Bee-Culture at Present 381 



quantity of honey was removed, and since it belonged to 

 the church, it was given to the poor and the sick of the 

 village, and a honey festival was held to which all were in- 

 vited to come and eat. 



In a contemporary newspaper we learn that the " old 

 Hawes house," at Yarmouth, Mass., which had sheltered 

 many generations of Cape Cod people, was finally to go 

 the way of houses and be torn down. The workmen found, 

 however, that the old walls were not tenantless, but evidently 

 had sheltered many generations of Cape Cod bees, which 

 bitterly resented the destructive intentions of the invaders, 

 pouring forth in such immense numbers and betraying such 

 a passion for fighting as compelled the workmen to retreat. 

 It is said one whole side of the building between the walls 

 was solidly packed with honey, and the work of demolition 

 came to a standstill until cold weather should conquer the 

 valiant defenders of the Hawes' lares and penates, when it 

 was beheved hundreds of pounds of honey would be taken 

 out 



This story is doubly discounted by one found in the Swiss 

 Alpine folk tales. There were in the golden age brooks 

 and seas filled with milk, and once a shepherd capsized in 

 his boat and was drowned in one of them ; his long-sought 

 body, when finally discovered and moved, brought to light 

 the foaming cream as though it were being churned, and he 

 was buried in a cavern which the bees had built full of 

 honey-combs as large as city gates. 



These are the largest honey-combs yet recorded, as far 

 as the present writer knows, though Pliny describes some 

 seen in Germany that had attained the creditable length of 

 eight feet, and which on the convex side were black. 



Hollow trees are' the favorite hiving places of Apis 

 Mellifica ; and notwithstanding the long domestication of the 

 bees, they still retain their wild instincts to such an extent 



