The Baltimore County union. [volume] (Towsontown, Md.) 1865-1909, 1905-03-25
FOLLOWING a BEE LINE.

seventy-6fth year, is still the best pee
hunter on Little Cataloochee, Hay
wood county, where he has lived
sixty-four years. He is the father OF
twelve children, one of whom is dead !;
his hair and long beard are white as
snow, but his tall muscular figure IS
as erect as that of an Indian chieftain.
He is really a kindly looking man.
with keen black eye, which is still
undimmed.
John Hannah takes no boxes and
platform with him when he starts on
bee hunt, says a writerin the Raleigh
Post. His equipment consists solely
of tin emp or tin plate with a little
bee bread and honey in it. That is
all except his keen eyes. John Han
nah starts out for the meadows and
the fields around about wild Mount
Sterling, and it is arare thing for him
to return before he has located bee
tree. He knows his business.
In the spring the bees feed on the
bloom of the lin and the sourwood,
and the honey produced from these
blooms is the whitest in comb and the
most delicate favored of all that is
made by these dusty fellows with legs
powdered with gold. 1t is not an easy
matter to Zine" bees from these trees,
but John Hannah does it with un-
failing skill. But at this time of the
year, early spring, John and the other
bee hunters are almost too busy put
ting in their crops to be able to spare
the time for this sport.
1t is after the crops have been laid
by and the glorious summer weather
is everywhere that these mountain
people find time to follow the swift
winged insect and the enthusiasm and
ardor they all feel and exhibits really
wonderful to observe. They are as
eager hearted about it as deer hunter
is when hunting deer.
Just to the left of Mount Sterling
gap is strawberry field, in which
wild flowers bloom in profusion in
August. From it one may look west
and northward, that is toward Big
Creek ard Pigeon River, and behold
nothing but the primeval wilderness
as far as the eye can reach. There
is literally not field or clearing in
sight. The entire country looks just
as it looked when the Cherokees were
the sole denizens of this section of the
State. 1t was here that I watched
John Hannah hunt bees. He did not
clap box down on clover bloom or
any other wild flower. He simply
set his tin plate down among the
flowers and looked on. He did not
have long to wait, for presently bee
lit on the edge Of the plate and began
to fill itself with the sweets spread be-
fore it.
Long before it had obtained its
load. it was joined by another, and by
yet another and another, till seven or
eight bees were slipping the honey on
the platter. In a few moments one
of the bees flew off. John was all
attention in an instant. This bee did
not rise aud circle around till it had
got its bearings it simply flew slant
ing away in a fixed direction, and
kept that direction till it was out of
sight. Then another followed, and
then another. Then a new bee lit
on the plate and began to sip, and
soon after another bee flew off, taking
the same course as the first bee.
Then at short intervals new bees came
in and other bees flew away.
All went in the same direction.
This seemed to satisfy John, for he took
up the tin plate and motioning me to
follow, passed down the sloping
mountain side 900 yards or more, and
set his plate down again, still bearing
on it several bees which had alighted
there when it was at its first position,
and which were too absorbed in
gathering its sweets to notice that
they were being borne away. In a
short time other bees lit on the plate,
and soon another bee few off. John
watched its flight with eager eyes.
This was repeated by several other
bees and by John till FIVE or six bees
had taken fight. Then John turned
to me and said: "See that dead tree
top off yonder, just this side of the
balsam?"
told him 1 saw it plainly.
That the bee tree" he returned
and taking up the plate we started
together for the tree indicated. 1t
was not more than quarter of mile
from where we were and we soon
stood at its base. Looking up. I saw
several small black insects circling
around and about the trunk two
thirds of the way up then / heard a
faint humming sound.
Lets cut it down." I cried en-
Enthusiastically.
"What you going to cut it with :"
asked John.
"But if we leave it here we shall
never find it again." protested.
"Oh, yes" returned John. IT
could find that tree in the dark. /"
And sure enough, two weeks later
John and 1 returned with axes,
buckets and some old rags, cut the
tree down, smoked the bees out and
took about fifty pounds of honey
home with us.
"How was it done? tits as simple
as A, B, c, when you know how.
1t is simply primitive method of
range finding. John has noted every
tree directly in the course followed
by the first set of bees. Then he had
marked the trees in the course fol-
lowed by the second set of bees, and
where those two courses intersected,
there was the bee tree.
"What do you do when bees fly in
different directions 7" / asked John.
II note the direction each bee takes
and follow the course taken by the
greatest number, as the chances are
he