The Cooperstown courier. (Cooperstown, Griggs Co., N.D.) 1902-1913, 1905-01-05
The Honey
9 q Q Thief
BY FRANK LILLE POLLOCK.
OBSERVATION-DISCLOSURES

TOR several years Lancaster and l
had been managing q rather large
apiary in southern Ontario. In 1900 we
tried the experiment of establishing
IN "out-apiary" in the wild country
northeastsotso ontario.
The forest had all been Numbered
off, and the ground burned over, and
from the charreda earth had sprung
miles Of raspberry bushes and! crimson
1ireweed, 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 then haul, them eight miles from
the railway over corduroy road; but
the experiment was success from
the start. n Out Of Is hives that year
we sold SIPS worth of beautiful comb
honey. # fEfS e@F2ass
We had now more than 100 hives on
the spot, and this backwoods apiary
had become the larger half Of our busi-
ness. We usually went up together
in early spring 20 unpack the bees,
and then one Of us camped near the
hives during the summer, to harvest
the crop. It was generally Lancaster
who did this, for his management had
proved much 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 honey. But he was born
5apiarist. a & : 49,
It was near the end of July last year
when @received ssanaunexpectedsst ele-
gram from him: y =
ssApiary half=r vi Sc Come Up at
once"
went up. by the nexts4traip, much
alarmed andsreac hed our station about
two delock. Al Iaalked SoVerssfhe
eight milego1 Logging road, I RAs much
relieved IS aes that neither tornado
nor forest fre had passed that way.
The apiary stood a. long way shack
from the road and upon gentle slope,
where we had cleared little island in
the Jungle II Vines and weeds. Every.
where else the ground was tangled
with the raspberry bushes and the tall
f1reweed, now in glorious bloom.
AS 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. put on an
extra veil and gloves and went down
to the hives. The apiary was hardly
"half-ruined," but the gspecta cle was
enough to tlepresss any bee-keeper.
Ten or is hives we're upset, smashed
and splintered. They had been TERED
up three or four supers each, full Of
delicate comb-honey, which was
crushed into dripping mass. Over
the ruins crawleds the homeless bees
and wherever honey had been spilled
there was seething swarm of the in
sects They were furiously excited, and
pounced upon us asasoon@ I'VE came
near, but we had to disregard stings
Whenever bees obtain access to
honey, thus exposed, they become
greatly excited over the plumber, land
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 pitched battle in
progress at the entrance Of almost
every hive between the assailants and
the defenders.
think that never saw bees so in
furiated. They attacked US in clouds
(. when we approached, clustered against
the wells, flew into the burning sm0k'
era. tried to. crawl up our sleeves, ant
trolser-legs, and stung impartially a
everything they touched. 81
IN spite Of this opposition, we filled
up the entrances, Of the still standing
hives with wet grass, scraped up al
tho spilled honey and bits of comb, an,
In an hour or two the disturbance wa
greatly diminished. Most Of our owl
bees had ceased raiding, although still