PEPACTON 



epitome of the white man himself. She has the 

 white man's craftiness, his industry, his architec- 

 tural skill, his neatness and love of system, his 

 foresight; and, above all, his eager, miserly habits. 

 The honey-bee's great ambition is to be rich, to lay 

 up great stores, to possess the sweet of every flower 

 that blooms. She is more than provident. Enough 

 will not satisfy her; she must have all she can get 

 by hook or by crook. She comes from the oldest 

 country, Asia, and thrives best in the most fertile 

 and long-settled lands. 



Yet the fact remains that the honey-bee is essen- 

 tially a wild creature, and never has been and can- 

 not be thoroughly domesticated. Its proper home 

 is the woods, and thither every new swarm counts 

 on going ; and thither many do go in spite of the 

 care and watchfulness of the bee-keeper. If the 

 woods in any given locality are deficient in trees 

 with suitable cavities, the bees resort to all sorts 

 of makeshifts ; they go into chimneys, into barns 

 and outhouses, under stones, into rocks, etc. Sev- 

 eral chimneys in my locality with disused flues are 

 taken possession of by colonies of bees nearly every 

 season. One day, while bee-hunting, I developed 

 a line that went toward a farmhouse where I 

 had reason to believe no bees were kept. I fol- 

 lowed it up and questioned the farmer about his 

 bees. He said he kept no bees, but that a swarm 

 had taken possession of his chimney, and another 

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