The Bossier banner. [volume] (Bellevue, Bossier Parish, La.) 1859-1952, 1888-09-06
TAPPING A BEE TREE.
The Old Hunter Follows the Busy
Worker to His Lair
How the Wild Bees Industry Is CIrcum-
vented and His Store of Sweetness
Confiscated-The Bumble-I3ee
and the Red Glover.

hhu eu6 lieu SloSoEs
1 When the buckwheat was in its
2xllest blossom one summer-and buck
wheat is one of the staples of the high,
stony farms of Northern Pennsylvania
II noticed that the snowy bloom was
Il times almost brown with bees busy
b collecting the honey, unsurpassed in
&n flavor, for no flower yields more
bundantly than the tiny buckwheat
blossom. One day it struck me that in
]|ny daily tramps for weeks in all di-
Hrections l had not seen a single bee
8blve in any yard or orchard anywhere
within ten miles. Who, then, ] thought,
lean all these bees belong TOP Who are
They working for, and what distances
must they be travelling between apiary
And rifing placer / put the question
30 an old resident from ssthe Knob
Duntry," and he enlightened me.
"Them bees" he said, .'don't belong
y nobody, an they think they hain't
Eorkin' fer nobody but theirselfs, but
I'm a thinkin' th't some of 'em is apt to
] k mistakin. Ez fer how fur do they
kavel, some of 'em travels a mild,
ume of 'em two mild and mebby three
four mild. They'm wild bees, an
AOugh this land hain't e'zac'ly fiowin'
With milk, it kin turn out plenty o.
Md honey an to spare"
Yes," continued the native, eth
Ain't no doubt but some o. them bees
has been buzzin' home all summer
/ bng with a wrong idee ez well ez with
honey, fer they've been thinkin' th't
ney was heapin' up a hundred pound or
po pancake kiverin' all for thairselfs,
Eid O. packin' it all away, nice an
mug, fer feller bout my inches. I've
got one fine oil bee tree lined already.
liollered the leetle hot-tailed fellers in
90 they was workin' on the willer
aossoms fust thing in the spring. Now,
/ I'm gointer take line fer another tree
nom some o. these brown-winged fell
ers on the buckwhit. I'll run one in
smorror, an If Y'd like to see hemodoc
operandy O. how it's done, come over
~ go long,
Nothing could have suited me better
aaa | was on hand next morning.
couldn't had bullier day." said
ne bee hunter. "ThsAl4(l4srarbfspT
aale, an it looks to me ez if could
teep bee in my eye for mile this
aernln'-that is, not bee, e'zac'ly,
out the sight O one. Let's look round
splt an pick out a good un. Here's a
nlce, big, brown feller, workin' in
sae corner O. the buckwhit, all alone
y msself. Hes a greedy cuss. He's
"aaed down to the guards now, but
Y mates to give up, an keeps on a
suexln. Tn hain't nothin' th't bee
aAes to hold on to SO much ez he does
= patch O buckwheat, less it's white
soser or Eastwood. Dye see how
a'cK his legs is kivered with yaller,
saxy sort o. stuff? Ye think that's
= money, don't ye? / thort so. Ev'ry
s'seny does. That hain't the honey
y moren it's las years bird nes'.
sas money is stored away in the in
y neck, some're, an wen he gets
s''ne nell soon have it MIXED out'n
~ Bees don'teat honey. They eat bee
saa' an th't yaller stuff is a cargo o.
Dread ev'ry one o. these leetle
laps Jugs home with him. They
Ms nol' on. This fellow is gittin'
.ssay 70 pull out. He's sucked till he
80 get no more inter him, an he's
sssa nome to unload. Keep yer eye
a,n. Il he raises right up straight
sae air an starts away without
aln TO look for his bearin's the
ase ne lives in is nigh. But ifhe gets
nnder hesitatin' like, an dom t
80 on to wunst, mebby we'll have
~, or three mild chase. There!
~ gittin' up! What! Don't know
sae heads, hay? Good ways from
ss sonny! He's off! Keep your eye
Il zee hunter shaded his eyes with
ssl aa,a and gazed in the direction the
aaa gone. The honey-laden toiler
4 " " q my sight in second, but
hsdn aeueed eye of the hunter seemed
''pH y Tor q LONG distance, for il