The Ely miner. [volume] (Ely, Minn.) 1895-1986, 1905-01-06
The Honey
g 6 8 Thief
Observation-Disclosures
BY FRANK LILLE POLLOCK.


I had been managing rather large
apiary in southern Ontario. In l9O0 we
tried the experiment of establishing
an "out-apiary" in the wild country
northeast of Ontario.
The forest had all been Numbered
off" and the ground burned over, and
from the charred earth had sprung
miles of raspberry bushes and crimson
fireweed, growing in an. almost impen-
etrable tangle over and among the
half-burned roots and logs and trunks.
All this furnished thousands Of acres
of bloom, that lasted from June until
frost, and there were no bees to gather
the nectar.
The country was quite unsettled, and
we had to ship our bees by express
and hen haul thenss eight miles from
the railway over a corduroy road; but
ehe experiment. was success from
The start Gltl of Is hives that year
e sold sl26 Worth of beautiful comb
Iioney
We bad nov more than 100 hives on
ne spot, am this backwoods apiary
3 I'd b re the anger bali of our bust
negs we asu4lly went up together
u qyly sprsngh 70 unpack the bees,
sae. rren pBs of Ns camped near the
lives during the summer to harvest
the crop II was gSnerally Lancaster
Tho duo thj sor hSs management had
proved Hfch more successful than
mine, although he disliked camp life,
cared nothing for the woods, and took
no interest in any plant that did not
produce Money. But he was born
apiariSt.
Il was near the end of July last year
when | received an unexpected tele-
gram from him:
"Ariary half-ruined Come up at
once"
+ l went up by the next train, much
alarmed, and reached our station about
eight miles of logging road, was much
relieved to see that neither tornado
nor forest fire had passed that way.
The apiary stood long way back
from the road and upon gentle slope,
where we had cleared little island in
the jungle of vines and weeds. Every
where else the ground was tangled
with the raspberry bushes and the tall
fireweed, now in glorious bloom.
AS l came within sight of our ranch,
perceived my partner rushing fran
tically about among the hives, and at
my first glance it seemed to me that
every colony must be swarming at
once. The air was clouded with bees.
Lancaster came running to meet me,
but | could make out little from his
breathless explanations. 1 put on an
extra veil and gloves and went down
to the hives. The apiary was hardly
"half-ruined," but the spectacle was
enough to ,iepress any bee-keeper.
Ten or Is hives were upset, smashed
and splintered. They had been TERED
up three or four supers each, full of
delicate comb-honey, which was
crushed into a dripping mass. Over
the ruins crawled the homeless bees.
and wherever honey had been spilled
S1OAO " 90 q OCClhtASo SWARM Ol the III
sects. They were furiously excited, and
bounced upon us as soon as we came
near, but we had to disregard stings.
Whenever bees obtain access to
honey, thus exposed, they become
greatly excited over the plumber, and
usually end by raiding and robbing
one anothers' hives.
Lancaster had done what he could.
but robbing was already going on mer-
rily. There was a pitched battle in
progress at the entrance of almost
every hive between the assailants and
the defenders
| think that l never saw bees so in
furiated. They attacked us in clouds
when We approached, clustered against
the wells, flew into the burning smok-
ers, tried to crawl up our sleeves and
trouser-legs, and stung impartially at
everything they touched
In spite of this opposition, we filled
up the entrances of the still standing
hives with wet grass, scraped up all
the spilled honey and bits of comb, and
in an hour or two the disturbance was
greatly diminished. Most of our own
bees had ceased raiding, although still