HOW TO GET THE BEES 71 



necessary to obtain the owner's permis- 

 sion before such a tree may be cut, but I 

 have never had any trouble in obtaining 

 such permission. Usually the owner is 

 willing to have such trees cut because they 

 are as a rule hollow and worthless as tim- 

 ber and the chance of obtaining a few 

 pounds of honey in exchange will tempt 

 the average owner to part with the tree. 



If the nest is high above the ground and 

 in a thin shell of wood, it will quite often 

 be badly wrecked when the tree falls. In 

 some cases the wreck is so complete that 

 practically nothing can be done toward 

 saving the remains, but if the trunk or 

 branch holds together it is an easy mat- 

 ter to chop a hole in the wood large 

 enough to remove the combs one at a time. 

 In such cases one should select those 

 combs that are the most regular in shape 

 and that contain plenty of brood or stores. 

 These combs are taken out of the tree and 

 cut into sections as nearly as possible the 

 exact size of the brood frames. 



