The sun. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1833-1916, 1897-07-11
BEE HUNTING I'M AUSTRALIA.
mo Inge1ious Method Employee IN Tractno
bees to Their Homes.

Bees to Their Homes.
Srom the Rochester Unton and Adusrtiss,.
Tho swarm Of bees which made its appearance
on Exchange street in the carly part Of last week
was of great interest to an elderly gentleman
who for some years lived In Australia, tho land
Of kangaroos and red-headed pugilists, and az
he watched the operation of hiving tho honey
gatherers he grew reminiscent and said:
THAT recalls one of the most interesting ex-
periences of my residence In Australia, where I
spent about two weeks out on O large sheep
range owned by a friend Of mine, where / made
the acquaintance Of ono of tho herders. who was
q native black and O great hand to trail bees to
their homes.
lone day I asked permission to accompany
him on ono OF his trips, and after a little DELHI
GRAFTON he consented. Before setting out he
provided himself with a small bunch Of cotton,
The care he took In preparing these articles
aroused ny, curiosity, and when I questioned
hunt hum fS 3 f honeT vnAf f tdsy T 10 see 20 how eS t tSsy i eo thS
DO Of service. but, made up my mind to watch
CLOSELY and see what be would do: ,.r
which had not the slightest idea Of. and whsn
q clump OF towering bushes I followed his or.
ample. and was somewhat estonishcd when he
which was. busy gathering honey. D''
the water bottle. Llled his mouth, and thonQtook
gum Salt to t tam and q stepped sSS sGs towsr dp 9he beo a " Wien Ss the he
was close enough he squirted the water on the
% SSsi sh he SeftIy 4 fastened sas ff ihe cotton 5S snf tx To- on bs ses
and remounted his horse.
When the bee recovered the use Of its wings
lowed II. 1t was Impossible for me to keep track
Of tho bee, but my COMPANION never lost sight of
S So9Sa''' %e foli i Q It n Tor eS several . mites III ' sntii
showed that So had az made ks% no tsG MISTAKE AK 'a aSS Srsp.
a~rations were made for smoking out the bees.
He cut a holo In the lower part OF tho tree
and kindled q fire, across which he laid a num-
Der OF fresh branches to create a smudRc. To in
sure the smoke doing It's work properly q sort of
hole, and in about half an hour the bees had
become helpless and we obtained about thirty
we were just, getting ready to return homo
when q peculiar looking little bird, somewhat
Larger Than a spsrTow. began to hutter around
cry of satisfaction and then started OFF peil nell
s s6,IG, the p,f f, iSc,d ! w1 rs. At = a lnss to explain his
when I caught up with him no explained
that the bird was a honeybird and wanted to
s s6S him S where T. there srcb was 4 honey tree. Hsy.
partly convinced me and l. decided to keep on.
to hover around a tree, and whom We drew nearer
We saw bees issuing from. q hole in the trunk.
put In operation, tho bird sitting on a nearby
limb while the operation was going on. After
securing the honey q portion was set aside Tor
the bird, as my companion declared that unless
he did so tho bird would refuse to guide him any
moro.
We found several other trees and marked
them and reached TIE house ia the evening. AT
Ter supper my host entertained me with an &C
count OF the amount or honey which the horder
had gathered. stating that In one week the pre-
yious summer he had secured nearly a thousand
pounds.
"SInoc leaving that. place / have visited q
number OF large apiaries In various countries
and seen any number OF devices for keeping
bees, but l have never met any ono who made
such IN impression upon me as that bee hunter
with whomI spent a day in southern Australia