The daily morning journal and courier., 1897-07-23
BEE HUNTING IN AUSTRALIA,
The Ingenious Method Employed Tn
 Tracing Bees to Their Homes.

IHe ingenious MetnOu EHiPioyeu Ah
 Tracing Bees to Their Homes.
 The swarm of bees which made its appearance on Exchange street Ill the early part of last week was or great in- terest to an elderly gentleman who for some years lived in Australia, the land of kangaroos and red-headed pugillsts, and as he watched the operation of hiv- ing the honey-gatherers he grew remi- niscent and said:
 That recalls one of the most inter esting experiences of my residence in Australia, where spent about two weeks out on a large sheep range owned by a friend of mine, where l made the acquaintance of one Of the herders, who was native black and great hand to trail bees to their homes.
 One day I asked permission to ac- company him on one of his trips, and after little deliberation he consented. Before setting out he provided mmself With a small bunch of cotton, little gum of some sort and a bottle of water. The care he took in preparing these ar ticles aroused my curiosity, and when l questioned him he said tha', they were to be used in the hunt for honey l failed to see how they could be of ser vice, but made up my mind to watch closely and see what he would do, For some time we rode on in silence, he all the time keeping a sharp lookout for something which I had not the slightest idea of, and when he suddenly refined in his horse and started for a clump of Towering bushes l followed his example, and was somewhat aston ished when he lifted warning finger and pointed to bee which was busy gathering honey.
 "Motioning me to remain quiet, he drew out the water bottle, filled his mouth. and then took a small tuft of the cotton, applied a bit of the gum to it and stepped toward the bee. When he was close enough he squirted the water on the bee, and while it was try ing to shake off the water he deftly fastened the cotton to it's back and re- mounted his horse.
 When the bee recovered the use of | its wings it started off across the coun- | try, and we followed It. It was impos- sble for me to keep track of the bee, but my companion never lost sight of 1t and followed it unerringly as 1t flew along, unconsciously leading an enemy | lU US SlOlSHDuSt. w e lOllOWGu IL lpi ] several miles until we reached a. large | gum tree. An Inspection showed that we had made no mistake, and prepara- | tions were made for smoking out the bees.
 He cut hole in the lower part of | the tree and kindled a fire, across which he laid number of fresh | branches to create smudge. To in sure the smoke doing It's work properly a sort of screen was made to force the smoke into the hole, and In about half an hour the bees had become helpless and we obtained about thirty pounds of honey.
 We were just getting ready to re- turn home when peculiar looking lit-
 tie bird, somewhat larger than a spar row, began to fiutter around our heads and twitter My companion gave cry of satisfaction and then started off pell mell after the bird. I was at loss to explain his action, but thought best to follow him.
 When I caught up with him he ex- plained that the bird was a honeybird 1 and wanted to show him where there I was honey tree. Having never heard of such a thing I thought that he was making game of me, but his earnestness partly convinced me and I decided to keep on.
 After a chase of several miles the bird began to hover around a tree, and
 when we drew nearer we saw bees is suing from a hole in the trunk The former methods for securing the honey
 were put in operation, the bird sitting
 on near by limb while the operation
 was going on. After securing the hon. ey portion was set aside for the bird,
 as my companion declared that unless
 he did so the bird would refuse to guide
 him any more
 We found several other trees and
 marked them and reached the house in
 the evening After supper my host en-
 tertained me with an account of the
 amount of honey which the herder had
 gathered, stating that in one week the
 previous summer he had secured nearly
 thousand pounds.
 Since leaving that place have vis-
 ited number of large apiaries in vari-
 ous countries, and seen any number Of ] devices for keeping bees, but I have
 never met any one who made such an
 impression upon me as that bee hunter
 with whom I spent day in southern
 Australia. "-Rochester Union and Ad-
 vertiser.
 !