,,the ,,bee ,,hunter ,the ,,bee ,,hunter ,by ,,george ,,harold ,,edgell ,illustration #aidi ,,harvard ,,university ,,press ,,cambridge1 ,,massachusetts ,copyright #aidi ,,by ,,george ,,harold ,,edgell ,printed at ,,university ,,press1 ,,inc4 ,,cambridge1 ,,massachusetts1 ,u4 ,s4 ,a4 ,,london3 ,,geoffrey ,,cumberlege ,,oxford ,,university ,,press ,illustration ,,the ,,bee ,,hunter ,this little treatise is in part the child of frustration1 in part the child of irritation4 ,in a modest way1 the writer has been an author4 ,the first book he ever wrote1 an opus of several chapters1 was called 8,the ,bee ,hunter40 ,the writer was then eighteen4 ,submitted1 on the advice of the late ,robert ,w4 ,chambers1 to his publisher in ,new ,york1 the young author was surprised to learn that his manuscript was rejected4 ,the publisher tactfully pointed out that even the ,english translation of ,maurice ,maeterlinck's ,la ,vie des ,abeilles had lost money for its publisher4 ,the manuscript was put away to gather dust4 ,i believe and trust now that it is lost4 ,it was terrible4 ,so much for the frustration4 ,now for the irritation4 ,being an unsung author on the subject and1 more important1 a successful bee hunter of fifty years' experience1 the writer has read a certain number of articles on bee hunting4 ,one appears every year or two4 ,starting with two essays by ,john ,burroughs1 one fact is common to all4 ,they are written by men who never possibly could have found a bee tree1 at least by pursuing the methods they describe4 ,burroughs came nearest the truth1 but even he seems to have got his account from some farmer with more imagination than experience4 ,it is time for someone who has hunted bees and found bee trees to write the facts4 ,for bee hunting is rapidly becoming a lost art4 ,the writer's interest in the sport began at the age of ten when he was initiated by an old ,adirondacker who had sunk to driving his grandfather's mules in ,newport1 ,new ,hampshire4 ,george ,smith1 as ,i shall call him1 was a character1 to the youngster as fabulous as ,paul ,bunyan4 ,he took his whiskey neat4 ,he smoked and chewed at the same time and could spit without removing the pipe from his mouth4 ,his profanity could take the bluing off a gun barrel4 ,withal1 he was one of the kindest and most generous of men and a mighty bee hunter before the ,lord1 or the devil if one prefers4 ,he introduced the boy to the simple equipment necessary for the art1 and though through the years ,i have improved it slightly1 the fundamentals of the few objects have remained the same4 ,the most important item is the bee box4 ,this one can make oneself if one is clever1 or employ a cabinetmaker to do it from specifications if1 like the writer1 one is not4 ,the box should be of wood1 about five and one-half inches long1 three inches wide1 and three inches deep4 ,the wood of an old-fashioned cigar box is an excellent material but if used1 the box should be left outdoors some time to weather1 as bees do not like the odor of tobacco4 ,the box should be divided into two compartments1 the front one open with a hinged lid4 ,in the lid there should be a small glass window which can be darkened by a wooden slide4 ,between the front and rear compartments there should be an opening at the bottom two-thirds of an inch wide which can be opened and closed by a wooden slide manipulated from the outside4 ,the rear of the inside compartment should be of glass1 covered with a wooden slide which can be raised on occasion to admit light to the compartment4 ,the box should be nicely and tightly constructed1 shellacked after completion1 and lightproof4 ,remember1 it will be out in all sorts of weather and the older it is1 and the more weathered it becomes1 the better the bees will like it4 ,illustration3 ,a ,,bee ,,box ,provided with the box1 the rest is easy4 ,one needs a couple of pieces of empty honeycomb cut square to drop easily into the front compartment4 ,the best is old1 black comb from an old bee tree1 but any empty comb will do4 ,for nectar it is not necessary to use real honey4 ,a syrup of common white sugar one-third1 and water two-thirds1 boiled for fifteen minutes and then cooled1 seems to be as tempting to bees as real honey4 ,if one keeps it so long that it begins to ferment1 no matter4 ,bees' taste is not nice in such matters4 ,bees will cheerfully work the fermented juice of a rotten pear4 ,as a refinement1 it is well to provide oneself with a tiny bottle of the oil of anise4 ,if used sparingly1 this will attract bees1 and the faint odor on a bee's feet will attract others4 ,when ,i say sparingly1 ,i mean more than the word ordinarily implies4 ,the cork of the anise bottle rubbed on the comb and the comb then licked with the tongue will provide anise enough for one's purpose4 ,more will make the bees quite drunk1 they will refuse to suck but buzz around looking for the anise and eventually retire to the flowers to sober up1 and you will lose your line4 ,to fill the comb1 a common eye dropper is very handy though not absolutely necessary4 ,it is handy1 too1 to have a stand made of an upright piece of wood such as a four-foot section of a rake handle with a flat board nailed on top and the lower end sharpened so it can easily be thrust in the ground1 but a stand can always be improvised using a young spruce cut off at the top or a few stones pilfered from a stone wall4 ,it is also handy to have another small box with a lid1 not a bee box1 in which to carry small objects4 ,the paraphernalia is therefore very simple1 and a good bee hunter can get along if necessary with less4 ,george ,smith and ,i once started a line using an empty #cb calibre cartridge box and a bit of comb stolen dangerously from a nest of paper wasps4 ,finally it would be well to have a cloth bag or knapsack in which the smaller articles may be carried1 leaving the hands free4 ,illustration3 ,,filling ,,the ,,comb ,a medicine dropper is convenient when filling the piece of comb with sugar syrup ,we are now ready to start but should consider the season4 ,there is no point in going bee hunting if one can find no bees4 ,bees begin to work as soon as spring gets warm and continue until severe frost4 ,this can be proved by examining any hive on any warm day1 but what the bees are working on is another question4 ,they are hard to find except during some definite honey flow such as the white clover season or the milkweed or the goldenrod4 ,especially the last two are favourable4 ,on the bee box ,i have used for a good many years1 ,i have scribbled the dates of the findings of fifty-six bee trees4 ,eighty per cent are in ,july or ,september4 ,only occasionally does one occur in ,june or ,august and practically never in ,october4 ,july and ,september mean milkweed and goldenrod to the bee hunter4 ,let us assume that it is a warm day in mid-,july and the milkweed is in bloom4 ,we find a patch and find it teeming with honey bees4 ,incidentally the first step should be to learn what a honey bee looks like4 ,he resembles a refined and streamlined horsefly and is totally unlike the fuzzy bumble bee that so many mistakenly regard as honey bees4 ,one's first task is to catch a bee4 ,this is done by bringing the box up sharply under him with the lid open as he sits on the edge of a bloom and slapping the lid home as he tumbles into the box4 ,it is not so hard as it sounds1 especially if the bee is on a high bloom of milkweed or goldenrod4 ,it is essential that the bee be caught4 ,during the midst of a good honey flow a bee will never voluntarily abandon the flowers and go to a comb1 no matter with what aromatic lure you may have anointed it4 ,forget for all time the accounts of writers who drench a handkerchief with anise and throw it over a bush near a stand with loaded comb4 ,no bee would come near it4 ,during a starvation period when flowers are scarce1 especially after the autumnal frosts1 a bee will light on the comb if he finds it4 ,ninety-nine times out of a hundred1 however1 the bees will be somewhere else and no bee will find the comb4 ,there have been exceptions as ,i shall show1 but the only sensible procedure is to hunt bees during a honey flow when they are easy to find1 and introduce them into the box by violence4 ,illustration3 ,,catching ,,the ,,bee ,the bee will be scooped into the outer compartment and the lid snapped shut simultaneously ,having caught the bee in the outer compartment and verifying the fact that he is there by looking in the window1 the next step is to close the window1 darken the outer compartment1 open the slide to admit him to the rear and open the rear window4 ,seeing the light1 the bee will promptly go in there1 seeking escape4 ,then one can close the rear compartment and open the front so as to catch another bee4 ,one can start a line with one bee1 but the chance of success is greater if one has a dozen1 and during a good honey flow1 if the tree is not too far away1 these can be caught in ten minutes4 ,provided with a dozen bees one is ready to start the line4 ,fill one of the pieces of comb with syrup4 ,thrust in the stand if you have one4 ,open the window into the outer compartment and the door between and admit three or four bees to the part with the comb4 ,they will come if you open the window in front and darken the rear4 ,then put the box down gently1 darken the whole box1 put your hat over it and leave it still for three or four minutes4 ,meanwhile1 fill the other comb4 ,after three or four minutes1 place the box on the stand and gently open the lid4 ,if conditions are right1 the bees will have found the syrup and taken a load in the darkness4 ,sometimes one or two will not have finished loading and will sit quietly until they are stuffed to capacity4 ,if they are loaded1 they will fly comparatively slowly as they take off to return to the hive4 ,when they have left1 repeat the whole process and let out more bees until all have gone4 ,you are now in the stage of starting to establish the line4 ,illustration3 ,,trapping ,,the ,,bee ,,in ,,the ,,rear ,,compartment ,the slide on the side of the box is pulled to open the entrance to the rear compartment1 the rear window is opened1 and the bee follows the light into the rear compartment ,where most of the nature fakers fall down conspicuously is in describing how to establish a 8bee line0 giving the exact direction of the bee tree4 ,actually1 when a bee leaves for the first time he is both suspicious and anxious to establish the position of the stand4 ,he leaves in slowly expanding spirals and figure eights4 ,the hunter rolls round on his back trying to follow the convolutions of the bee flight in the air4 ,usually it ends by the bee flying between the eye and the sun and thus being lost to view4 ,if the hunter can establish when the bee leaves for the first time1 whether the tree is more north than south or more east than west1 he is doing well4 ,it is not until a bee has come and gone eight or ten times that he becomes familiar with the stand1 loses his suspicions1 and1 on taking off1 goes in approximately the direction of the tree thus at last creating a 8bee line40 ,illustration3 ,,letting ,,out ,,the ,,bees ,two bee boxes are on the stand in this illustration4 ,the lid of the outer compartment of the top box has just been opened1 and the bees are about to emerge ,if conditions are right1 of your dozen bees four or five will return for a second load4 ,again if conditions are right1 in an hour or two these will communicate in some mysterious way with other workers in the hive that there is free lunch obtainable and the number of bees on the line will increase4 ,especially if the tree is near and the flowers not too profuse1 this will happen quickly4 ,at best ,i have had a hundred or more bees running my line half an hour after the first bee left4 ,at times1 and this is a common occurrence1 no bee will come back at all4 ,sometimes the original bees will go back and forth but bring no companions4 ,often the bees will refuse to suck at all but will return on release to the flowers4 ,when that happens1 you had best pack up and go home and wait for more propitious conditions4 ,why bees will load sometimes and not others1 fifty years of experience has left unrevealed4 ,in general1 bees run better at the beginning and end of a honey flow when the flowers are not too profuse and too plentiful4 ,certainly if you are fortunate enough to catch a bee after heavy frosts1 yet on a warm day1 you will probably establish a roaring line in a short time4 ,why1 however1 sometimes bees will load eagerly and sometimes ignore the comb is a mystery4 ,no changes in the thickness of the syrup1 no substitution of true honey for the sugar1 no aromatic oils like anise applied to the comb will cause bees to suck if they do not choose4 ,they will often suck eagerly in the midst of the heaviest goldenrod season and refuse to suck at other times when flowers are scarce4 ,nothing is more frustrating than to catch box after box of bees and find them unwilling to load4 ,in such case there is nothing to do but wait a week and try again4 ,the most important quality for a successful bee hunter is patience4 ,illustration3 ,,bees ,,on ,,the ,,comb ,the original bees have spread the word to their fellow-workers about the 8free lunch40 ,the box in this illustration is the one used for storage of extra comb1 the medicine dropper1 the bottle of anise1 etc4 ,let us assume1 however1 that conditions are favourable this ,july morning4 ,about ten minutes after the release of the first bee1 a bee comes back4 ,this is one of the most exciting moments in the hunt4 ,an experienced hunter recognizes the sound of a honey bee instantly1 but for the last five minutes he has jumped at the sound of every doodle bug that has flown by the stand4 ,the behaviour of the returning bee is very different from that of the departing one4 ,he dashes in circles round the stand1 darts away again across the field until you think he will not return1 whizzes back to circle the stand again and finally1 in narrowing circles1 poises above the comb like a helicopter1 his buzz still shrilling4 ,one waits with bated breath4 ,the buzz ceases4 ,the bee has come to rest and is loading4 ,the line is started4 ,soon others arrive1 and the first comer departs4 ,once more you try and take his line but once more he fools you as he leaves in widening circles4 ,however1 one has got the general direction and can take a position to see better4 ,more information comes as each bee leaves4 ,in an hour's time the comb may have twenty bees on it at once and the arrivals and departures are frequent4 ,now the bees have begun to be accustomed to the stand and frequently jump off and fly straight so that in a good light the eye can follow one for fifty or a hundred yards4 ,thus you establish your 8bee line40 ,it is never exact1 however4 ,no two bees have exactly the same idea as to the best way home4 ,if1 for example1 there is a large tree in the direction of the hive and perhaps a hundred yards from the stand1 one bee may bypass it to the right1 another to the left1 and a third may lift and go over it4 ,one is constantly revising one's decision as to the true line4 ,illustration3 ,,watching ,,the ,,bees ,,leave ,,the ,,comb ,the general direction of the bees' flight has been established1 and the hunter has taken up a position a few feet from the stand 7arrow7 from which he can easily follow the path of the bees in the air ,by now we are ready to time a bee and see how long he is gone4 ,this will give one a fair estimate of the distance from the stand to the tree4 ,a bee takes between one and two minutes to load and as much time to unload4 ,he may also have to crawl some distance in the tree to reach the place to deposit his load4 ,he flies at about the speed of a human sprinter1 say a quarter of a mile a minute4 ,if he is gone eight minutes1 the tree is not too far away4 ,if he is gone twelve minutes1 the hunter has a long job ahead4 ,if he is gone four minutes1 the tree is very close4 ,the longest ,i remember having a bee absent and still being able to run a line and find the tree was fifteen minutes4 ,the shortest was two and one-half minutes1 and then the tree was actually in sight of the stand1 though ,i did not know it at the time4 ,twenty minutes is hopeless4 ,no bee will bring others back at that distance1 and it is better to abandon the stand1 move a mile or more in the direction the bee has taken1 catch more bees1 and repeat the whole process nearer the tree4 ,in order to time a bee it is necessary to be able to identify an individual4 ,george ,smith used to do this by extracting some seed or pollen from the bud of a small mossy plant and sprinkling a little of the green dust on the back of a bee4 ,at best it was an uncertain process as the dust was liable to be blown off before the bee's return1 and even if not1 was hard to see4 ,i have evolved a simpler and better system4 ,to our equipment as already described1 let us add a small bottle of water1 a tiny camel's hair brush1 and a piece of blue carpenter's chalk4 ,with the blade of a penknife1 scrape some dust from the chalk onto the back of a smooth stone or the blade of a hand axe if you carry one4 ,incidentally a small scout's axe is a handy thing to have for clearing brush1 making stands1 marking the bee tree when you have found it1 and blazing a trail from it if it is deep in the woods and should be hard to find again4 ,on the chalk dust1 with the brush1 drop a few drops of water and stir till the water is coloured blue4 ,then with the wet brush dab the rear of a loading bee4 ,this must be done deftly and gently4 ,bees do not like to be painted4 ,a good hunter can guess which bee is apt to be unreasonably phlegmatic and1 especially if one is loading from a half empty cell1 with the shoulders buried and his tail raised1 he can be painted without disturbing him4 ,once daubed1 the new decoration does not annoy him in the least and is not noticed by his fellows4 ,when wet1 the spot shows only slightly1 but by the time the bee returns1 the chalk dust will be dry and will stand out like a beacon so vivid that it can be spotted even before the bee alights4 ,we now have an identifiable bee and can time him4 ,let us suppose he takes seven or eight minutes a trip to the tree and back4 ,one should time him two or three times to be accurate and not be disturbed if the time varies a little4 ,we now have a bee line and some idea of the distance of the tree4 ,now it is time to move4 ,one might ask why1 knowing the direction and the approximate distance1 one does not immediately hunt for the tree4 ,the answer is that there are ten thousand trees in the woods and only one the bee tree4 ,one can never be sure of the exact line or1 with any exactitude1 the distance4 ,sometimes when one has narrowed the problem to an area of a hundred yards square1 it is hard to find the tree4 ,so once more the bee box is placed on the stand1 a loaded comb dropped into the front compartment and the lid left open4 ,the spare comb should be hidden carefully4 ,great ire on the part of the bees4 ,they again become suspicious and do not want to enter the box4 ,as more arrive1 the air is filled with a disgusted humming4 ,in time the temptation is too great and one after another a bee drops down to the comb4 ,when ten or a dozen have done so1 snap down the lid of the box and drive them into the rear compartment as before4 ,they are reluctant to go1 but a puff of cigarette smoke blown through a crack in the lid will send them scurrying to the rear in search of purer air4 ,close the slide1 reopen the box1 place it on the stand and catch another lot4 ,catch all you can4 ,then pull up the stand1 gather up your paraphernalia and move three or four hundred yards down the line4 ,then set up the stand and release the bees in batches of eight or ten4 ,this is another critical moment4 ,will the bees stand moving8 ,if you have mistaken the line and moved off it too far to the left or right1 the bees may not come back1 and you will have to return to the first stand and start over again4 ,the same is true if the swarm is weak or the flowers too tempting4 ,the time seems interminable4 ,i have a theory1 which ,i cannot prove1 that on the first move the bees return to the first stand before investigating the possibilities of the second4 ,conditions are right on this day1 however1 and after a time we hear the welcome hum of the first returning bee1 quickly followed by a second and a third4 ,the bees will stand moving4 ,success seems assured4 ,theoretically it is4 ,all one has to do is to continue to move the bees until the tree is reached or passed1 in which case the line reverses and proves that the tree is between the last and the next to the last stands4 ,if it were as simple as that1 bee hunting would not be the art and the fun that it is4 ,in the first place1 in order to reestablish a line1 the stand should be set up in a clearing4 ,we have now reached the woods and possibly no clearings are available4 ,released in the woods1 a bee circles up into the trees and disappears4 ,sometimes it is hard to tell whether he goes forward or back4 ,the moves have to be shorter4 ,often if one moves beyond the tree1 the bees will not come back1 and you have lost your line4 ,above all1 the lining must be straight4 ,if you meet a swamp1 you must go through it4 ,if you meet a cliff1 you must go up it4 ,if you meet a pond1 you must go round it and set up at just the right point on the opposite side4 ,all this takes time4 ,you must be prepared to spend two or three days before finding the tree4 ,meanwhile1 as the tree draws near1 the bees tumble out in greater numbers until literally there are hundreds buzzing about and going back and forth1 and one has to refill the comb frequently4 ,this brings up another point3 the danger of being stung4 ,the newcomer is apt to be terrified as the bees buzz round his head while the hunter is tending the stand4 ,the answer ,i can give categorically4 ,there is absolutely no danger whatever of being stung while running a line4 ,the bees are entirely friendly4 ,they will fight among themselves if two swarms are involved4 ,they will fight a hornet if he has accidentally found the comb4 ,the hunter who is supplying them with free syrup they would not think of molesting4 ,the only possibility of getting stung is some careless accident4 ,i was once stung when a friendly bee had lighted on my khaki shirt and1 not noticing him1 ,i put my arm down and squeezed him against my side4 ,naturally1 he let drive at my ribs4 ,the fault was mine1 not his4 ,one can even imprison a bee in one's cupped hands and he will crawl round and try to find his way out1 but if you do not squeeze him1 he will not think of stinging you4 ,i once was lining a swarm in the middle of the goldenrod honey flow when a terrific hailstorm came up and leveled all the flowers4 ,the next day the bees were desperate4 ,their bee pasture was gone and they were mad for syrup4 ,i soon had what seemed to be half the hive around me4 ,they came not in hundreds1 but in thousands4 ,even to an old hunter it was a little terrifying1 but absolutely harmless4 ,one had to exercise caution4 ,feeling a curious tickling on the left side of my breast1 ,i discovered that some two dozen bees had found the anise bottle in my shirt pocket and had gone in to investigate4 ,it was quite a job to get the anise bottle out and persuade the bees to come too1 but ,i did it without accident4 ,the only danger to the amateur is that he lose his head and try to slap a bee that he thinks is dangerously near his face4 ,if he does1 he may be stung4 ,he ought to be4 ,it is worth repeating because to the newcomer it seems incredible4 ,there is absolutely no danger of being stung while running a bee line4 ,as we draw nearer the tree1 the moves are shorter and made more quickly4 ,now there is no worry about losing the line4 ,indeed1 the bees not trapped will often follow the hunter on a short move and1 as the imprisoned bees are released1 others1 arriving from behind1 will drop on the comb4 ,now the hunter is convinced that the tree must be in sight4 ,usually it isn't4 ,as soon as it is established that the line still goes ahead1 the hunter will go down the line1 carefully examining every likely tree4 ,this gives him exercise1 puts in the time1 and enables him to find a good place for the next stand if it is necessary to establish one4 ,usually it is4 ,at last1 however1 one of two things happens4 ,either the hunter finds the tree or1 after a move1 the bees will be a long time coming back1 or1 if it is a long move1 though it should not be1 they may not come back at all4 ,when bees have been running well and suddenly are slow to return1 it is suspicious and auspicious4 ,when the line is at last reestablished1 the behaviour of the bees is odd4 ,they will circle off in all directions in the most exasperating fashion4 ,at last one or two will fly reasonably straight1 and it dawns on the hunter that the line has reversed itself and the bees are going back4 ,the tree is between this and the last stand4 ,it is only a matter now of looking carefully enough to discover the tree4 ,even then one cannot consider the battle won4 ,a bee tree can be extraordinarily hard to find4 ,the likeliest trees are maples1 beeches1 and hemlocks1 but the hunter must look everywhere4 ,smith used to have a theory that if the bees rose high as they left the stand1 the hole was high in the air4 ,if they pitched low1 the hole was low4 ,he also pretended to guess the kind of tree that the bees were in by the colour of the bees4 ,light-coloured bees were likely to be in a maple4 ,very dark ones might be in a dead pine4 ,there is something in all this but not much4 ,one time we were running a line of light-coloured bees that pitched high1 and ,i told ,smith we had better look high up in maples4 ,his reply was3 8,you look high in the maples and low in the cedars and up and down all trunks and branches1 hard wood and soft1 big enough to hold a hive and you can be sure of just one thing4 ,when you do find them1 they'll be where you don't expect them40 ,a sound aphorism and worth following4 ,it was this same ,smith one time when we were fishing for trout and not finding them in one or two favoured holes1 tried elsewhere in less likely places and found them1 who said3 8,if you want to catch fish1 you've got to fish where the fish is1 and if they ain't there1 you fish where they ain't and there they'll be40 ,of course1 the greatest thrill of the hunt comes when one finds the tree4 ,sometimes it is abrupt1 if the hole is in an unshaded limb or bole in plain view4 ,more often it is in a position where one has to manoeuvre to see it1 and the first warning comes when one sees the flash of wings in the air and1 in an agony of hope and doubt1 moves about until the hole can be seen and the presence of the swarm truly verified4 ,even when the tree is pinned between two stands1 it may take a long time4 ,i remember one tree that we had so pinned4 ,i had with me my son1 who is a good bee hunter1 a companion of his1 and a couple of rank amateurs4 ,the five of us tramped the area between the two stands for an hour before ,i found the hive4 ,it was in a smallish swamp maple that divided into two boles four feet above the ground4 ,neither hole was big enough to hold bees1 so we had passed it unsuspecting4 ,in the crotch where the boles divided was a hole and into this the bees were dropping1 making their home in the short trunk near the ground4 ,after we had found it we noted that we had actually trampled a path through the ferns within fifteen feet of the tree4 ,illustration3 ,,the ,,bee ,,tree ,the bees have entered the hole indicated by the arrow in an otherwise sound maple tree4 ,bees rarely choose a dead tree in which to make their hive ,the commonest and most foolish question ,i am asked is how long it takes to find a bee tree4 ,according to my experience it is somewhere between forty-three minutes and two years4 ,i have already mentioned the accident of setting up a stand within sight of the tree and finding it in less than an hour4 ,another time it was not an accident but a well calculated guess4 ,in late ,september ,i was gunning in the ,blue ,mountain ,forest area in ,new ,hampshire4 ,the day was unseasonably warm4 ,i found no game1 but observed a great many bees working the few goldenrod that were left and some late asters4 ,i well knew the terrain4 ,a little to the southwest was a small old sugar bush with large maples4 ,to the northwest but still near was another somewhat larger4 ,beyond and in all directions had been pine forest that had recently been lumbered4 ,there would be almost no chance for bees to set up in that area and therefore they must be in one of the two sugar groves4 ,i went home1 got my bee box and started a line near the small sugar bush4 ,the line came quickly and ,i never moved4 ,following the line from the box1 ,i found the bees in the third tree ,i examined4 ,it took less than three quarters of an hour4 ,now for the other end of the scale4 ,years ago when ,i was still a boy1 ,smith and ,i started a line that ran up the steep slope of the southern-saddleback of ,croydon ,mountain4 ,the timber was thick1 the slope at times ladder-like1 and the hunting difficult4 ,we made several moves and then hunted for the tree4 ,we could not find it and eventually gave it up4 ,the following summer we struck the same line and hunted it again4 ,evidently the bees had wintered well1 but still we could not find the tree4 ,the next summer we got the same line4 ,by that time our dander was up and we decided to find that tree4 ,we ran a line as well as possible4 ,then we began to examine the timber horizontally back and forth across the line1 blazing our paths to make sure that the whole area was covered4 ,after a time1 ,i heard a yell and considerable profanity accompanying it4 ,it was below me1 and ,i scrambled down the steep slope4 ,the profanity seemed to come from a clump of young spruce out of which projected the old bole of a fallen maple4 ,smith had stepped on the bole1 slipped1 and shot through the young spruces ending with his legs on either side of the stump of the fallen tree4 ,the bees were in that4 ,one could have passed within ten feet and not known that there was anything there that could harbour a colony of bees4 ,we had our tree1 but it had taken a little over two years to find it4 ,a word about cross lining4 ,the literary experts seem always to find their quarry by cross lining4 ,they catch a bee1 release it1 and take its line4 ,then they move a quarter of a mile1 catch another and take its line4 ,by triangulation1 where the two lines meet1 there will be the tree4 ,pas plus difficile que a6 ,unfortunately1 as we have seen1 one cannot get even remotely an accurate line the first time a bee leaves4 ,moreover1 if one could1 there would be a good chance that bee number two came from another colony4 ,one would get a line north and another northwest1 and where they met1 there would be the tree4 ,nevertheless1 cross lining should not be ruled out4 ,sometimes one will get a line too weak to be worth following4 ,trying in another place one may get another weak line that seems to cross at a distance the first4 ,if one goes to about where the two seem to meet1 there is a good chance that one will be near a bee tree4 ,let me illustrate with an amusing example4 ,three years ago ,i was bee hunting on the hills not far from my home in ,new ,hampshire4 ,i got a weak line nearly east and directly toward the little village of ,croydon ,flat4 ,i decided that ,i must have got onto a tame swarm1 though ,i could think of no one in ,croydon ,flat who kept bees4 ,however1 it was obviously time to try another area and ,i drove to the ,flat and took a road northwest for a mile and a half1 caught bees1 and set up a stand4 ,i got a weak line southeast1 again directly toward ,croydon ,flat4 ,i hunted up a friend who lived there1 one ,orrin ,pillsbury1 and he assured me that nobody in the ,flat kept bees4 ,the village is tiny1 the intervale small1 there is good hard wood timber near and no reason why a wild swarm should not have located near the village4 ,i caught bees and set up in the vegetable garden back of ,orrin's house4 ,i soon had a good line northeast1 but it went over the house1 and since some energetic bees flew over the house1 others preferred to clear only the ell and still others went round1 we had no accurate line4 ,i moved across the village street to a field on the other side4 ,the bees were a long time coming back and when they did1 they established a line northwest4 ,here was a cross line with a vengeance4 ,we investigated1 thinking the bees were in one of the elms of the village street4 ,i soon found them pouring in and out of a chimney on the house of one ,cy ,cummings4 ,cy had two chimneys and he only used one4 ,the bees had set up in the other4 ,that was one wild swarm ,i found that did me no good4 ,cy obligingly let us into the house1 but when ,i suggested opening the disc in the second floor designed for the admission of a stove pipe1 he mutinied4 ,that was not unreasonable as ,i could not have got my head in to see1 and the bees could have got out into the bedroom4 ,cy distrusts bees4 ,i believe subsequently he built a fire in the chimney and brought down a mass of spoiled honey1 dead bees1 and melted wax4 ,a great waste4 ,this brings up another point4 ,the writer has been fortunate in that the bulk of his hunting has been within the preserve of the ,blue ,mountain ,forest ,association in ,sullivan ,county1 ,new ,hampshire4 ,there1 if one starts a line of bees1 one can be sure it is a wild swarm4 ,there are no farms with domestic bees in the area4 ,most hunters1 however1 have to hunt in country districts where there are farms1 the owners of which may well keep bees4 ,it will be wise1 therefore1 before going hunting1 to ascertain the localities where tame bees are kept4 ,nothing is more frustrating than to start a line1 get it going well1 run it several moves1 and end in a farmer's backyard with the revelation that a hard day's work has done no more than adulterate his honey with a half a pint of sugar syrup4 ,this happened to me once1 but it has not happened again4 ,new ,hampshire is largely wooded1 and if a line heads for a deep woods on a mountain slope1 one can be reasonably sure that one is trailing a wild swarm4 ,do not1 however1 let that prevent you from lining a wild swarm near a locality where there are tame bees4 ,many wild swarms are simply once removed from the domestic variety4 ,even a good apiarist often loses a colony when his bees swarm at an inconvenient time1 and the new colony may set up quarters not far from the old4 ,for years ,i refrained from starting a line from my own lawn because of the presence a mile and a quarter away of a number of colonies belonging to a gentleman known as ,chicken ,smith4 ,chicken ,smith's bees used my flowers regularly4 ,then one day ,i decided to start a line anyway just for interest and found a wild swarm in my own sugar bush4 ,one question often asked is how much honey one gets from a bee tree4 ,the amount varies enormously4 ,my record is ninety-seven pounds of unstrained honey from one tree4 ,it was not a large tree1 but it had a large hollow4 ,it involved a terrific fight with the bees1 as one would expect1 and both my companion and ,i were rather well stung1 but we filled a wash boiler with honey and then had to go home for more containers4 ,on the other hand1 one may take up a tree and get only a pound or two4 ,i remember taking up an old rock maple4 ,its branches were so wide that when we cut it down1 it merely leaned on its elbows and we had to cut it three times before we could get to the entrance to the hive4 ,the wood was so heavy and the grain so gnarled that a steel wedge held against the wood and struck with a sledge1 would bounce off4 ,to get into the hollow was about as easy as cracking a safe1 and it took three of us over three hours4 ,our reward was one piece of filled comb smaller than the palm of my hand4 ,it is all a gamble and part of the fascination of the hunt4 ,as an average1 ,i should say one ought to expect to get eighteen to twenty pounds of strained honey from a tree4 ,as to the number of moves1 that varies from no move at all1 as we have seen1 to a dozen or even more4 ,the longest line ,i remember ,i started years ago in the clearing at the base of ,croydon ,mountain4 ,the line took me up the steepest slope to the ridge just north of the summit4 ,thence it carried over the ridge and down the opposite side4 ,when it came time to take up the tree1 it was easier to come in from the north than from the south along the line ,i had followed4 ,it took me three days1 and ,i made fifteen moves4 ,when bees are running well1 one can leave them in the late afternoon and pick them up again next day4 ,on leaving them1 one fills every available piece of comb1 weights the box with a stone so it will not be blown off in case of a sudden wind1 and puts one piece of comb in the outer compartment with the lid propped up only half an inch so that in case of rain at least one comb will retain undiluted syrup4 ,in spite of all this1 when one returns next day1 usually every piece of comb is empty and the bees gone4 ,it is hard not to be discouraged1 but there is no need to be4 ,fill the comb and wait4 ,in five1 ten1 or twenty minutes a bee will come for one more look to see if a trifle of sweet may still be gleaned4 ,he will load1 depart1 and in half an hour you will have a roaring line once more4 ,bee hunting brings some odd experiences4 ,as boys1 my brother and ,i were bee hunting with ,smith and found the bees in the base of a rock maple on the edge of the woods1 in a fissure not five feet from the ground4 ,it was late ,september and we decided to take up the tree forthwith4 ,it was not necessary to fell the tree1 but merely to cut into the hollow to get the honey4 ,we had1 however1 no nets or gloves1 so we built a smudge to drive back and stupefy the bees while we were getting the honey4 ,we made a good haul and drove back to camp three miles away that evening and had ourselves a ,gargantuan meal of brook trout1 flapjacks1 and new honey4 ,after supper we went out to listen to the bugling of the elk with which the preserve was stocked and1 looking across the valley1 we saw a bright light4 ,our smudge had set fire to the tree4 ,we drove back and found the hollow interior a furnace4 ,there was no water available1 and the fire had burned high up in the hollow4 ,we had no means to extinguish it1 nor did we dare leave it for fear the tree would fall and the fire spread4 ,the elk were bugling merrily1 and in those days an old bull in the rutting season was quite capable of attacking a man4 ,we finally climbed onto a large branch of the nearest maple and spent a restless night telling stories and waiting for the fire to burn itself out4 ,fortunately1 by morning it had4 ,sometimes the attempt to find a tree is unusually baffling4 ,one time my son and ,i lined and cross lined a swarm until we narrowed the search to two or three trees4 ,the likeliest was a beech1 but though we occasionally got a glitter of wings in the air1 we could not be sure that we had the tree4 ,it was not until we had gone home and returned with a powerful pair of field glasses that we were able to distinguish the bees in the foliage forty-five feet in the air and near enough the hole to make us certain that we had our bee tree4 ,the actual hole itself we did not see until we felled the tree and took up the swarm4 ,another time ,i had run the line to the top of a mountain and then the line reversed itself4 ,between the two last stands there was nothing but bull spruce not big enough to hold a colony1 and moreover ,i had never heard of bees in a spruce4 ,tree by tree ,i examined the terrain4 ,i finally found the bees dropping down into the roots of a spruce where there was a hollow partly in the wood and partly in the ground where the colony had settled4 ,it was a miserable little swarm1 and ,i never bothered to take it up4 ,the next summer it was gone1 as ,i had expected in the case of a foolish swarm that had selected so unsuitable an habitation4 ,does one ever find a bee tree by accident8 ,yes1 but very1 very rarely4 ,i once was eating my luncheon beside a mountain brook and noticed a honey bee loading water at a wet spot4 ,he flew off and soon came back4 ,i got out my watch and timed him4 ,he was gone two minutes4 ,i rose and went in the direction of his departure and found the tree fifty yards away4 ,this was without benefit of bee box or syrup1 but did involve lining of a sort4 ,on the other hand1 ,i once found a tree on top of a mountain and1 choosing a different way down1 found another bee tree two hundred yards from the first4 ,my guess is that the older colony had swarmed1 and the new commune had decided to set up in the nearest suitable place to the old4 ,another tree ,i found accidentally due to an amusing mistake4 ,my companion had had some experience in bee hunting1 and when ,i started out to catch some bees ,i asked her to fill the comb for me so as to be ready when ,i returned with the bees4 ,she did so1 however filling the comb from the anise bottle instead of the syrup bottle4 ,there was nothing for it but to go all the way home for fresh comb and start over again4 ,on the way back we discovered a large colony of bees in a huge pine which we had passed unnoticed as we had gone out the first time4 ,these are the only trees ,i remember having discovered by accident1 and ,i have looked longingly into thousands of likely trees4 ,to find bees one must hunt them and not rely on chance4 ,sometimes bees1 for such sagacious insects1 show remarkably little sense in the abode they select4 ,i once found a colony in a small dead poplar 7or popple ,i should prefer to call it7 so weak and rotted that ,i could have pushed it over with my weight4 ,those bees ,i decided to save for pets4 ,my wife1 the farmer1 and ,i drove that night to a place a few hundred yards from the tree4 ,the hole was about five feet up4 ,the family was all at home of course1 and ,i plugged the hole with moss to keep them there4 ,then we attached a rope to the tree as far up as we could reach and sawed it off at the base1 lowering it gently to the ground4 ,then we cut off the top above the hollow which sheltered the bees4 ,the farmer and ,i easily carried it to the buckboard and brought it home in triumph4 ,i had already prepared a place for it in a tub sunk in the ground and cement ready to puddle around it4 ,soon our bee tree was standing erect in the cow pasture near the house with a saucepan over the top to keep rain from seeping into the hollow4 ,i unplugged the hole and went to bed4 ,next morning ,i went out to see how my guests did4 ,they were six miles from where they had gone to bed the night before and were quite untroubled by it4 ,they had already organized perfectly4 ,the temperature of the hive apparently had risen1 and a ring of fanners was around the hole fanning air into the interior with their wings where it was caught up by other fanners and driven through the hive4 ,the ventilation system was humming4 ,the bees had already discovered the small brook a few yards away1 and a bucket brigade was busily fetching water4 ,the bulk of the workers had discovered my neighbor's buckwheat patch and were busily gathering nectar4 ,i kept them for several years and got much fun from watching them1 nor did they ever show the slightest resentment toward me for shifting their home4 ,eventually they died in an unusually severe winter4 ,apropos of starting a line without catching a bee1 it can be done but only by the rarest accident4 ,i did it once4 ,i had gone out to hunt after the autumnal frosts1 hoping to find a late flower or two on which ,i could catch a bee4 ,i went to a sheltered clearing and1 leaving my spare box open with the empty comb exposed on a boulder1 ,i wandered round the clearing searching for a bee4 ,finding none after fifteen or twenty minutes1 ,i returned to gather up my kit and found a bee buzzing round the empty comb4 ,he had found it by accident1 having flown near enough to get a scent of the comb and anise4 ,i succeeded in filling the dropper with syrup and squirting it onto the comb without frightening the bee4 ,he found the syrup promptly1 loaded1 and left4 ,i then filled the comb properly4 ,i had hardly finished when the bee returned with three friends4 ,in fifteen minutes ,i had a roaring line1 and in three moves and about two hours ,i found the tree4 ,this was a good example of how well bees will run on a warm fall day after the flowers have gone by4 ,it is also the only example ,i remember of my being fortunate enough to start a line in this way4 ,the most ancient bee tree ,i ever found was approximately twenty-four hundred years old4 ,my wife and ,i were examining the ruins of one of the ,greek temples at ,selinunte1 the ancient ,selinus in southern ,sicily4 ,of one of the temples1 all but two of the columns had been overthrown by an earthquake4 ,one of those standing had been terribly worn by the hot sirocco wind that blows periodically from the ,african coast4 ,in order to preserve it1 the top had been capped with cement1 but there was a large hollow underneath4 ,as ,i neared it1 some telepathic cell in my brain began to signal 8bees40 ,without thinking what ,i did1 ,i stepped to the column and ran my eye up it as ,i would have done had ,i been looking for a bee tree4 ,at the top the members of a busy swarm were pouring in and out from the hollow under the cement4 ,that was a bee tree ,i could not take up4 ,i had a similar experience several years later in the ruined abbey of ,san ,galgano south of ,siena in ,tuscany4 ,the abbey was built by ,french ,cistercians in the early thirteenth century1 and the walls and apse are still standing though the roof has long since disappeared4 ,the ruin is fenced off and locked1 but a neighboring peasant brings the key and admits one for a few soldi4 ,i was examining the alien architecture with a professional interest when once more the bell rang in my brain and something said 8bees40 ,i ran my eye up one of the columns and soon saw so many bees coming and going from an aperture in the triforium that the original colony must have increased enormously in almost unconfined space4 ,i turned to the peasant and said3 8,ci sono api in quest'edificio40 ,he answered3 8,si ,signore1 ma ,lei il primo che l'ha mai osservato40 ,i also found a lively swarm in the triforium of the ruined abbey of ,jumiges in ,normandy which antedated ,san ,galgano by a hundred years4 ,so it is possible to combine the discovering of wild bees with the study of the history of art4 ,perhaps the tree ,i remember most vividly is the first one ever discovered unaided4 ,when ,i hunted with ,smith1 he was invariably the one who first saw the bees4 ,since his death years ago1 ,i have hunted with many people and only twice has my companion seen the bees before ,i did4 ,there is something telepathic in the way an old hunter senses the nearness of bees1 though even he is often fooled4 ,in order to find a tree entirely on my own ,i had to escape from ,smith's tutelage4 ,the great day came when ,i was about fifteen4 ,i caught bees in front of my father's house in ,newport1 ,n4 ,h41 and soon got a good line running straight up the side of ,coit ,mountain4 ,there was a long upland pasture and beyond that the woods4 ,four moves took me to the forest edge and timing and numbers both told me the tree was near4 ,i went up the line to look for the bees or for a clearing and soon found the swarm in a good-sized rock maple4 ,i have received a number of great thrills in a long life1 such as the notification that ,i had qualified for my doctorate1 the reception in ,new ,york harbour in late ,december #aiah after the first ,world ,war1 the citation from the ,president on receiving an honorary degree from ,harvard1 but1 believe me1 these thrills are all in class ,b as compared to the one ,i got when ,i first found a bee tree unaided4 ,the finding had an amusing sequel4 ,the hole was about eight feet up the bole1 too far to reach but near enough for the bees to be very conscious of an intruder4 ,i started proudly to blaze my initials on the tree when ,i became conscious of a roar and the air seemed to grow dark above me4 ,i turned and ran just in time1 nor did ,i return to finish blazing the tree4 ,later1 ,i related the event to ,george ,smith who covered me with contumely4 ,that a man should find a tree and then be driven off by the bees before he could blaze it1 ,smith regarded as a disgrace4 ,he assured me that he would take up the tree himself without benefit of veil or gloves4 ,i knew better than to argue1 but on the appointed time when he1 my brother and ,i went to take up the tree1 ,i brought two veils and two pairs of gauntlets4 ,when we got to the tree ,i set about collecting dry stuff for a smudge1 a matter which ,smith said was quite unnecessary4 ,i was downhill from the tree when he went to work4 ,i heard the axe fall perhaps a half a dozen times1 and then there was a siren-like wail of profanity1 and ,smith came charging through the woods1 a stream of angry bees behind him like a comet's tail4 ,that was one swarm which defeated the intrepid ,smith4 ,he borrowed my brother's net and gloves1 my brother went off and hid in the woods1 and with net and glove protection and a smudge as well1 we cut into the tree and took up the swarm4 ,we got sixty pounds of honey4 ,in this article ,i have alluded many times to 8taking up0 a bee tree4 ,the phrase may be colloquial1 but it sticks4 ,smith never cut a bee tree4 ,he always 8took it up40 ,moreover1 he always referred to a bee as 8he40 ,i am well aware that a working bee is a sterile female1 but ,i cannot bring myself to call it 8she40 ,there is nothing feminine about a working bee but its anatomy4 8,she0 is 8he0 to me4 ,a word or two in more detail about the taking up of a bee tree may not be amiss4 ,it brings us face to face with one unpleasant fact3 the cruelty of the performance4 ,for once a tree is taken up1 the bees soon die4 ,it is done in the autumn1 and the cold soon kills the bees4 ,they are deprived of food and shelter and have no time to gather more of the one or repair the other4 ,they have laboured hard and are pitilessly robbed not only of the fruits of their labour1 but of their very lives4 ,they have been friendly during the running1 and one has acquired an affection for them4 ,how then can a reasonably tender-hearted person bring himself to destroy them8 ,a reason ,i can give1 though ,i do not maintain that it is an excuse4 ,bees are perhaps the most thoroughly communistic creatures extant4 ,the individual counts for nothing4 ,the spirit of the hive is all4 ,i am told that the life of a working bee during a heavy honey flow is only six or eight weeks4 ,the workers work themselves until they shortly die2 the hive is kept alive by the steady hatching of larvae who in turn carry on the work and die4 ,the queen1 who alone of the colony lives several years1 has one nuptial flight and spends the rest of her life crawling over the comb and dropping an egg into each cell4 ,though she1 more than anything else1 is responsible for the spirit of the hive1 she is more of a slave than her workers4 ,as autumnal cold descends1 work stops1 and the bees torpidly cling together for warmth and maintain existence by consuming their store of honey4 ,in the spring work and laying start1 and the worn workers live just long enough to see the process started once more and enough larvae hatched to replace them and assure the continued existence of the hive4 ,a bee will do everything for the hive2 nothing for a fellow bee4 ,a bee from a strange swarm1 alighting on the comb1 will be instantly attacked4 ,on the other hand1 if one tries the experiment of killing a bee on the comb1 pinning him with the blade of a knife1 he will set up a screaming buzz that sounds horribly anguished even to the human ear--and his fellow worker1 loading half an inch away1 will pay absolutely no attention to him4 ,when a tree is taken up1 the spirit of the hive is killed then and there4 ,the queen is usually crushed or lost4 ,the living thing that is the hive is extinguished1 and the individual bees become mere insects doomed to winter destruction as are so many of the common flies4 ,for the individual1 the hunter has merely hastened dissolution by a little4 ,he has killed the hive with the crash of the tree4 ,i state this not as an apology1 but as a fact1 an explanation of why one's conscience does not trouble one after taking up a tree4 ,illogical it may be1 but it is true4 ,to return to the process4 ,the days have lengthened1 and ,october has come4 ,frost has killed the flowers4 ,the bees have gathered the maximum of honey and will have begun to consume the store4 ,it is time to take up4 ,for equipment you will need a couple of axes1 a crosscut saw1 a sledge1 and at least three stout steel wedges4 ,plenty of twine is essential4 ,take as many bee nets as necessary4 ,these can be made extemporaneously out of black mosquito netting1 but it is easier and safer to get the regular professional beekeeper's veils4 ,for every participant there should be a stout pair of linesman's gauntlets4 ,wear old clothes1 dungarees or old riding trousers4 ,you are sure to get pretty well smeared with honey before you are done4 ,select a clear day or an overcast one1 but not one with a threat of rain4 ,if any water finds its way into the honey1 it might as well be thrown away4 ,it will surely ferment and spoil4 ,you will need help1 one or1 better yet1 two good woodsmen4 ,in ,new ,hampshire they are not hard to find4 ,probably they are working for you on your own place or for your neighbour4 ,a few men have a rooted fear of bees and will be unavailable4 ,the average lumberman1 if promised reasonable protection1 will come along and face the hard work for the fun4 ,taking up a bee tree is an exciting and thrilling performance4 ,lastly1 bring plenty of receptacles for the honey4 ,the humiliation of returning with five pounds of comb in a wash boiler is nothing as compared to the exasperation of filling a couple of buckets and finding you have no way of transporting the rest of the honey that is left in the tree4 ,thus equipped you sally forth1 hunter1 woodsmen1 and usually one or two camp followers in the way of guests or the curious4 ,your tree has been marked with your initials and a trail blazed to it with your hand axe so you have no difficulty in finding it4 ,if it is on your property1 well and good4 ,if not1 your ,new ,hampshire farmer is usually a reasonable being if you treat him properly4 ,a bee tree is not valuable4 ,the mere fact that it has a hollow generally proves that it is not commercially valuable for anything but firewood1 and after it is felled1 if the owner wants to work it up into firewood1 he is at liberty to do so4 ,a proper approach and the promise of a jar or two of honey will usually win you permission to take up the tree1 and the owner will come along to watch the fun4 ,in all my many years of experience1 ,i have only once been refused permission to take up a bee tree without payment4 ,arriving at the tree a council of war will follow as to how best to fell it4 ,if you are wise1 you will allow this decision to be made by your woodsmen4 ,if possible1 it should be felled so that the hole is on one side or on top4 ,if possible1 it should not be felled across boulders1 as it is very desirable not to have the hole split4 ,sometimes a tree will be so leaning1 however1 that there is no choice in the matter1 and one must do the best one can4 ,while the woodsmen are chipping the trunk and beginning to saw1 the hunter should gather moss1 the fronds of ferns1 or other stuff to plug the hole when the tree is brought down4 ,as the saw bites deeper and the scarf widens1 the top of the tree will begin to sway4 ,now is the time for the hunter to don his veil and gloves4 ,before putting on the veil1 it is well to turn up the collar of one's jacket4 ,it is not even an act of supererogation to tie tightly some twine around one's waist4 ,i once had an ambitious bee crawl up under my jacket1 down through the band of my trousers1 up under my shirt and undershirt and sting me in the small of the back4 ,for protection of the legs1 nothing is better than a light pair of fisherman's rubber boots4 ,failing them1 tie the bottom of your trousers or dungarees tightly round the tops of your shoes4 ,do not wear low shoes4 ,my companion did that the time we took up the ninety-seven pound tree4 ,it was in a swamp and1 in addition to the discomfort of wet feet1 he found that a couple of dozen bees1 stupefied by the smudge1 fell into the water1 revived1 and relieved their feelings by swimming across to his ankles and stinging them4 ,the next day his legs looked as though he had elephantiasis1 and never thereafter could ,i get him to help me take up a bee tree4 ,he could not seem to comprehend that the fault was his for wearing low shoes4 ,the cut deepens4 ,the tree sways wider4 ,it begins to heave1 and one hears the first pistol-like reports of the cracking trunk4 ,slowly at first then with rapid momentum the tree falls with a thunderous roar4 ,the axemen have snatched the saw from the cut and jumped back4 ,the hunter rushes in1 his hands full of moss1 finds the aperture and plugs it before the bees can escape4 ,at least he tries to4 ,sometimes he misses a subsidiary aperture1 and some bees escape to enliven the proceedings4 ,sometimes the bole splits at the hollow and nothing can be done about that4 ,usually the hole can be plugged1 and one can take one's time preparing to open the hollow4 ,the woodsmen now put on their nets and gloves1 if indeed they have not done so just before felling the tree4 ,all debate as to whether the hollow extends above or below the hole1 often a matter of guesswork4 ,then the saw comes into play again4 ,the lumbermen cut deep scarves above and below the area where the honey is supposed to be4 ,when rotten wood 7and at times honey67 shows on the blade1 one can be sure the hollow is entered4 ,then a wedge is placed at the base of one of the scarves and driven home with the sledge4 ,another1 parallel to it1 is driven in further down1 and a third parallel at the lower scarf4 ,as the wedges are driven home1 the bole will split and a great section may be lifted off like a lid1 exposing the honey and the bees4 ,of course1 ,i am describing an ideal performance4 ,often the tree makes trouble1 has to be sawed several times1 and the opening enlarged with the axe4 ,as the crack widens under the impact of the wedges1 the bees pour out1 and the fight is on4 ,they will attack viciously1 and one is aware of the ping of bees dashing themselves against the wire netting of the veil4 ,if one has taken proper precautions1 one is safe1 though1 to be honest1 one usually gets stung once or twice in taking up the tree4 ,humans vary in susceptibility to bee stings4 ,i am lucky in that they trouble me little1 and usually the swellings are slight4 ,on the other hand1 my brother when once stung in the back of the hand1 found his arm next morning thrice its normal size to the armpit4 ,those so constituted had better stop at home when a tree is taken up4 ,once the fight is on it is well to get at the honey as soon as possible4 ,once the comb is well broken1 the bees lose most of their fight4 ,they will dash around in a bewildered way1 bunch up on a bush1 gorge themselves with spilled honey1 and generally give evidence that the spirit of the hive is dead4 ,only a few doughty fighters will continue the battle4 ,the comb will be in layers1 up and down the length of the hollow1 sometimes in pieces two or two and one-half feet long1 with spaces between to admit the workers4 ,in describing the equipment ,i neglected to add a large iron spoon and a couple of table knives4 ,usually it is necessary to cut the comb to get it into convenient sizes1 and a good deal of honey will escape and run down into the hollow whence it can be spooned out and added to the spoil in the boiler4 ,if a certain amount of chips1 dead wood1 and even dead bees and larvae are included1 do not be disturbed4 ,it will all be strained anyway4 ,i have long since given up trying to save wild honey in the comb4 ,when the last available drop is garnered1 gather up your equipment and retreat4 ,a hundred yards away and you are quite safe and can doff the nets and gloves that by this time are unbearably hot and sticky4 ,then you have your first taste of delicious honey4 ,either wild honey is more tasty than the domestic variety or one's exertions have made it seem so4 ,my guests have always agreed that my wild honey is more aromatic than any one can buy4 ,i imagine the answer is that strained wild honey is a blend1 while domestic honey is generally of one variety4 ,the taste of honey varies widely according to the flowers from which it is made4 ,clover honey1 foolishly the most prized1 is the most insipid4 ,golden rod honey is golden yellow and spicy4 ,buckwheat honey is1 if anything1 too pungent and heavy as molasses4 ,the honey of ,provence1 made from wild thyme1 has a special piney taste4 ,in straining wild honey no attempt is made to separate the varieties1 and the result is a blend1 varying somewhat according to tree or season1 but always more interesting than the domestic variety4 ,having sampled your honey and found it good1 you can now go home and weigh your spoil4 ,unless1 indeed1 you have more than one tree to take up4 ,i have taken up four in a day4 ,the rest is an epilogue4 ,the straining of the honey is a matter for the distaff side4 ,my wife makes large bags of cheesecloth1 and the comb is broken up and introduced into these4 ,they are then hung over pans in a warm kitchen4 ,the honey drips slowly into the pans4 ,one fears that a lot will be wasted1 but not so4 ,in thirty-six hours or more the comb will be dry beeswax1 and the honey can be run off from the pans into glass jars4 ,when sealed1 the honey will keep indefinitely4 ,after a while it will sugar into a kind of paste4 ,i like this better for eating than the liquid variety1 but if anyone disagrees1 it is necessary only to place the jar in warm water for a while1 and the honey will return to its liquid state4 ,so much for bee hunting and how it is done4 ,this account has one virtue1 perhaps only one3 it is true4 ,it is based on experience1 and there is nothing in it that ,i have not done myself4 ,i have relied on nothing that ,i have been told2 there is no hearsay4 ,i have made no attempt to discuss the life of the bee and the fascinating details of its domestic economy4 ,for the curious in these matters1 ,i recommend ,maeterlinck's ,life of the ,bees4 ,i imagine what he says is true1 but ,i cannot prove it by my own certain knowledge4 ,it is certainly very beautiful and perhaps it is more important for a poet to make a thing beautiful than to make it true4 ,these matters are not of my concern4 ,for a more factual but equally fascinating account1 ,i recommend ,bees' ,ways by ,george de ,clyver ,curtis4 ,i have also tried very hard to avoid purple passages4 ,it has not been easy4 ,bee hunting is one of the most fascinating of sports1 and one could go on describing different illuminating episodes for many pages4 ,the sport combines almost everything that is desirable4 ,it is played out of doors4 ,it requires exercise both of the muscles and the brain4 ,it is a sport of brawn and of craft4 ,it can be played alone4 ,moreover1 it can be played at any tempo4 ,time was when ,i could scramble up and down ,croydon ,mountain like a squirrel and could push the pace4 ,that ,i can no longer do1 but ,i can move more slowly1 consider more carefully1 draw on the craft and knowledge of long experience and find as many trees as when ,i was young and impetuous4 ,the sport is one of infinite variety1 of suspense1 disappointment1 perseverance1 and triumph4 ,you go out into the fields4 ,before you is a wooded mountain with ten thousand trees4 ,one of those trees is a bee tree4 ,with a very simple equipment you set out to find it1 pitting your skill and your knowledge against the wiles of probably the most intelligent insect in the world4 ,you try4 ,you fail4 ,you try again4 ,you succeed4 ,your ostensible object is honey4 ,it is the least of your rewards4 ,the reward is when1 after hours or days of trial and error1 your eye catches the flash of wings in the tree and once more you are able to say checkmate in one of the most difficult1 complicated1 and fascinating games in the world4 ,,transcriber',s ,,notes3 ,italicized text is surrounded by underscores3 italics4 ,obvious typographical errors have been corrected4 ,inconsistencies in hyphenation have been standardized4