Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1901-03-08
HUNTING THE WILD BEE
HOW THEIR STORES OF SWEETS
ARE FOUND.
Method of RObbinE the Trees After
Discovery-RObberB Bees That Are
in Turn DispOiled.
John p. Herrick In Buffalo Courier.

| John z. Herrick In Buffalo Courier.
| There are few sports more fascinating
| than that of searching out the home of a
| colony of wild bees in the forest putting
a private mark on the tree and, late in the
| fall. when the first flurries of snow come,
| Telling the tree and robbing the bees of the
| honey they have gathered drop by drop
| during the long summer days from the
| flowers in wood and field. At least, that is
| the point of view of my old bee-hunter
| friend. Handy Thurber and the rest of the
| band of human robbers who profit by the
| industry of the wild bee and their own
| knowledge of woodcraft.
| The wild bee gets to work in the spring,
| almost before the snow is off the ground,
| or as the water elms are in blow.
| The next food supply comes from the pussy
| willow blows. then from the soft maple
/ blows and dandelions. About June 10 in
| western New York white clover is In bios
| son. and the untamed bee likes nothing
better. though fond of Eastwood blows.
| which are ready to give up honey about
the middle of July. In August the buck
wheat fields are mass of blossoms, and
| there are hundreds of varieties of wild
| flowers to sip honey from. Red clover
! contains more honey than white clover, but
| 1t is harder for the honey bee to work.
/ Bundle bees are fond of red clover bios
SONS and are built on plan to make it an
| easy flower for them to work Golden rod
| Is another favorite of the wild bee The
wild aster is the last flower in western
New York woods that produces honey, the
| bees often working on 1t until late in Oc-
| tober.
| Last summer and fall / made several
| trips to the woods with Handy Thurber,
who has hunted bees for twenty-five years,
cut hundreds of trees and Is an authority
| on the habits of the untamed bee. He car
| ries his kit in a small pine box 1t con-
! sists of a quantity of bee comb, a bottle
| of strained honey, bottle of anise, pieces
| Nfr t-r1l~
| er box with sliding glass cover. The last
| he calls his bee box. In his pocket he
| carries a telescope.
Tracking the Bees.
| AS as we left the main Travelled
| highway and crossed a meadow that Dor
| dered the woods we found wild bees at
| work the flowers After following an
| old trail in the woods for a quarter of a
| mile we came to a little clearing which
! was overrun with wild flowers. Here he
! unpacked his kit placed the box on a
| stump and took out the small box with
| the glass cover. After a little skirmishing
| he brushed bee off a wild flower into the
| box, closed the slide and walked to the
| stump. He poured some honey from the
| bottle on the comb, took the bee out of the
| box and set it at work on the comb. The
| operation repeated until there were
| half dozen bees al work the comb.
| one by one, as fast as the bees secured all
! the honey they could carry, they circled
| about the stump until above the top of the
| trees, and then darted for home on a
| straight line with the speed of an arrow,
| returning in a few minutes with other lees
| until there were forty or more at work On
| the comb. The hunter then took piece of
| red chalk, pulverized it, damped it with
| saliva, and with a small brush marked
| the business end of bee about to fly away.
| AS the bee arose in the air the hunter took
| out his watch and timed the journey The
| red bee was back in six minutes.
| THAT means that she did not travel more
| than a mile" he said.
| Another bee was marked with yellow
! chalk and another with white and timed
! until the hunter was satisfied that their
| home was not more than half.a mile away.
| With his telescope he watched the bees and
| noted the direction they pursued. Then he
| imprisoned the marked bees in the box { nd
| We marched uphill in the direction in which
| the bees had been flying. In another open
| spot he released them and within half an
| hour, with the aid of his telescope. he lad
! located the colony In hollow maple tree
on the crest Of the ridge.
| Cutting and RObbing the Trees.
Bee trees are not cut until the wild flow
/ ers are all dead and the bees have ceased
making honey. A cool day Is usually Sc
! iected, for then the bees are likely to be
| less fierce in their attacks the men who
! come to rob them. My first trip to the
! woods last fall was made early i'm Novem-
| Der. We carried axes. pals, long spoon
| to scoop out honey with. a small bundle of
| straw, and some matches. The hunter in
| sisted taking along the bee kit he had
carried to the woods earlier In the season:
| why, l was unable to imagine, as the bees
| had quit working some time previous
After twenty minutes of vigorous choppIlg,
! the tree, big pie. sound at the putt
toppled and fell. The hunter made il fail
/ across some saplings in order to break the
! fall and prevent the honey from being
/ smashed.
| When the broken limbs had ceased falling
about, the hunter put his hood of wire
| and cheesecloth and walked down the fallen
! tree to the spot where the bees were buzz
| zing about and cut opening in the smell
/ in order to take out the honey The bees
| crawled all over his clothing and buzzed
| about like slab saw in a dinky Saw:nin.
| He has been stung so many times he SAYS
! that he pays no attention to -stings but I
| noticed that he had rubber band about
| the bottom of each trouser leg A few
| sharp blows of the AK exposed the layers of
| honey to view. He placed the straw on the
| ground under the opening and set it on fire
, 10 smoke out the bees, which We're quiet
after that.
| In operating camera I got in too close
quarters and was stung twice. One indus
trfouS bee craWied up i'll my hair and left
his sharp imprint on the top Of my head
| 1t is fortunate that bee can sting but
| once, and that drone can't sting at all
| This tree yielded fifty pounds of as fine
! honey as ever tasted. Wild honey has
wood flavor that Is far superior to the
| flavor of honey made in patent hive on
| farm as Fen1Son is to cut from corn
| fed Texas steer.
| After the hunter had robbed the bees
| they seemed broken-hearted clinging to
| the side Of the fallen tree by the thous-
| ands. seemingly not knowing what TO do
Or where to go. Some of them the hunter
| said, would join other colonies but most Of
| them would freeze starve. The smoke
| sunocated hundreds of them. After the
| money was in the pals | prepared to start
| for home. but the hunter detained me- He
| said he was waiting for A band of robbers
| that would be due In a few minutes The
robbers he spoke Of were bees from other