see -how my guests did. They were six miles from where they -had gone to bed the night before and were quite untroubled<span class="pagenum" id="Page_37">[37]</span> -by it. They had already organized perfectly. The temperature -of the hive apparently had risen, and a ring of -fanners was around the hole fanning air into the interior -with their wings where it was caught up by other fanners -and driven through the hive. The ventilation system was -humming. The bees had already discovered the small -brook a few yards away, and a bucket brigade was busily -fetching water. The bulk of the workers had discovered -my neighbor’s buckwheat patch and were busily gathering -nectar. I kept them for several years and got much fun -from watching them, nor did they ever show the slightest -resentment toward me for shifting their home. Eventually -they died in an unusually severe winter.</p> - -<p>Apropos of starting a line without catching a bee, it -can be done but only by the rarest accident. I did it once. -I had gone out to hunt after the autumnal frosts, hoping to -find a late flower or two on which I could catch a bee. I -went to a sheltered clearing and, leaving my spare box open -with the empty comb exposed on a boulder, I wandered -round the clearing searching for a bee. Finding none after -fifteen or twenty minutes, I returned to gather up my kit -and found a bee buzzing round the empty comb. He had -found it by accident, having flown near enough to get a -scent of the comb and anise. I succeeded in filling the -dropper with syrup and squirting it onto the comb without -frightening the bee. He found the syrup promptly, loaded, -and left. I then filled the comb properly. I had hardly -finished when the bee returned with three friends. In -fifteen minutes I had a roaring line, and in three moves and -about two hours I found the tree. This was a good example<span class="pagenum" id="Page_38">[38]</span> -of how well bees will run on a warm fall day after the flowers -have gone by. It is also the only example I remember of -my being fortunate enough to start a line in this way.</p> - -<p>The most ancient bee tree I ever found was approximately -twenty-four hundred years old. My wife and I -were examining the ruins of one of the Greek temples at -Selinunte, the ancient Selinus in southern Sicily. Of one -of the temples, all but two of the columns had been overthrown -by an earthquake. One of those standing had -been terribly worn by the hot sirocco wind that blows -periodically from the African coast. In order to preserve it, -the top had been capped with cement, but there was a large -hollow underneath. As I neared it, some telepathic cell in -my brain began to signal “bees.” Without thinking what -I did, I stepped to the column and ran my eye up it as I -would have done had I been looking for a bee tree. At -the top the members of a busy swarm were pouring in and -out from the hollow under the cement. That was a bee -tree I could not take up. I had a similar experience several -years later in the ruined abbey of San Galgano south of -Siena in Tuscany. The abbey was built by French Cistercians -in the early thirteenth century, and the walls and apse -are still standing though the roof has long since disappeared. -The ruin is fenced off and locked, but a neighboring peasant -brings the key and admits one for a few <i>soldi</i>. I was examining -the alien architecture with a professional interest -when once more the bell rang in my brain and something -said “bees.” I ran my eye up one of the columns and soon -saw so many bees coming and going from an aperture in -the triforium that the original colony must have increased<span class="pagenum" id="Page_39">[39]</span> -enormously in almost unconfined space. I turned to the -peasant and said:</p> - -<p>“Ci sono api in quest’edificio.”</p> - -<p>He answered:</p> - -<p>“Si Signore, ma Lei è il primo che l’ha mai osservato.”</p> - -<p>I also found a lively swarm in the triforium of the ruined -abbey of Jumièges in Normandy which antedated San -Galgano by a hundred years. So it is possible to combine -the discovering of wild bees with the study of the history -of art.</p> - -<p>Perhaps the tree I remember most vividly is the first one -ever discovered unaided. When I hunted with Smith, he -was invariably the one who first saw the bees. Since his -death years ago, I have hunted with many people and only -twice has my companion seen the bees before I did. There -is something telepathic in the way an old hunter senses the -nearness of bees, though even he is often fooled. In order -to find a tree entirely on my own I had to escape from -Smith’s tutelage. The great day came when I was about -fifteen. I caught bees in front of my father’s house in -Newport, N. H., and soon got a good line running straight -up the side of Coit Mountain. There was a long upland -pasture and beyond that the woods. Four moves took me to -the forest edge and timing and numbers both told me the -tree was near. I went up the line to look for the bees or for -a clearing and soon found the swarm in a good-sized rock -maple. I have received a number of great thrills in a long -life, such as the notification that I had qualified for my -doctorate, the reception in New York harbour in late -December 1918 after the first World War, the citation from<span class="pagenum" id="Page_40">[40]</span> -the President on receiving an honorary degree from Harvard, -but, believe me, these thrills are all in class B as compared to -the one I got when I first found a bee tree unaided.</p> - -<p>The finding had an amusing sequel. The hole was about -eight feet up the bole, too far to reach but near enough for -the bees to be very conscious of an intruder. I started -proudly to blaze my initials on the tree when I became -conscious of a roar and the air seemed to grow dark above -me. I turned and ran just in time, nor did I return to finish -blazing the tree. Later, I related the event to George Smith -who covered me with contumely. That a man should find -a tree and then be driven off by the bees before he could -blaze it, Smith regarded as a disgrace. He assured me that -he would take up the tree himself without benefit of veil or -gloves. I knew better than to argue, but on the appointed -time when he, my brother and I went to take up the tree, -I brought two veils and two pairs of gauntlets. When we -got to the tree I set about collecting dry stuff for a smudge, a -matter which Smith said was quite unnecessary. I was -downhill from the tree when he went to work. I heard the -axe fall perhaps a half a dozen times, and then there was a -siren-like wail of profanity, and Smith came charging -through the woods, a stream of angry bees behind him like -a comet’s tail. That was one swarm which defeated the -intrepid Smith. He borrowed my brother’s net and gloves, -my brother went off and hid in the woods, and with net -and glove protection and a smudge as well, we cut into the -tree and took up the swarm. We got sixty pounds of honey.</p> - -<p>In this article I have alluded many times to “taking up” -a bee tree. The phrase may be colloquial, but it sticks.<span class="pagenum" id="Page_41">[41]</span> -Smith never cut a bee tree. He always “took it up.” -Moreover, he always referred to a bee as “he.” I am well -aware that a working bee is a sterile female, but I cannot -bring myself to call it “she.” There is nothing feminine -about a working bee but its anatomy. “She” is “he” to me.</p> - -<p>A word or two in more detail about the taking up of a bee -tree may not be amiss. It brings us face to face with one -unpleasant fact: the cruelty of the performance. For once -a tree is taken up, the bees soon die. It is done in the -autumn, and the cold soon kills the bees. They are deprived -of food and shelter and have no time to gather more of the -one or repair the other. They have laboured hard and -are pitilessly robbed not only of the fruits of their labour, -but of their very lives. They have been friendly during the -running, and one has acquired an affection for them. How -then can a reasonably tender-hearted person bring himself -to destroy them?</p> - -<p>A reason I can give, though I do not maintain that it -is an excuse. Bees are perhaps the most thoroughly communistic -creatures extant. The individual counts for -nothing. The spirit of the hive is all. I am told that the life -of a working bee during a heavy honey flow is only six or -eight weeks. The workers work themselves until they -shortly die; the hive is kept alive by the steady hatching of -larvae who in turn carry on the work and die. The queen, -who alone of the colony lives several years, has one nuptial -flight and spends the rest of her life crawling over the comb -and dropping an egg into each cell. Though she, more than -anything else, is responsible for the spirit of the hive, she -is more of a slave than her workers. As autumnal cold<span class="pagenum" id="Page_42">[42]</span> -descends, work stops, and the bees torpidly cling together for -warmth and maintain existence by consuming their store of -honey. In the spring work and laying start, and the worn -workers live just long enough to see the process started once -more and enough larvae hatched to replace them and -assure the continued existence of the hive. A bee will do -everything for the hive; nothing for a fellow bee. A bee -from a strange swarm, alighting on the comb, will be -instantly attacked. On the other hand, if one tries the -experiment of killing a bee on the comb, pinning him with -the blade of a knife, he will set up a screaming buzz that -sounds horribly anguished even to the human ear—and -his fellow worker, loading half an inch away, will pay -absolutely no attention to him. When a tree is taken up, -the spirit of the hive is killed then and there. The queen is -usually crushed or lost. The living thing that is the hive -is extinguished, and the individual bees become mere insects -doomed to winter destruction as are so many of the common -flies. For the individual, the hunter has merely hastened -dissolution by a little. He has killed the hive with the -crash of the tree. I state this not as an apology, but as a -fact, an explanation of why one’s conscience does not trouble -one after taking up a tree. Illogical it may be, but it is true.</p> - -<p>To return to the process. The days have lengthened, and -October has come. Frost has killed the flowers. The bees -have gathered the maximum of honey and will have begun -to consume the store. It is time to take up. For equipment -you will need a couple of axes, a crosscut saw, a sledge, -and at least three stout steel wedges. Plenty of twine is -essential. Take as many bee nets as necessary. These can<span class="pagenum" id="Page_43">[43]</span> -be made extemporaneously out of black mosquito netting, -but it is easier and safer to get the regular professional -beekeeper’s veils. For every participant there should be a -stout pair of linesman’s gauntlets. Wear old clothes, -dungarees or old riding trousers. You are sure to get -pretty well smeared with honey before you are done. -Select a clear day or an overcast one, but not one with a -threat of rain. If any water finds its way into the honey, -it might as well be thrown away. It will surely ferment and -spoil. You will need help, one or, better yet, two good -woodsmen. In New Hampshire they are not hard to find. -Probably they are working for you on your own place or for -your neighbour. A few men have a rooted fear of bees -and will be unavailable. The average lumberman, if promised -reasonable protection, will come along and face the -hard work for the fun. Taking up a bee tree is an exciting -and thrilling performance. Lastly, bring plenty of receptacles -for the honey. The humiliation of returning with -five pounds of comb in a wash boiler is nothing as compared -to the exasperation of filling a couple of buckets and finding -you have no way of transporting the rest of the honey that -is left in the tree.</p> - -<p>Thus equipped you sally forth, hunter, woodsmen, and -usually one or two camp followers in the way of guests or -the curious. Your tree has been marked with your initials -and a trail blazed to it with your hand axe so you have no -difficulty in finding it. If it is on your property, well and -good. If not, your New Hampshire farmer is usually a -reasonable being if you treat him properly. A bee tree is -not valuable. The mere fact that it has a hollow generally<span class="pagenum" id="Page_44">[44]</span> -proves that it is not commercially valuable for anything -but firewood, and after it is felled, if the owner wants to -work it up into firewood, he is at liberty to do so. A proper -approach and the promise of a jar or two of honey will -usually win you permission to take up the tree, and the -owner will come along to watch the fun. In all my many -years of experience, I have only once been refused permission -to take up a bee tree without payment.</p> - -<p>Arriving at the tree a council of war will follow as to -how best to fell it. If you are wise, you will allow this -decision to be made by your woodsmen. If possible, it -should be felled so that the hole is on one side or on top. -If possible, it should not be felled across boulders, as it is -very desirable not to have the hole split. Sometimes a tree -will be so leaning, however, that there is no choice in the -matter, and one must do the best one can. While the -woodsmen are chipping the trunk and beginning to saw, -the hunter should gather moss, the fronds of ferns, or other -stuff to plug the hole when the tree is brought down. As the -saw bites deeper and the scarf widens, the top of the tree -will begin to sway. Now is the time for the hunter to don -his veil and gloves. Before putting on the veil, it is well to -turn up the collar of one’s jacket. It is not even an act of -supererogation to tie tightly some twine around one’s waist. -I once had an ambitious bee crawl up under my jacket, -down through the band of my trousers, up under my shirt -and undershirt and sting me in the small of the back. -For protection of the legs, nothing is better than a light -pair of fisherman’s rubber boots. Failing them, tie the -bottom of your trousers or dungarees tightly round the<span class="pagenum" id="Page_45">[45]</span> -tops of your shoes. Do <i>not</i> wear low shoes. My companion -did that the time we took up the ninety-seven pound tree. -It was in a swamp and, in addition to the discomfort of wet -feet, he found that a couple of dozen bees, stupefied by the -smudge, fell into the water, revived, and relieved their -feelings by swimming across to his ankles and stinging -them. The next day his legs looked as though he had -elephantiasis, and never thereafter could I get him to help -me take up a bee tree. He could not seem to comprehend -that the fault was his for wearing low shoes.</p> - -<p>The cut deepens. The tree sways wider. It begins to -heave, and one hears the first pistol-like reports of the -cracking trunk. Slowly at first then with rapid momentum -the tree falls with a thunderous roar. The axemen have -snatched the saw from the cut and jumped back. The -hunter rushes in, his hands full of moss, finds the aperture -and plugs it before the bees can escape. At least he tries -to. Sometimes he misses a subsidiary aperture, and some -bees escape to enliven the proceedings. Sometimes the bole -splits at the hollow and nothing can be done about that. -Usually the hole can be plugged, and one can take one’s -time preparing to open the hollow.</p> - -<p>The woodsmen now put on their nets and gloves, if indeed -they have not done so just before felling the tree. All -debate as to whether the hollow extends above or below -the hole, often a matter of guesswork. Then the saw comes -into play again. The lumbermen cut deep scarves above -and below the area where the honey is supposed to be. -When rotten wood (and at times honey!) shows on the -blade, one can be sure the hollow is entered. Then a<span class="pagenum" id="Page_46">[46]</span> -wedge is placed at the base of one of the scarves and driven -home with the sledge. Another, parallel to it, is driven in -further down, and a third parallel at the lower scarf. As -the wedges are driven home, the bole will split and a great -section may be lifted off like a lid, exposing the honey and -the bees. Of course, I am describing an ideal performance. -Often the tree makes trouble, has to be sawed several times, -and the opening enlarged with the axe. As the crack -widens under the impact of the wedges, the bees pour out, -and the fight is on. They will attack viciously, and one is -aware of the ping of bees dashing themselves against the -wire netting of the veil. If one has taken proper precautions, -one is safe, though, to be honest, one usually gets -stung once or twice in taking up the tree. Humans vary in -susceptibility to bee stings. I am lucky in that they trouble -me little, and usually the swellings are slight. On the other -hand, my brother when once stung in the back of the hand, -found his arm next morning thrice its normal size to the -armpit. Those so constituted had better stop at home -when a tree is taken up.</p> - -<p>Once the fight is on it is well to get at the honey as soon -as possible. Once the comb is well broken, the bees lose -most of their fight. They will dash around in a bewildered -way, bunch up on a bush, gorge themselves with spilled -honey, and generally give evidence that the spirit of the -hive is dead. Only a few doughty fighters will continue -the battle. The comb will be in layers, up and down the -length of the hollow, sometimes in pieces two or two and -one-half feet long, with spaces between to admit the workers. -In describing the equipment I neglected to add a large iron<span class="pagenum" id="Page_47">[47]</span> -spoon and a couple of table knives. Usually it is necessary -to cut the comb to get it into convenient sizes, and a good -deal of honey will escape and run down into the hollow -whence it can be spooned out and added to the spoil in the -boiler. If a certain amount of chips, dead wood, and even -dead bees and larvae are included, do not be disturbed. -It will all be strained anyway. I have long since given -up trying to save wild honey in the comb. When the last -available drop is garnered, gather up your equipment and retreat. -A hundred yards away and you are quite safe and can -doff the nets and gloves that by this time are unbearably hot -and sticky. Then you have your first taste of delicious honey.</p> - -<p>Either wild honey is more tasty than the domestic variety -or one’s exertions have made it seem so. My guests have -always agreed that my wild honey is more aromatic than -any one can buy. I imagine the answer is that strained -wild honey is a blend, while domestic honey is generally of -one variety. The taste of honey varies widely according -to the flowers from which it is made. Clover honey, -foolishly the most prized, is the most insipid. Golden rod -honey is golden yellow and spicy. Buckwheat honey is, if -anything, too pungent and heavy as molasses. The honey -of Provence, made from wild thyme, has a special piney -taste. In straining wild honey no attempt is made to -separate the varieties, and the result is a blend, varying -somewhat according to tree or season, but always more interesting -than the domestic variety. Having sampled your -honey and found it good, you can now go home and weigh -your spoil. Unless, indeed, you have more than one tree -to take up. I have taken up four in a day.</p> - - - -<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_48">[48]</span>The rest is an epilogue. The straining of the honey is a -matter for the distaff side. My wife makes large bags of -cheesecloth, and the comb is broken up and introduced into -these. They are then hung over pans in a warm kitchen. -The honey drips slowly into the pans. One fears that a lot -will be wasted, but not so. In thirty-six hours or more the -comb will be dry beeswax, and the honey can be run off -from the pans into glass jars. When sealed, the honey will -keep indefinitely. After a while it will sugar into a kind of -paste. I like this better for eating than the liquid variety, -but if anyone disagrees, it is necessary only to place the -jar in warm water for a while, and the honey will return -to its liquid state.</p> - -<p>So much for bee hunting and how it is done. This account -has one virtue, perhaps only one: it is true. It is -based on experience, and there is nothing in it that I have -not done myself. I have relied on nothing that I have been -told; there is no hearsay. I have made no attempt to discuss -the life of the bee and the fascinating details of its -domestic economy. For the curious in these matters, I -recommend Maeterlinck’s <i>Life of the Bees</i>. I imagine what -he says is true, but I cannot prove it by my own certain -knowledge. It is certainly very beautiful and perhaps it is -more important for a poet to make a thing beautiful than -to make it true. These matters are not of my concern. -For a more factual but equally fascinating account, I recommend -<i>Bees’ Ways</i> by George de Clyver Curtis.</p> - -<p>I have also tried very hard to avoid purple passages. -It has not been easy. Bee hunting is one of the most -fascinating of sports, and one could go on describing different<span class="pagenum" id="Page_49">[49]</span> -illuminating episodes for many pages. The sport -combines almost everything that is desirable. It is played -out of doors. It requires exercise both of the muscles and -the brain. It is a sport of brawn and of craft. It can be -played alone. Moreover, it can be played at any tempo. -Time was when I could scramble up and down Croydon -Mountain like a squirrel and could push the pace. That I -can no longer do, but I can move more slowly, consider -more carefully, draw on the craft and knowledge of long -experience and find as many trees as when I was young -and impetuous. The sport is one of infinite variety, of -suspense, disappointment, perseverance, and triumph. You -go out into the fields. Before you is a wooded mountain -with ten thousand trees. One of those trees is a bee tree. -With a very simple equipment you set out to find it, pitting -your skill and your knowledge against the wiles of probably -the most intelligent insect in the world. You try. You fail. -You try again. You succeed. Your ostensible object is -honey. It is the least of your rewards. The reward is when, -after hours or days of trial and error, your eye catches the -flash of wings in the tree and once more you are able to -say checkmate in one of the most difficult, complicated, and -fascinating games in the world.</p> - - -<hr class="chap x-ebookmaker-drop" /> - -<div class="chapter"> -<div class="transnote"> -<p class="ph1">TRANSCRIBER’S NOTES:</p> - - - -<p>Obvious typographical errors have been corrected.</p> - -<p>Inconsistencies in hyphenation have been standardized.</p> - -<p>The cover image for this eBook was created by the transcriber and is entered into the public domain.</p> -</div></div> -<div style='display:block; margin-top:4em'>*** END OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE BEE HUNTER ***</div> -<div style='text-align:left'> - -<div style='display:block; margin:1em 0'> -Updated editions will replace the previous one—the old editions will -be renamed. -</div> - -<div style='display:block; margin:1em 0'> -Creating the works from print editions not protected by U.S. copyright -law means that no one owns a United States copyright in these works, -so the Foundation (and you!) can copy and distribute it in the United -States without permission and without paying copyright -royalties. 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