S2 BEES, 



The other bee-tree in the vicinity, to which I have 

 referred, we found one warm November day in less 

 than half an hour after entering the woods. It also 

 was a hemlock, that stood in a niche in a wall of 

 hoary, moss-covered rocks thirty feet high. The tree 

 .hardly reached to the top of the precipice. The bees 

 entered a small hole at the root, which was seven o£ 

 eight feet from the ground. The position was a strik- 

 ing one, Never did apiary have a finer outlook or 

 Euore rugged surroundings. A black, wood-embraced 

 lake lay at our feet ; the long panorama of the Cats* 

 kills filled the far distance, and the more broken out- 

 lines of the Shawangunk range filled the rear. On 

 every hand were precipices and a wild confusion of 

 rocks and trees. 



The cavity occupied by the bees was about tln-ed 

 feet and a half lon^ and ei^ht or ten inches in diam- 

 eter. With an ax we cut away one side of the Uee 

 and laid bare its curiously wrought heart of honey. It 

 was a most pleasing sight. What winding and devi- 

 ous ways the bees had through their palace ! What 

 preat masses and blocks of snow-white comb there 

 were ! Where it was sealed up, presenting that 

 ( slightly dented, uneven surface, it looked like some 

 precious ore. When we carried a large pail full of ii 

 lout of the woods, it seemed still more like ore. 



Your native bee-hunter predicates the distance of 

 the tree by the time the bee occupies in making its 

 first trip. But this is no certain guide. You are 

 always safe in calculating that the tree is inside of a 

 mile, and you need not as a rule look for your bee's 

 return under ten minutes. One day I picked up a 

 bee in an opening in the woods and gave it honey, 

 and it made three trips to my box with an interval 



