MARCH 15, 1914 



ish scales which accumulate on the floors of 

 the hives when much brootl-reaiiny is going 

 on. These scaly particles the beos remove 

 to the alighting-board. As soon as the bees 

 begin using flour for raising brood the bot- 

 toms of the hives become covered with white 

 scales, and the scaly particles which they 



remove to I he alighting-board are also 

 white. 



My hives are kept in protecting cases the 

 year around, and the bees are warm and 

 Ciomfortable in the blustery weather of 

 »nring. 



New Paltz, N. Y. 



TRANSFERRING FROM A TREE ON THANKSGIVING DAY 



BY AUSTIN I). WOLFE 



About 7:30 on the morning of Thanks- 

 giving day, 1912, I looked out of the win- 

 dow and saw my neighbor' Ashby coming 

 out of his gate. He had an ax in one hand, 

 a bucket in the other, and he invited me to 

 go with him to cut a bee-tree in his pasture. 

 I took Paul, an ax, and a smoker and veil. 

 This seemed to promise a good appetite for 

 the Thanksgiving dinner. 



The tree proved to be a linn (Southern 

 basswood), and fairly solid. We developed 

 considerable sweat before it fell. While we 

 took breathing-spells, a tall sinewy mulatto 

 swung i^ast us at the foot of the hill, with 

 an ax and bucket. 



" Better come along o' me, Mr. Wolfe," 

 he called. 



"Where to, Nim? " 



" Oh! I'm goin' to cut the biggest bee-tree 

 I ever see," he replied; "better come and 

 get some." 



I did not go, but remained and saw how 

 much (or how little) Ashby got. The colo- 



ny was small, the honey poor. It had not 

 paid for tlie effort. 



But that evening Paul brought me word 

 from Nim that he had taken over 50 lbs. of 

 honey, and that the bees were golden Ital- 

 ians. So next morning we went again, and 

 roamed the timber pasture until the place 

 was located. It was another big linn, lying 

 on its side on the slope, with the evidence 

 of yesterday in chips, bark, and old comb. 

 In the hollow of the trunk there hung as 

 pretty an inverted pyramid of bees as I 

 ever saw. Rigiit then and there I should 

 have photographed them. 



Into the frames of the jumbo hive I tied 

 panels of comb found on the ground. Then 

 I set the hive in the hollow of the tree and 

 began work. At first I scooped them by 

 handfuls and dropped them into the top of 

 the hive. Then the smoker came into play. 

 The bees dodged, and hid and tried to es- 

 cape through hollow branches and behind 

 dead wood, but at last learned the way to 



Hive located close to an exposed cavity in the tree where the bees formerly made their home. 



