1898. 



THE AMERICAN BEE-KEEPER. 



83 



some time, I started ofE for a neighbor- 

 ing sugar camp, about a mile distant. 

 As I neared the camp I stopped for a 

 moment to see if the owner was in the 

 woods anywhere gathering sap, as I 

 did not see him near the sugar house 

 or boiling place. As I stood listening 

 and looking for him, I thought I heard 

 the hum of bees, and upon looking up 

 into the tree tops all around me, I pres- 

 ently saw the bees taking their first 

 flight in the spring, as this was the first 

 really warm day, from a hole in a large 

 basswood tree, some seventy feet from 

 the ground. When I found the owner I 

 showed him what I had found, and he 

 kindly told me that I had better put my 

 initials on the tree to keep any other 

 party who might chance to find it from 

 cutting it. He also said that I had bet- 

 ter let it remain till the coming fall, 

 when he would help me cut it for what 

 honey he could eat. I felt proud of my 

 find and grateful to the owner for be- 

 ing so kind to me. On going back I re- 

 solved that the next pleasant day I 

 would go all through those woods look- 

 ing for bees, which I did a few days af- 

 terward, and to my satisfaction T found 

 another colony, the tree of which was 

 marked in like manner with the first. 

 Since then I have found many other 

 colonies in trees, by simply passing 

 through woods on warm days in early 

 spring. As there are no leaves on the 

 trees at this time of the year to bother, 

 it is an easy matter to look into every 

 tree which may have the appearance of 

 being hollow, and if you keep the tree 

 between you and the sun, looking a lit- 

 tle below the sun will reveal the bees 

 quite readily by the flashing of their 

 wings in the sunshine; while trees hav- 

 ing bees in them can often be found by 

 looking on the snow for dead bees 

 which are carried out and dropped on 

 the first warm days. The two trees 

 spoken of were cut the last of Septem- 

 ber, and from these we obtained about 

 100 pounds of honey, I dividing with 

 the neighbor. 

 During the following winter I saw 



an advertisement in a paper regarding 

 a certain book which would tell how to 

 hunt bees, and as 1 was now anxious to 

 find bees I sent for it. The book proved 

 to be the "Bee-Keepers Text Book," 

 and treated largely on the management 

 of bees, for which I then had little de- 

 sire. Six years later in hunting over 

 an old closet, I came across this book, 

 and as I saw the preface was short I 

 read it, as I generally read the preface 

 to any book first. I at once wanted to 

 know all there was in the book, and 

 sat down fairly spellboimd till the last 

 page was read. I at once decided to 

 have some bees in the spring (this was 

 in January, 1869) and accordingly 1 

 engaged two colonies of a box-hive bee- 

 keeper, for five dollars each. I also 

 purchased "Quinby's Mysteries of Bee- 

 Keeping," and read and re-read it till 

 I could tell the substance of the whole 

 book to any one who would talk bees, I 

 was so interested in the matter. Then 

 I subscribed for the American Bee 

 Journal, which was about the only bee 

 paper of those days. When spring 

 opened I got my bees home, bought five 

 Langstroth hives all complete, for 

 $12.50, and thought myself fully equip- 

 ped for the season. Every time the 

 bees would fly I could hardly keep 

 away from them, and on cold days in 

 April and May I would go and tip up 

 the hives to see the bees clustered be- 

 tween the combs. In short, I wanted to 

 be with them constantly, (and haven't 

 got over that part yet,) and yet, withal, 

 I had a great fear of them stinging me, 

 as my flesh always swelled very badly 

 when stung — so much so that I was 

 often confined to the house from my 

 eyes being swollen shut, or an arm or 

 a limb being so badly swollen that I 

 could not use it. For this reason I al- 

 ways bundled up well if I went near 

 the bees when they were flying. 



As it came near the swarming sea- 

 son, I remembered what Quinby said 

 in his book about being able to tell 

 when the bees would swarm by invert- 

 ing the hive in the middle of the day, 



