Idaho County free press. [volume] (Grangeville, Idaho Territory) 1886-current, 1888-07-20
GEORGIA HONEY BEES.
How They Have Assured the Prosperity of
Their Lucky Owner.

hibcI ulHner III MT. blJCuell We
were sitting on his front piazza, smok.
ing, and l discovered some bees going
in and out of knot in one of the large
oak trees in front of his dwelling.
This tree is known to be over hun
dred years old. / learned that several
years ago swarm of bees assembled
in that tree as their new home, and
they have worked and lived there ever
since. After they had been there for
three years the colony became very
large and strong, and no attempt had
ever been made to rob them of their
honey. AT last Mr.. Mitchell came to
the conclusion that the tree must be
full of honey, from seeing large num-
bers of flies and bees around the root
of the tree; so he set to work to devise
some means to get the honey without
cutting the tree down. After applying
all the tests known to bee men, he sat
isiied himself that the tree was full,
and then decided to tap it like a fell
low is tapped for dropsy. So he got
him faucet and an augur and bored
hole in the tree near the root and
then screwed in the faucet and to his
surprise and get delight a solid stream
of pure and elegant honey as clear as
crystal gushed forth, and the supply
seemed almost inexhaustible. 1t con-
tnued to pour out until he had filled
six barrels; and he has drawn each
year since that time from three to four
barrels of pure strained honey from
that old oak tree, and up to this there
seems to be no signs of failure of the
supply, as the bees are still very
very strong and healthy colony.
The same year that Mr.. Mitchell
tapped the old oak tree there was
new thick growth sprung up
around the old oak of an unusual
appearance, having a smooth bark and
thick, waxy leaves. One day he pulled
off one of the leaves and put it into his
mouth and found it to be very sweet,
and upon examining the place from
which he had plucked the leaf he dis
covered that the plant was bleeding OF
emitting from the wound IL clear, thick
looking juice, which, upon tasting and
examination, proved to be honey. He
then commenced to nurse the new vol
unteer growth with the tenderest care
and attention, looking after them
Iaily; and as the summer advanced the
plants continued to grow, and in the
fall he selected and transplanted three
hundred of them in very rich soil, thir-
feet apart, and they grew very rapidly,
making beautiful display with their
straight, smooth trunks and their thick
and glossy wax-like leaves. And the
grove was seen and admired by all fol
miles and miles around. Mr.. MITCHELL S
ldea was that as large money was made
from the sugar maple, by boiling the
Juice, he ought to make more from q
tree that would run pure honey, and
he was right When the trees were
four years old in the fall of the year
thcy were large enough to insert
faucets. SO he had three hun.
dred faucets made to order and
screwed them into the young
trees, and the following spring the re-
suit was remarkable. Each tree yielded
an average of ten gallons of the richest
golden honey; the following year eacl
tree yielded an average of twenty gal
ions, and now the average is about 6
barrel to each tree during the year
and the grove continues to grow anC
flourish and shows no signs of failing
to supply bountiful yield in the years
to come. The quality of the honey il
so fine and the flavor is so delicate tina
it always commands the highest prices
and the demand is greater than the
supply.
If some of those enterprisng artesiar
well men who are always prospecting
and boring holes in our county for OF
could succeed in sinking a we'll from
which solid stream of old mellow
peach brandy would flow continuously
then, indeed, old Spalding County
would be n new Mecca, and Pilgrim
ages would be made from all over this
broad country to the land which flows
with "peach and honey"
But be that as it may, the uncer
tainty of the fruit crop. the corn crop
the wheat crop, nor the uncertainty OF
the price of cotton, has any terrors fol-
Mr. Mitchell, for so long as these
| golden streams of sweetness continue
to flow from these natural fountains
his prosperity is assured. Griffin (Ga }
NeWS.