184: 



THE AMERICAN BEE JOURNAL AND GAZETTE. 



and growing colony, till suddenl_y, on some fine 

 ul'lcrnoou, the bees come tumbling out helter- 

 skelter, and hastily take French leave of their 

 astoLished owner. If such absconding colony 

 ■was well supplied with comb, a strange spec- 

 tacle of universal ruin will present itself when 

 the hive is opened. A mixed multitude of 

 larger and smaller cream-colored worms with 

 brownish heads, will be seen hastily wriggling 

 into their hiding-place — a dark, web-strung 

 pile of mingled excreta and crumbling comb. 

 Hosts of fluttering moths, too, hover like har- 

 pies on duskj^ wing, and a nauseous odor ex- 

 hales from the filmy and cocoon-spangled mass. 

 All this is disheartening; but if the dismayed 

 bee-keeper would have his good humor restored, 

 and himself put in the mood of paying more 

 heedful attention to what may thenceforward 

 be going on in his hives, let him carry the lion- 

 moth-proof box or basket to his hen-yard, and 

 present its contents as a bonne louche or tid-bit 

 to his Shanghais and Brahmapootras, and he 

 will see such an eager rush and scramble and 

 hasty gobbling up of the multidinous host that 

 "worked him harm, as well may mollify his tem- 

 per, aad restore his equanimity — so far as a 

 hearty laugh can thereto contribute. 



Then, for prevention — 1. Watch your hives 

 closely, especially those that have swarmed, or 

 that are rearing queens. 2. Frequently cleanse 

 the bottom-boards of your feeble stocks, and 

 inspect the combs. 3. See whether there are 

 any black droppings under the combs, or 

 whether the bees are carr_ying such out. If so, 

 search for and remove the worm. 



For preservation of comis — 1. Suspend them 

 singly in a high and airy chamber. 2. Insert 

 them at times for cleaning in the hives of your 

 stronger colonies; and o, keep them in an air- 

 tight box, and fumigate them every two or 

 three weeks with fumes of burning sulphur. 



In elevated mountainous districts, moths are 

 not apt to be troublesome, but in lower level 

 and warm districts they will, without great 

 care, be found a numerous and intrusive pest. 



Braun. 



For the American Bee Journal and Gazette. 



Bee Battles. 



In almost every work on bees you find ac- 

 counts of bee-battles; but in not one of them 

 (at least so far as I have seen) do you find any 

 attempt to explain the causes of them. 



Now, any one Avho has observed bees at all, 

 will readily agree with me that they are far too 

 sensible to engage in causeless war, and I am 

 surprised that some one has not, before this, 

 found out that it is caused by starvation. 



In every instance of it which has come under 

 my observation, (and I am sorry to say they 

 are not a few,) it has l)een the effect of want of 

 stores. The starving bees attempting to join, 

 and strong stocks wlio make violent resistance 

 to the union, and tluis ensues desperate war. 



W. 



Elkricge, Md., March 14, 18(J7. 



Felling a Bee-Tree. 



Our party reached the rendezvous only a few 

 hours beyond the appointed time. Here, as a 

 bee-tree had just been reported, it was unani- 

 mously determined to commemorate the de- 

 liverance and safe arrival of our friends by a 

 special jollification. In other words, it was 

 voted to obtain the wild honey; and then, in a 

 compound of honey, water, and whiskey, to 

 toast our undrowued heroes, and their presence 

 of mind and bravery — no small honor, if the 

 trouble of getting the honey is considered. For^ 

 on following the serial trail of the bees, the hive 

 was ascertained to be in the hollow limb of the 

 largest patriarchial sire of the forest — a tree 

 more than thirty feet in circumference. And 

 this is a fair chance to say a Avord about' the 

 enormous circumambitudialitariness (.0 of many 

 Western trees. It is common to find such from 

 six to seven feet in diameter; and we have more 

 than once sat on stumps, and measured across 

 three lengths of my cane, nearly ten feet; and 

 found, on counting the concentric circles, that 

 these monsters must have been from seven to 

 eight hundred years old — an age greater than 

 Noah's, and almost as venerable as that of Me- 

 thusaleh ! Shall w^e feel no sublimity in walk- 

 ing amid and around such ancients v_treesthat 

 hiive tossed their branches in the sun-light and 

 winds of eight centuries !^that have scorned 

 the tempests and tornadoes, whose fury, ages 

 ago, prostrated cities and engulphed navies I 

 that have sheltered wild fowls in their leaves, 

 and hid wild beasts in their caverns from the 

 doomsday-looking gloom of many total solar 

 eclipses ! and have gleamed in the disastrous 

 light of comets returning in the rounds of cen- 

 tenary circles ! Such trees, but lor the insi- 

 dious and graceless axe, that in its powerlessness 

 begged a small handle of the generous woods, 

 would j^et stand for other centuries to come, at 

 least decaying, if not growing — for they are 

 herculean even in weakness and while dying. 

 And dare finical European tourists say that we 

 have no antiquity ? Poor souls ! poor souls ! 

 Our trees w^eie fit for navies long before their 

 old things existed ! Aye, when their oldest 

 castles and cities were unwrought rock and un- 

 burnt clay ! Our trees belong to the era of 

 Egyptian architecture — they are coeval with the 

 pyramids ! 



It is a proverb, " He that would eat the fruit 

 must first climb the tree and get it;" but when 

 that fruit is honey, he that w^ants it must first 

 cut down the tree. And that was the present 

 necessity. No sooner Avas this resolved, hoAV- 

 ever, than preparation Avas made for the exe- 

 cution, and instantly six sturdy felloAVS stood 

 Avith axes, ready for the Avork of destruction. 

 They Avere all divested of their garments, ex- 

 cepting shirts and troAvsers, and noAv, Avith 

 arms bared to the shoulders, they took distances 

 around the stupendous tree. Then the leader 

 of the band, glancing an eye to see if his neigh- 

 bor Avas ready, stepped lightly forAvard with 

 one leg, and swinging his Aveaponlithely, struck 

 the first bloAv; and soon the startled echoes from 

 the "tall timber" of the dark dens were telling 

 each other that the centuries of a Avood monarch 



