BEE-HUNTING. 



43 



BEE-HUNTING. 



tioned. On account of the large knots it would l)e 

 impossible to use a rope, or sometiiing similar, to 

 hitch up by climbers, as described in tlie ABC 

 i)ook. Knots are not in my way wlieu I use spikes 

 and staples. Green Derrington. 



Poplar Bluflf, Butler Co., Mo. 



HOW TO GET BKES OUT OF BEE-TREES OR 

 FROM BETWEEN THE SIDINGS OF A 

 HOUSE WITHOUT MUTILATING EI- 

 THER THE TREE OR THE HOUSE. 



It sometimes happens that acolo'ny of bees 

 will take their abode in some fine shade tree 

 in a park, which the aiithorities will not al- 

 low to be cut; or they will domicile in the 

 woods of some farmer, who, while he will 

 allow the bee-hunter to get the bees, will not 

 let him cut the tree ; or, as it often happens, 

 a colony will make its home between the 

 plaster and the clapboarding of the house. 

 How, then, can such bees and their honey 

 be secured without doing any damage to the 

 tree or the building that gives them a home 

 and protection? The matter is made very 

 easy by the use of the modern bee-escape. 

 Tor particulars regarding this device, see 

 Comb Honey and Extracted Honey. 



Having the bees located in the bee-tree 

 the hunter prepares a small colony of bees 

 or a nucleus, putting it into a light hive or 

 box which can be carried to the scene of 

 operations. He takes along with him a 

 hammer, a saw, some nails, and lumber, 

 with which he can make a temporary plat- 

 form. On arriving on the spot he lights his 

 smoker and then prepares to set up this 

 platform directly opposite or in front of the 

 flight-hole of the bee-tree, or the knot-hole, 

 we will say, of the dwelling. This he con- 

 structs out of the lumber which he has 

 brought. Before doing so it will be neces- 

 sary for him to blow smoke into the flight- 

 hole, in order to prevent bees from inter- 

 fering with the building of the temporary 

 hive- stand. He next puts a Porter bee- 

 escape over the flight-hole of the tree, in 

 such a way that the bees can come out but 

 not go back in. Last of all he places his 

 hive with the bees which he has brought, 

 with its entrance as near the bee-escape (now 

 placed over the old entrance) as he can. 



His work is now complete, and he leaves 

 the bees to work out their own salvation. 



The bees from the tree, f.s fast as they 

 come out, are, of course, unable to return. 

 These, one by one, find their way into the 

 hive on the temporary platform. At the end 

 of four or Ave weeks the queen in the tree or 

 dwelling will have very few bees left, and 

 there will also be but very little brood for 

 that matter, through lack of bees to take 



care of it, for her subjects are nearly all in 

 the hive on the outside. 



At this time Mr. Beehimter appears on 

 the scene. He loads his smoker with fuel 

 (brimstone), removes the bee-escape and 

 brimstones the old colony, or what is left, 

 which by this time is probably not more 

 than a handful of bees with the queen. 



Again he leaves the scene of operation ; 

 but the bee-escape is not replaced. What 

 happens now? The bees in the hive, includ- 

 ing those that were captured, rob all the 

 honey out of the old nest in the tree or house 

 in the course of three or four days, carrying 

 it into the hive on the extemporized platform. 



The bee- hunter now takes away the hive, 

 removes the temporary hive-stand, and 

 carries the bees home. If they be taken a 

 mile or a mile and a half they will stay where 

 placed. 



In the meantime, no damage has been 

 done either to tree or building, as the case 

 may be. All that will be left in the tree 

 will be some old dry combs which, in the 

 form of wax, probably would not amount to 

 tif ty cents, if the time of rendering be taken 

 into account. 



This method of taking bees could not very 

 well be practiced where the bees are located 

 in inaccessiblepositions,asinhigh trees; but 

 it will be found very useful where a colony 

 is located in some building or shade-tree in 

 a park. 



We are indebted for the general principles 

 here set forth to Mr. Ealph Eisher, of Great 

 Meadows, N. J., who has practiced this plan 

 with gieat success. 



does bee- HUNTING PAY ? 



If you can earn a dollar per day at some 

 steady employment, I do not think it would, 

 as a rule ; yet there are doubtless localities 

 where an expert would make it pay well in 

 the fall of the year. With the facilities we 

 now have for rearing bees, a bee-keeper 

 could stock an apiary much quicker by 

 rearing the bees than he would by bringing 

 them home from the woods, and transfer- 

 ring. In the former case he would have 

 nice straight combs, especially if he used 

 foundation ; but the combs from the woods 

 would require a great deal of fussing, and 

 yet would never be nearly as nice as those 

 built on foundation, even then. So much 

 by way of discouragement. On the other 

 hand, a ramble in the woods, such as bee- 

 hunting furnishes, is one of the most health- 

 ful forms of recreation one can find, becau.se 

 it gives one a chance to study, not only the 

 habits of the bees, but the flowers as \v'eU ; 



