1904 



THE AMERICAN BEE-KEEPER. 



129 



now iiud save the bees; they'd have 

 time to fix up for winter. They're 

 worlciu' sti-ong now." 



Then my visitor commenced telling 



bee yarns. As soon as he left I went 



up to see that ti'ee. Sure enough, they 



were there, "bb"ilin' out it by haud- 



: fuls,'' about thirty feet from the 



I ground. The ti'ee was just out of my 



• road up the creek, and I had passed it 



about l,lOO times. Then this man, 



passing it for the first time, had seen 



! the bees at once. Such is life. 



It was a large tree, about two feet 

 in diameter,and I thought it was sound 

 at the base. It looked like a big con- 

 j tract for me to cut it down alone and 

 I waited two or three weeks for some 

 one to come along who would like to 

 take a liand. Finally a party of sur- 

 veyors came along. I asked them if 

 they would like some honey. Oh, yes, 

 they would. I told tliem about how by 

 cutting the tree we could get some. 

 J Well, they rather guessed they didn't 

 ij have time — besides they didn't under- 



stand cutting bee trees nohow. 

 I I then worked three days and made 

 1 two first-class bee gums, with two 

 compartments and numbers of frames, 

 air-holes, etc. I still look with pride 

 on what I consider a neat job. 



When I had finished the gums I 

 couldn't wait any longer. I wanted 

 honey bad — having been entirely out 

 of it for several years — and besides I 

 wanted to see those bees in my new 

 hives, working for me on the ranch. 

 I got all the things together that I 

 exjiected to need, took my axe and a 

 bee gum and went up to see the bees. 

 I reached their front yard about 4 

 o'clock in the afternoon. I could see 

 from the ground that they were still 

 ' open to business. It was one of the 

 warmest days we have had this year, 

 and I think bees are lively on warm 

 (lays. 



I figured on the tree and thought I 

 could chop it down in an hour and a 

 half, and I wanted to monkey with the 

 bees about sundown. I thought it 

 would be pleasant in the coll of 

 the evening. The tree was in 

 ? the shade of some tall pines, and I 

 ' went to work. I chopped a good sized 

 ' chip and listened. I didn't hear any- 

 thing buzz or whizz, so I kept on. The 

 bpps acted civilly — they were so higli 

 ni) in the world they simply ignored 

 people on the ground. But they didn't 



know I was going to take 'em down a 

 little. The tree was hollow to the 

 ground and when I had blocked out 

 one side I saw 1 had time enough. 



I rested awhile. 1 sort of liked to 

 rest while chopping, which is a good 

 deal like labor. I never labor without 

 resting whenever I have a good, 

 square chance. But the mosquitoes 

 were so bad I thought I might as well 

 chop, and before I expected it, I cut 

 through into the hollow so far that the 

 tree began to crack, then it squeaked 

 tottered and fell with a crash — an 

 hour ahead of time. There was a gran- 

 ite boulder thirty feet from the tree. 

 The bees seemed to be doing business 

 in the honey line about thirty feet up. 

 I calculated to drop them on the bould- 

 er, which would open up their works 

 in all probability without further use 

 of the axe. The tree fell on the bould- 

 er and burst like a pumpkin. The en- 

 tire domicile of the bees was opened 

 up to the public, which was, at this 

 place, two dogs and myself. I sneaked 

 up a few feet to see how things looked 

 before I put on my prepared armor, 

 which I had near by. 



I didn't get a very good view, I came 

 away too soon. The air all at once 

 seemed to be one solid whiz, and was 

 so full of bees that my dogs gathered a 

 lot of them without trying, and went 

 off as though they wanted to get away 

 from there. One of the dogs was a 

 small, short-haired dog, and very 

 black. When he left I could see he 

 was full of little yellow spots that 

 looked like spangles. They were bees 

 and they clung to him as though they 

 had never seen a dog before. The dog 

 acted as though he never had bees be- 

 hind before. 



I secured my armor and prepared for 

 action. I had only a small piece of 

 mosquito bar which I fastened to my 

 straw hat, letting it festoon my face. 

 I drew on a hickory overshirt (wearing 

 it like a bushwhacker, outside my 

 pants), then I tied a string around my 

 ankles, one around my waist and a 

 handkerchief around my neck; finally 

 I drew over my hands a pair of cotton 

 socks for gauntlets, and I was ready. 



I approached the bees gradually. I 

 got in among them and they couldn't 

 do a thing to me. But didn't they try 

 it though! I never was the center of 

 so much attraction in my life, and I 

 had no notion till then how much rack- 



