AMERICAN BEE JOURNAL. 



397 



forest where there are violent contrasts 

 of light and shade, and where trunks 

 and branches of trees are likely to inter- 

 vene at frequent intervals. Consequently 

 success is by no means certain, even 

 when the conditions are favoring. 



When you have found your tree the 

 real sport of the pursuit, the robbing of 

 the tree, is often delayed for days, and 

 sometimes weeks. The next step is to 

 make up a party. This usually numbers 

 four or five, and includes at least two 

 good axraen, for the tree — in nine cases 

 out of ten a large one — must invariably 

 be felled, and the labor involved is by no 

 means slight. The party sets out with 

 a cart laden with axes and vessels to 

 hold the honey, usually about noon or in 

 the early afternoon. While the axmen 

 are cutting at the tree, other members 

 of the party busy themselves in kindling 

 a fire with lightwood knots, and in 

 gathering a good supply of green grass 

 or leaves. 



As a rule there is only one hole by 

 which the bees make their way to and 

 from the cavity within the tree, and 

 the first thing to do after the tree has 

 fallen, is to stop this up. . That is a wise 

 precaution, for otherwise the ' bees are 

 apt to make it difficult for the hunters 

 to get the honey. 



When, therefore, the tree is about to 

 fall, one of the party who has had some 

 experience in that particuar direction, 

 takes a handful of grass, or some other 

 loose and compressible material, and 

 stands by to plug the hole as soon as the 

 tree is upon the ground. When the hole 

 has been plugged, there is a buzzing in 

 the hollow of the tree for all the world 

 like the indistinct roar of a distant infu- 

 riated mob. 



Having successfully imprisoned the 

 pugnacious little honey-gatherers in 

 their own house, some of the blazing 

 brands are brought from the fire already 

 made, and placed against the tree 

 beneath the hole, more fuel is put on, 

 and when a cheery blaze has been 

 started, it is smothered with a covering 

 of the green stuff previously gathered to 

 make a dense smoke. 



When a good smoke has been raised, 

 the axmen are again called into request 

 to split the trunk open in sections, so as 

 to give access to the honey. Before the 

 hollow is cut into, however, the plug is 

 generally taken out of the orifice, so as 

 to let in the smoke, and if that is suc- 

 cessfully done, the bees are not likely to 

 be troublesome when the comb is ex- 

 posed. Sometimes, though, the smoke 

 does not go in, and when the first section 

 of the trunk is split off, the bees come cut 



in a perfect cloud, and settle down on the 

 first hunter they come in contact with. 



They will swarm over his head, face, 

 neck, shoulders, and hands, forming a 

 complete living, crawling, and intensely 

 irritating envelope. He must be a man 

 of uncommon self-control to remain 

 immovable in such circumstances for 

 many minutes. And yet his only salva- 

 tion is to keep as still as a statue, for 

 should he squeeze one of the insects 

 benveen his neck and his shirt collar, 

 for example, he would inevitably be 

 stung, and if one bee stings when they 

 are swarming on you in that way, then 

 every individual in the family is likely 

 to sting also. 



To attempt to brush them off is cer- 

 tain to provoke them to sting, and the 

 consequence in such an event are really 

 very serious. While thus swarmed upon, 

 the writer has been compelled to remain 

 immovable for at least a quarter of an 

 hour in real agony of irritation from the 

 crawling of the insects. 



Two or three bushels of loaded comb 

 are sometimes taken from one of these 

 trees, and the honey is always of superior 

 quality. It also has, in the Fall of the 

 year, a peculiar flavor imparted to it by 

 the forest flowers, which renders it much 

 more palatable than the honey of the 

 domestic bee. 



There are a good many black bears in 

 the larger swamps of South Carolina, 

 and these fellows frequently roam over 

 the pine forests in the Summer and 

 Autumn in search of bee-trees, where 

 patches of ripening corn are not con- 

 venient. When a bear has found a tree 

 containing a colony of bees, he will 

 climb without loss of time to the orifice, 

 and proceed to gnaw it until it is en- 

 larged sufficiently to admit one of his 

 paws, and then his feast begins. 



It must not be supposed that he is 

 permitted to do the gnawing unmolested. 

 The bees attack him fiercely about the 

 head, but he goes right on with his 

 business, pausing only occasionally to 

 rub the insects off against the bark of 

 the tree when they crowd on too thick, 

 and the rest of the time seeks relief from 

 their torture in short, savage growls or 

 grunts, varied by an occasional squeal. 



When he can get one of his paws into 

 the orifice, he rakes out the comb in 

 great chunks, and swallows it greedily- 

 bees and all. As a rule, there is little 

 left of bees or honey when he has finished 

 the job. Occasionally hunters have found 

 a bear in the act of robbing a bee-tree, 

 and have taken bruin home with them. 



In New Hampshire the boys and 

 youths have a good deal of sport by 



