Spirit of the age. [volume] (Woodstock, Vt.) 1845-1913, 1907-12-07

ere, such as Is presented when the
woods are full of Germans and hy-
birds, and apiarists in the vicinity
wish to keep their Italian colonies
pure An apiarist in Tennessee, It
may be said in this connection, is now
offering a substantial reward for
every colony of German or hybrid
bees taken dead or alive" within
four miles OF his hives.
All the honey bees in this country
having originally been imported from
Europe or Asia, there is no racial
difference between the wild ones and
the domesticated; those that live in
trees are simply the descendants of
those that from time to time have
taken French leave" from their
owners hives and reverted to a state
of nature. The vast bulk of the wild
bees are of the German or black
race, while the standard domesti-
Gated bee is the Italian; but that,
however, is only because the Ger
mans were the first to be introduced
here. Just when the Germans came
is in doubt, but 1t was sometime in the
seventeenth century; certainly 1t was
not until near the close of the eight
zenith century that any bees were
found west of the Mississippi. The
Indians used to say they could mark
the advance of the white man by the
appearance of bees In the woods. The
Italian bees were first imported in
1860. Better tempered and more in
dustrious than the Germans, they
have become very popular with apiar-
lists; but as many still keep the Ger
man bee, and others have the hybrid
formed by the crossing of the two
races, while countless Italians now
have taken to the woods, there to
breed more hybrids, it is clear that
there is no sure way of distinguish
ing between the wild bee and the
domesticated.
When honey is the only object of
the hunter the custom is to open the
hollow, cut out the combs and lower
them in basket or pail; but If you
want the bees as well, it is advisable
to obtain possession of the whole Sec
ton of the tree containing the nest.
Such a thing is not always feasible;
but the young farmer has decided
that 1t is in this case. First he bores
holes in the limb with the auger, to
see how far the hollow extends. Then
we send him up the saw and axe.
He cuts off the part of the limb ex-
tending beyond the hollow. Now he
is ready for the rope, which he hauls
up at the end of the clothes-line. He
ties the rope about the limb, passes
the free end of the rope over limb
O little higher up and let's 1t drop
to the ground. There we keep tight
hold of the rope until he saws and
chops the desired limb free from the
tree, and it is lowered gently to the
ground.
We now have an opportunity to
examine our prize. One of the de-
lights of bee hunting is the uncer-
tainty as to whether your work is to
be rewarded with hundred pounds
of honey or practically none. 1t looks
as if we should get about fifty pounds
Some of it probably will be the pro-
duct of previous seasons, and it is
all sure to be a mixture produced
from the various kinds of flowers;
but such is wild honey, and there has
been the joy in the finding of it!
The young farmer agrees that the
bees are nearly pure Italians. He
will leave the log where it is until
toward dark. BY that time all the
bees will have found and returned
to their nest. The entrance can then
be closed with a screen, the log car
ried home and the bees transferred
to hive. Thus the little creatures
will have a better home than they
had before, and we shall have the
satisfaction of knowing that they
were not made to suffer because of
our sport.-From the outing Maya
zine.