Spirit of the age. [volume] (Woodstock, Vt.) 1845-1913, 1907-12-07
Hunting the Wild Honey Bee.
BY DAVID ALMON.

0ANliADGg lhG hOGNbblNg VI hCbh POI
ceptive powers and a little excite
ment now and then, should prove
sufficient recommendations.
Autumn is the best season for the
sport, for then the supply of nectar
runs low in the, flowers, and the bees
will be quick to take our bait. This
consists of a pint bottle filled with
honey that has been diluted with an
equal quart of warm water. For its
use we have a specially prepared
wooden box about four and one-half
inches square; 1t is bottomless, but
at the top there is piece Of glass
that slides in grooves. Fixed in the
box so as to leave open spaces on two
sides is what bee-keepers call feed
er, being an arrangement containing
little troughs from which the bees
can sip their syrup without danger of
falling in.
Many hunters, 1t is true, use for
this purpose devices less elaborate
(your farmers boy is generally con-
tent with an ordinary glass tumbler
and piece of honeycomb); but it is
always we'll to use the best possible
equipment.
The necessity for some kind of
a trap containing sweets becomes evil
dent when 1t is considered that bee
will not make line for home until
its honey sac is full. which means.
when nectar is flowing the freest,
a visit to seven or eight flowers and
frequently in the fall to more than
a hundred flowers-this, too, despite
the fact that its honey sac has room
for only tiny drop, being less than
one-seventh of an inch in diameter
when extended to Its limit.
So, with our bait and huntingdon
and binocular field glass, we sally
forth. There are many other things
we shall need when we have found
our bee-tree, but, until we do, 1t
would be foolish to cucumber our
selves with them. 1t is a fine fall
morning. The trees are beginning
to robe themselves In their fiery TO-
liage, and although the country is
bathed in a food of genial sunshine,
there is enough snap in the air to
make walking a treat. Up the road
we go, and then across country to the
fields near the woods in which we
have reason to suspect the existence
Of many colonies Of bees.
AS we approach we see quantities
Of the little honey-makers flying
around among the goldenrod, the
plant from which, in most localities
throughout the north, they draw their
chief supplies during the fall. The
time for action has come. We stop
to pour little honey into the feeder,
then sneak up to bee that is hover
ing on flower and cautiously clap
the box over it. Immediately you
close the bottom of the box with
your other hand, and the bee, not a
little startled, buzzes up against the
glass. Soon, however, it smells the
honey in the feeder, and, forgetting
everything else, settles quietly down
to sip. This gives you the oppor-
tunity to catch another bee in the
same manner; and you soon have four
or five prisoners in the box.
So far so good. But the crucial
moment approaches. We look hur-
riedly about for an eminence upon
which to set the box. There are no
stumps convenient, but that little
knoll will do. You kneel down on
cg1 af IyV1I with hnnI
close to the box, and the glass slide
is withdrawn. Watch closely now
what direction the bees take when
they come out. If possible. keep the
sky for background, and 1t will help
you to discern their line.
One has taken wing. 1t circles
about the box in order to fix the To-
cation firmly in it's mind" so that
it may find 1t again without trouble
after working so hard to- get re-
spectacle load of nectar from the
flowers the honey in the box must
seem to 1t like a little gold mine
1t is said that each circle the bee
bears more to one side, in the direc-
ton of it's home; but its oscillations
are so eccentric that, with our limit
ed experience, it is almost impossible
to follow it.
1t disappears just as another bee
issues from the box, and neither OF
us is sure of the line, but the failure
of our first attempt does not dis
courage US. Two bees are now Giro.
ling about the box We are getting
cross-eyed- trying to keep track OF
them. A moment more and another
is gone. Again we missed it. Then
the third one goes. This time we got
the line, but, strange to say, instead
of leading to the woods, it passes
over a hill to the left. Perhaps the
bee-tree stands comparatively alone
II so 1t will be all the easier to find.
Closing the slide over our empty
box, we hurry to the hill and eagerly
ascend 1t. And then what a sad sur
prise! In an orchard behind farm
house we see eight or ten hives OIL
an up-to-date apiary, which means
that we have been dining domesti
Gated bees. We should have made
sure we were mile or two away
from the nearest apiary, bees ordl
narily ranging that far from home.
However, our only chance is to pu
safe distance between us and the
apiary we have stumbled across. Al
we force our way through the under
brush and go crunching over deat
leaves, venture the remark that the
owner of the apiary would not thanh
us II he knew we had caught some
of his bees. There is always danger
of bees demoralizing their comrades
when they obtain honey as easil!
as those we caught did. In spite o.
the reputation they have of always
improving the shining hours, BEEF
are like men in the respect that the!
are prone to wander from the patti
of honest industry when the posi-
bility presents itself of gaining
wealth without rendering a dut
equivalent. To the credit of thu