208 BEES AND BEE-KEEPING. 



swarm. I learned it was transferred into a hive and 

 did well. 



I have heard of them being found in caves and 

 clefts in rocks, but of this I have no accurate infor- 

 mation. 



Mr. Rose, a very intelligent and reliable man (now 

 a bee-keeper and neighbor of mine), who spent some 

 years in hunting and trapping for a St. Louis fur 

 company, mostly on the Missouri and tributary rivers, 

 and near the Rocky mountains, informs me that in 

 those vast prairies through which he frequently had 

 occasion to pass, he repeatedly found bees upon the 

 ground, apparently having attempted to crosato some 

 belt of timber, but becoming exhausted they settled 

 down upon the grass and built up combs in a conical 

 shape, in some cases quite a large quantity. In such 

 instances it is not probable that spies had been sent 

 out in advance. Where timber abounds, the place 

 generally selected is a hollow tree, which of all others 

 seems the most natural to the bee in a wild state, or 

 when permitted to look out for themselves in any 

 case. In Scotland, in Bonner's time (1795), it was a 

 common occurrence for swarms to go into empty 

 hives that might chance to be standing in the apiary, 

 and sometimes they would take possession of a hive 

 in. some neighbor's foee yard, from which difficulties 

 were of frequent occurrence. Cases of this kind are 

 very rare in this country; yet it is likely to occur 

 when the land becomes thickly settled and hollow 

 trees are scarce. 



