1871.] 



THE AMERICAN BEE JOURNAL. 



245 



and we think it no more than justice to say that 

 niiich is due to her for the tlioroughness witli 

 wliich we have gone through with many tilings 

 we have undertalcen ; as also for the neatness 

 and orderly appearance of our apiary and imple- 

 ments. She certainly has had very ranch to do 

 ■with it. Of covirse she does not know what we 

 are writing, or we feai", Mr. Editor, this would 

 never reach you. We mention it to show that 

 ladies have a particular adaptation for mannging 

 an apiary, wlien they care for bees, and we 

 should very much like to meet them oftener in 

 the Journal.* We feel sure, if they would 

 ■write, it would be found that their articles many 

 times contained more value than those of our 

 sex. We are so ready to tell all we know, and 

 sometimes some things we don't know. 



With best wishes to all bee keepers, most 

 especially to all lady bee keepers, (how we would 

 visit their apiaries !; we remain, as ever. 



NOTICK. 



p. S.— Our reply to "Nut for Novice," &c., 

 page 291, w^ould be that many hybrid queens 

 produce such bees, nearly always some three 

 banded, but not often 7io banded. 



* VVe, likewise. — Ed. 



[For the American Bee .Touraal ] 



Bee Huuting. 



Probably a large majority of the readers of the 

 Journal are about as much interested on the sub- 

 ject of bee hunting as some of us at least are in 

 the many controversies in relation to hive^ ; but 

 that some of them are interested is evident from 

 the numerous letters recently received, asking 

 for a more minute description of the course 

 pursued in hunting bees. To these inquiries 

 allow me to reply through the .Tournal. 



First let me premise by saying that I came to 

 Michigan in lS3o, Avhen this county (Jackson) 

 ■was new, wild, and almost entirely uninhabited, 

 except by Indians. It was four miles to our 

 nearest neighbors. Bears, deer, wolves, turkeys, 

 and various other kinds of game were numerous, 

 while bee trees, rich in stores, were abundant. 

 As I had a natural "liking" for bees, and an 

 older brother who hunted them, I soon learned 

 something of the '^ modus operandi " of bee hunt- 

 ing. My first bee tree was found in the fall of 

 183!), when I was thirteen years old, since w^iich 

 time there have been but few years in which I 

 have not hunted them some, and even now after 

 a lapse of thirty years, since the commencement 

 of my bee limiting, I love to take my "traps," 

 and for the present bid adieu to care and anxiety, 

 go into the woods, and spend a day or two in this 

 to me enjoyable pastime — not for pecuniary gain, 

 but for amusement, pleasure, diversion, and re- 

 laxation from labor. And I always fee' that this 

 day has been profitably spent, whether honey is 

 found or otherwise. 



A few words more in relation to my bee hunt- 

 ing, and we will proceed to business, or pleasure 

 rather. I think it was in April, 184.3, that I 

 found a swarm of bees in the body of a tamarack 



tree. The hollow was about seven inches in 

 diameter and eight feet long, with four pieces of 

 comb extendingthe whole length. The entrance 

 was two feet from the lower end. I cut the tree 

 down, cut the log off above and below the combs, 

 drew it home with an ox team and sled, and set 

 it up in the yard in a perpendicular position 

 against a tree. With this I commenced bee 

 keeping and bee studying. I do not know that 

 I have since had bees winter better out of doors 

 than they did in the tamarack log. If I was 

 selling tall or deep hives, I could make use of it 

 as an argument in favor of-hives of the tallest 

 kind. The next fall the tree supporting the log 

 wa.s cut down, and the bee log was laid in a 

 horizontal position, with each end resting on a 

 bench. The bees came through the winter in 

 excellent condition, (juite as well as they did the 

 previous winter when the log was upright. If I 

 ■was selling shallow hives, I could make use of 

 this as an argument in favor of hives of that 

 style. Either way, gentlemen, how will you 

 have it ? 



But we hunted at all seasons, when the 

 weather is favorable. A great many bees are 

 found in the winter. The hunter gets his 

 "lines" the summer or fall previous, either 

 by getting bees at woi'k on honey, or watching 

 them as they leave some pool of water, only 

 "lining" them from a field of buckwheat or from 

 other liowers. He then marks the lines, so that 

 on any warm sunny day in ■winter, ■\vhen bees 

 are flying and the earth is covered with a white 

 blanket, "he can follow a line to the tree, which 

 he finds by the bees and their excrements on the 

 snow under and around it. The course pursued 

 in hunting them in the spring, before the appear- 

 ance of flowers, is precisely the same as in the 

 fall after the fiowers have failed. 



When we attempt to give the novice a lesson 

 in bee keeping, we prefer to go with him into 

 the yard, open one of our hives, and, with the 

 book before us, illustrate the lesson, and perhaps 

 we could best give the uninitiated reader a lesson 

 in bee hunting, by taking him with us on a regu- 

 lar bee hunt. The afternoon is i^leasant and 

 warm, and there is no wind, it could not be bet- 

 ter for our business. Yonder is a large tract of 

 timber, in which there is one bee tree, and only 

 one. We want to find it. We know nothing 

 about what part of the woods it is in. How shall 

 we find it out'? If we should ao there and com- 

 mence on one side to go over the ground, care- 

 fully looking in every tree as we went, we should 

 eventually iind it. We might find it to-day, or 

 it miglit^be a long job requiring days, perhaps 

 weeks, for its accomplishment. ISTow by making 

 use of one or two facts in relation to bees, with 

 which we are perfectly familiar, we can accom- 

 plish the same result in much less time and with 

 much less labor. 



We know tiiat bees are great seekers after 

 honey, and that they will appropriate it to their 

 own use whenever they find it. And we also 

 know that a loaded bee will fly on nearly a 

 straight line for home. Now if we can get those 

 bees at work on honey, and watch them as they 

 go home with it, we can ascertain what part of 

 the woods the tree is in. Hence we will take 



