CHAPTEE II 



THE HIVE 



Every farm boy knovsrs of "bee trees" 

 in the vv^oods and it is a common notion 

 that bees are native to the United States 

 and that they lived in hollov^r forest trees 

 long before the coming of the white man. 

 This supposition is not correct because 

 the honey-bee was never a native of North 

 America, but was introduced probably by 

 the very early settlers from Europe. 



In their original wild state, in the 

 countries where they were native, bees 

 built their nests in hollow trees, in caves 

 in the rock or in any other sheltered 

 places they could find. Probably in warm 

 countries they even built in the open, at- 

 taching their combs to the branches of 

 trees. I know of one such case in Florida 

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