102 
BEE-HUNTING 
will not let him cut the tree; or, as it often 
happens, a colony will make its home be¬ 
tween the plaster and the clapboarding of 
a house. How, then, can such bees and 
their honey be secured without doing any 
damage to the tree or the building that 
gives them a home and protection? The 
matter is made very easy by the use of 
the modern bee-escape. For particulars 
regarding this device, see Comb Honey 
and Extracted Honey. 
Having the bees located in the bee-tree, 
the hunter prepares a small colony of bees 
or a nucleus with a queen, putting it into 
a light hive or box, which can be carried to 
the scene of operations. He takes along 
with him a hammer, a saw, some nails, and 
lumber, with which he can make a tempo¬ 
rary platform. On arriving on the spot he 
lights his smoker and then prepares to set 
up his platform directly opposite to or in 
front of the flight-hole of the bee-tree, or 
the knot-hole of the dwelling. The plat¬ 
form he constructs out of the lumber he 
has brought. Before doing so it will be 
necessary for him to blow smoke into the 
flight-hole, in order to prevent bees from 
interfering with the building of the tem¬ 
porary hive-stand. He next puts a Por¬ 
ter bee-escape over the flight-hole of the 
tree or building, in such a way that the 
bees can come out but not go back in. Last 
of all he places his hive with the bees 
which he has brought, with its entrance 
as near as possible to the bee-escape (now 
placed over the old entrance). 
His work is now complete, and he leaves 
the bees to work out their own salvation. 
The bees from the tree, as fast as they 
come out, are, of course, unable to return. 
These, one by one, find their way into the 
hive on the temporary platform. At the 
end of four or five weeks the queen in the 
tree or dwelling will have very few bees 
left, and there will also be but little brood 
for that matter, thru lack of bees to take 
care of it, for her subjects are nearly all 
in the hive on the outside. 
At this time Mr. Bee-hunter appears on 
the scene. He loads his smoker with fuel 
(brimstone), removes the bee-escape and 
brimstones the old colony, or what is left, 
which by this time is probably not more 
than a handful of bees with the queen. 
Again he leaves the scene of operation; 
but the bee-escape is not replaced. What 
happens now ? The bees in the hive, includ¬ 
ing those that were captured, rob all the 
honey out of the old nest in the tree or 
house in the course of three or four days, 
carrying it into the hive on the extempoi 
rized platform. 
The bee-hunter now takes away the hive, 
removes the temporary hive-stand and car¬ 
ries the bees home. If they be taken a mile 
or a mile and a half, they will stay where 
placed. If the distance is less, the colony 
should be moved to a temporary location 
two miles or more away and left a week 
before being taken home. 
In the meantime, no damage has been 
done either to tree or building, as the case 
may be. All that will be left in the tree 
will be some old dry combs which, in the 
form of wax, probably would not amount 
to fifty cents, if the time of rendering be 
taken into account. 
This method of taking bees could not 
very well be practiced where the bees are 
located in inaccessible positions, as in high 
trees; but it will be found very useful 
where a colony is located in some building 
or shade tree in a park. 
The author is indebted for the general 
principles of this plan to Ralph Fisher of 
Great Meadows, N. J., who has practiced 
this plan with great success. 
DOES BEE-HUNTING PAY? 
From the point of view of securing bees 
at a low cost, it is safe to say that it never 
pays. Bees can always be purchased in 
the open market cheaper than to get them 
from trees; but from the standpoint of a 
royal half-holiday of fun, where one can not 
only get the outdoor air and good scenery 
but some real thrills, it is a great success. 
It should be understood that bee-hunting 
is hazardous—not because of stings, but 
because of the danger of climbing large 
trees. 
Where the woods have one or more col¬ 
onies of black or hybrid bees, and one 
desires to raise queens or keep his own 
stock pure for honey production, it will 
pay to hunt out and capture the bees in 
these old trees, if for no other purpose 
than to get rid of the drones. 
If there is any brood disease in the lo¬ 
cality, the bee-trees will be almost sure to 
