Mower County transcript. [volume] (Lansing, Minn.) 1868-1915, 1888-08-15
TAPPING A BEE TREE.
The Old Hunter Follows the Busy
Worker to His Lair. J.
How the Wild Bees Industry Is Circun.
vented and His Store Of Sweetness
CONFERENCE.-The Bumble-Bee
and the Red Clovcr.

How the Wild Bees Industry is Circum-
vented and His Store Of Sweetness
Confiscated-The Bumble-Bee
and the Red Clovcr.
When the buokwheat was in its
fullest blossom one summer-and buck
wheat is one of the staples of the high,
stony farms of Northern Pennsylvania
Il noticed that the snowy bloom was
at times almost brown with bees busy
in collecting the honey, unsurpassed in
in flavor, for no flower yields more
abundantly than the tiny buckwheat
blossom. One day it struck me that in
my daily tramps for weeks in all di-
rections I had not seen single bee
hive in any yard or orchard anywhere
within ten miles. Who, then, 1 thought,
can all these bees belong to? Who are
they working for, and what distances
must they be travelling between apiary
and rifling place? Iput the question
to an old resident from 1.-The Knob
country" and he enlightened me-
Them BEES" he said, ''don't belong
to nobody, an they think they hain't
workin' fer nobody but theirselfs, but
I'm a thinkin' th't some OF 'em is apt to
be mistakin. Ez fer how fur do they
travel, some of 'em travels a mild,
some of 'em two mild and mebby three
or four mild. They'm wild bees, an
though this land hain't e'zac'ly fowin'
with milk, it kin turn out plenty O.
wild honey an to spare"
"Yes," continued the native, eth
hain't no doubt but some O. them bees
has been a buzzin' home all summer
long with a wrong idee ez we'll ez with
honey, fer they've been thinkin' th't
they was heapin' up a hundred pound or
SOC pancake kiverin' all for theirselfs,
Std O. packin' it all away, nice an
snug, fer Teller bout my inches. I've
got one fine OF bee tree lined already.
I follered the leetle hot-tailed fellers in
ez they was workin' on the willer
blossoms fust thing in the spring. Now,
I'm gointer take line fer another tree
from some O. these brown-winged fell
lers on the buckwhit. I'll run one in
t'morror, an if like to see the modoc
operandy o. how it's done, come over
an go long"
Nothing could have suited me better
and was ON hand next morning.
''Couldn't had a butler day. said
the bee hunter. 9TH hain't bit o.
haze, an it looks to me ez if could
keep a bee in my eye for a mile this
mOrnin'-that is, not bee, e'zac'ly,
but the sight O. one. Let's look round
a bit an pick out good un- Here's a
a nice, big, brown Teller, workin' in
the corner o. the buckwhit, all alone
by hisself. He's greedy cuss- He's
loaded down to the guards now, but
he hates to give up, an keeps on a
suckin'. Tn hain't nothin' th't bee
likes to hold on to so much ez he does
to patch o. buckwheat, less it's white
clover or Eastwood. Dye see how
thick his legs is kivered with yaller,
waxy sort O. stuff? Ye think that 8
the honey, don't We? thort SO. Ev'ry
greeny does. That hain't the honey
no more'n it's las years bird nes'.
The honey is stored away in the in
secs neck, some're, an wen he gets
home he'll soon have it MIXED out'n
him. Bees don't eat honey. They eat bee
bread, an th't yaller stuff is cargo o.
bee bread ev'ry one o. these leetle
chaps Jugs home with him. They
but hol' on. This fellow is gittin'
ready to pull out. He's sucked till he
can't get no more inter him, an he's
goin' home to unload. Keep yer eye
on him. If he raises right up straight
in the cir an starts away without
seemin' to look for his bearin's the
tree he lives in is nigh. But If he gets
up kinder hesitatin' like, an don't
whizz off to wunst, mebby we'll have
two or three mild chase. There!
He's gittin' up! What! Don't know
how she heads, hay? Good ways from
home, sonny! He's off! Keep your eye
on him" ..$"5
The bee hunter shaded his eyes with
his hand and gazed in the direction the
bee had gone. The honey-laden toiler
was out of my sight in a second, but
the practiced eye of the hunter seemed
to follow it for q long distance, for it
was some time before he took his hand
from his eyes and looked away. &a
II thort so,'' said he; it's over in the
big swamp whar that bee lives. "We'll
have good tramp, an we'll have to
line him, or some o. his brother'n,
wunst or twice more fore we run it in
the tree. Leastways I think so. Wen
kinder trot long lords yon big pine
tree tn ye kin see the top Of. straight
81 ~