The morning news. [volume] (Savannah, Ga.) 1887-1900, 1897-11-19
BEES AND HONEY.
Honey supply Is Short-SOme Bee
Stories.
From the Chicago Times-Herald.

FROM the chicago I1meS-Ierald.
Bee hivers and herders, who have been in
session in Chicago, report that honey will
be dear for a year to come; that the bees
were trihng during the spring and sum-
mer when the sun shone. 1t is said that
they laziy buzzed about, sip
ped at flower bud oc-
casionally and then went home
and slept just like an ordinary drunkard.
The result was that along about Sept
when the hives should have been fun of
the nectar that makes men eat half-doz-
en- wafiles i'm the morning and the cook tir-
ed making biscuit in the evening for sup
per, there was scarcely enough honey
found to feed the bees themselves during
the winter. There is lots of comb report
ed. but it is dry and fit only to make wax.
This Is the season of the year when the
wild bee hunter is in his glory. He fcasts
on honeyed batter cakes and waflies three
or four times a day and goes TO bed hun
CRY at that A bee hunter is born, not
made. There are men who can find bee
trees just like a dog can trace ana jump
fox. But, like a country fiddler, bee
hunter is fit for nothing else. He can't
shoot. he can't hoe corn, he can't chop
cotton, he can't dig potatoes, drive a wag-
on, grabble COOLERS, crack hickory nuts,
chuTn milk. call hogs or build fires He is
good In that one particular line only But
what an art that is! He can smell out a
tree filled with honey much easier than
bear can do. He looks first at the body,
gives it a tap with stick or something
OF the Sort and in a minute can tell you
If he has struck paying claim.
The bee hunter in the south has q busy
season about this time every year. In
some places it is against the law to rob
trees except during the fall months. 1t
is along about the latter part of August
when the time is ripe for pilgrimages into
the forests i'm search of honey. Usually
the trees are very large and are hollow.
l have seen as much as 800 pounds taken
from one hive. 1t is sweeter than that
obtained from the ordinary apiary. Why
that Is l do not know, and Sam Knight
of Washington county, Alabama, the king
hunter. once said to me that he didn't
know either. But wild honey is sweeter
than tame honey just like wild game is
better than home-raised meat. The strip
Is clearer and the comb is richer.
Sam Knight has robbed more than a
thousand bee trees. In his county wild
flowers grow. The honeysuckle blooms
until frost. The jasmine gives fragrance
almost the year round. Sweet are the pea
and potato buds until far into the fall.
Wild bees swarm about in droves. There
are no apiaries in Washington county.
When honey is harvested by the busy lit
tie bees they go to a tree to deposit their
sugar Sam Knight watches them during
the summer while they are at work lie
bats them just as the turkey trapper
bats his game. He selects stump and
on top of 1t he places a drop OF so of
molasses. Then he takes chew OF home
twist and waits. When a bee comes along
and lights on the stump he stays there
until he has loaded deep enough to require
a deposit Then he lifts his wings and
makes a line for his home that is as
straight as an arrow. Sam Knight takes
up the trail. He follows until the tree has
been found. He makes a mark of some
sort on the bark blaZes the way back to
the stump and then goes to another part
of the forest, where the same thing is done
over again. In the course of a couple or
months work Knight locates a hundred
or more trees.
Robbing a bee tree isn't much of Job.
The trunk is first felled to the ground. The
crash generally kills most of the bees, or
stuns them so as to prevent their singing.
Then the hollow part is split open and the
buckets are filed. Knight ships his honey
to Mobile where 1t commands price be-
yond any other kind on the market. A
person entering a grocery store in Mobile
and asks for honey is in turn questioned
as to whether he wants the Knight brand
or not Much of it is shipped to Wash
ington, and some to New York, where 1t
can be found at Delmonicos Chamberln',
in Washington makes speciality of two
dishes-Knight honey and waffles, Malone
ham and boiled rice. Some years ago Gen.
Malone planted several acres in peanuts,
bought hundred or so guinea hogs, turn
ed them lose in the peanut patch about
the time the nuts had ripened. and then,
when the hogs were fat, killed them, cur
ed the hams and put them on the Washing
ton market. John Chamberlin finally
made a contract with Malone to buy all
such meat at 50 cents a pound. am told
that since Mahones death his family has
gone extensively into the business. A
Malone ham steak with rice, Knight honey
with Waffles, is a breakfast that every rich
man who goes to Washington In the fall
and winter season orders first. A govern
ment clerk couldn't afford such Injuries
more than couple of times a year.
Talking about bees, / will repeat what
Sam Knight told me once. Said he: "If a
singing insect ever lights on you, hold
your breath until you can brush it away.
If you don't breathe the insect can't sting.
wouldn't mind walking into the biggest
yellow jacket nest in the world. can
hold my breath for a minute and In that
time ! could kill the most of them and scare
the others away.