Green-Mountain freeman. [volume] (Montpelier, Vt.) 1844-1884, 1878-07-10
For the Freeman.
4 Chat with Farmers.
No. IS.
By AGRICoLA.

The flowers soon die and the bees gath.
er what they can from leaves. honey dew
and the juices Of sweet fruits. Nor do
they scruple. when all other sources fail
them, 10 sttaek some weak. neighborinc
hive and to de>poil them Of th.ir honey
This Is only human nature. Duplicated.
and that, too, in its slayi>h. sinful state
" Look out for yourself" is the usual pre-
eept Of The bee hive.and also among civiiiz-
ei men.
Bees recognize the person OF their
queen. Ii "A new queen is given them.
tiey surround her and her sutfHste or
>tSrve her 10 death. If she ctn survive
tweniy-fuur hours. she will be accepted as
Their sovereign. Huber discovered the
fact that if the fecundi'y of the queen is
delayed beyond tweniy.une DAYS of her
lie, she will never after that produce any
other than The eggs of males. laying them
lndiscriminaiely in all the cells.
Honey bees seldom Ole natural death.
and the average duration Of their life
cannot be more than \ Year. Among
their mortal enemies are the wasp. hornet,
spider, drtgon-fy, toad. lizard, woodpeck-
er, hee-ealer, rats, mice, ant-eaterS. bear
and badgers. B. sides sll these. the bees
themselves are constantly DESTROYING each
Other. The mystery is that tile whole
race are not snnihilateJ. But the sur.
prislng ferundi!y of the queen restores
their wasted ranks, with I surplus for
swarming. A single queen will lay. il
one Year. in = Temperate climate, sixty
thousand eggs, and IN warm Climate.
iuree times This number. When bees
swarm, unless they are speedily hived
he queen will lead The swarm to The
wooos, 10 some hollow ire-, " here they
Will lay up money, rear new brood and
send out successive swarms Of new. wild
colonies. These are called wild honey
bees. This class Of bees are abundant IN
India, Africa and America. Those found
IN the United States are all Of foreign ori.
SIN. As la'e as l797 there were none YVES,
Of the Mississippi. There were none in
Californis before 1870.
The lndi2ns call the bze the white mans
fly. because, perhaps, they have - often
been sung and hunted by their p,le-faced
enemy. Bee-hUnling is \ distinct and i'm
portalt business, and in those regions
where wild bees abound is made a pro.
ie>Sion. Experts in this business are
guided 10 the bee-tree BY 3 bird called the
cuckoo. with uneTring eertAiniv. In Cen.
trail America, We are told, The Wild swSrms
OF BEES iocaie in hollow limbs o! tree.
These limbs are removed by the people TO
the porches OF their houses, and there sus.
tended By thongs. In this way large
quantities Of honey and WAX are obtained.
q some instances wax-hags. two or more
inches long. are arranged along the hive
il rows. while the cells occupy the centre.
OF the hive. Bee hunting is extensively
carried on At the south and IVES, in tie
United States. and the hunters resort To-
strategy TO find the coveted swarm. They
axe into the wood box Of honey, and j,
they fail 10 allure the wol kers amid the
flowers, to their box OF ready-nade homer.
they capture few and allow them 10 load
themselves ami depart to their home. b.
watching them, the "bre-l!ne is discov-
cred, and the sought for tree i soon found.
This tree Is cut down. and If the occupied
section is found to be undisIUT5ct. i. i Gu,
of and carried home. where it Is Used IS 4
hive for future bre culture. Otherwise
the bees are killed by burning straw. and
The honey Secured. Wild bves are found
everywh here in the vicinity of domestic
hees, but are hunted less IS civilization
advances.
| might speak, Of the humble bee. If
space allowed. He fers from the honey
bee in color and siza. There sic more
han :oy;y kinds in Grea, Britain alone.