I have made my title Bee Hunting, while I remember well that down in Maine we used the term "lining bees." I was enthusiastic over the sport when farming in Maine, and when I had located on Cape Ann, I searched the wild flowers for bees. I found bees enough, so made the attempt to find a wild swarm. All my efforts were unsuccessful the first year. My bees all lined to tame swarms in hives. The second and third years I found swarms, but they did not have much honey. These wild bees were in ledges, and the ants had found the honey and had appropriated the lion's share. In Maine the bees resorted to hollow trees, mostly pine; and in the old days many farmers lost swarms, which helped to stock the woods. In any locality where there are large trees bees can be found, because some of the trees are sure to be hollow. The amount of honey made by a wild swarm will run from a few pounds to two hundred pounds. The size of the hollow in the tree regulates the amount of honey. If the hollow is large enough to hold the young bees, no swarm will be sent out, so a large quantity of honey will be stored.
Bee hunting is a sport that can be followed by any number of persons, without regard to sex. For pure enjoyment it is far ahead of golf. It can be followed without fatigue, and it allows plenty of time for social chats. A party could go out at ten o'clock, provided with a lunch, and could return in time for the six-o'clock dinner. The discovery of new birds or flowers might add much to the pleasure, and the uncertainty of the honey hunt would give zest to the sport.
I will briefly give the method adopted by the best bee hunters. First, as to tools to work with. A compass and a hatchet will be necessary. The hatchet is used in blazing trees. The most important thing is the bee-box. This can be made from a wooden candy or lozenge box, with a slide. Split the box half-way between top and bottom. Place the top half on the bottom half with the slide down. Connect the two with hinges. Now you have a double box, hinged in the middle, with the upper part open. For a cover, set in a piece of glass just the right size, or you can nail on a wooden cover with a piece of glass inserted over a hole left for that purpose. It will be a good plan to make a new slide. It should be long enough to project four or five inches when closed. You will need two or three pieces of breeding comb, empty of course. You should take along a bottle containing honey and water. One-third water. About two ounces of the mixture is enough to mix at one time, as it will sour in two days. If you use clear honey the bees will take up much time cleaning their legs and wings; it is too thick and sticky for good work. A light staff five feet in length, sharp at one end and with a piece of thin board, say eight inches square, nailed to the other end, comprises your working outfit, except a good glass.
You are now ready for the field. A hilly pasture is an ideal place for bee hunting, when it is surrounded by woodland. Waste lands, where fire has killed the trees, and goldenrod grows abundantly, will be found to be the best location of all. When you get to the spot selected, set your staff into the ground ready for the bee-box. Old bee hunters seldom use a staff, but depend on finding a stump or boulder for a box-holder. The staff is handy, for you may not find a stump or boulder near shade, or a spot where one can be seated in comfort. Your box should be empty. Pull the slide out, and open the box. When you find a bee on a goldenrod or other flower, quickly place the box over him, and close it. The bee will seek the glass. Shove in the slide, and you have your first prisoner. Now you must leave the slide closed while catching your second bee.
BEE HUNTING.
When you have him in the lower part of your box, pull out the slide, and he will seek the glass with your first prisoner. Push in the slide, and you are ready for the third bee. When you have caught five you would better stop, for if you carry bees too long in the box they will refuse to work. Take the box to the staff. Put a piece of comb in the lower half. Turn on some of the mixture, then close the box. Pull out the slide, and cover the glass with coat, hat, or hand. Look every minute to see if the bees have gone down to the honey. When they are down, open the box gently, and stand back. As soon as a bee is full he will drop off the box and swing to and fro, until he thinks that he has fastened the spot in his memory. Then he will begin to circle, to find landmarks, to guide him to the hive. His circles will increase in size and height, and he will soon be lost to the eye. It is not worth while to try to follow the bee's flight at this stage. After he has made two or three trips he will drop off the box, and go directly to the hive. He has got his landmarks now. Other bees from the hive will soon be hunting along the line, for the first bees tell their mates of the find. If there is only a small amount of honey a few bees will seek it. Enough bees will come to remove the honey in two days. If there is a large amount Bee Hunting of honey about all the working bees in a swarm will turn out. I have taken a basket of comb from strained honey on to a bee-line, and have had two quarts or more of bees on the comb at a time. I could walk slowly along the line, and the bees would come and go as readily as if I was stationary. It is a good plan to hang up a newspaper, or a flag of some kind, near the box. Some hunters claim that the bees will find the box by scent, so use the anise bag.
We will now return to the bee-box. There is a lot said about a bee-line, which is supposed to be a straight line, but the fact is, the bee flies in a wavy line. He drops off the box and starts for the hive, swinging from side to side of an imaginary straight line. The swings will cover about thirty feet, but it is an easy matter to strike a centre. A bee can be seen for a long distance after he leaves the box. Suppose you are on a hill, overlooking, to the westward, a valley covered with trees, and your bees go into, or over, the woodland. Take out the honeycomb and leave it on the staff. If the box is sticky with honey, clean it with moss or leaves. Now catch five bees as before. Take them north sixty rods or more on a right angle line if possible. Place your box on a boulder or stump, and let the bees go as before. Before leaving the staff, take a good look along the line the bees are following. If you can locate a tall tree on the west side of the swamp so you may know it again, you will find it useful. When the bees get to work on the new line look for your tall tree. If the bees go to the right of the tree, the hive is not in the valley. The only thing to do now is to move to the other side of the valley if there is open land, and proceed just as you did at first. If the hills beyond the valley are wooded, you will have to follow your first line. If you can find the tall tree, it would be a good plan to go to it and set the compass, and begin to bush a path along the line. As you progress on the line, hunt all the trees on each side. If you can find an open spot anywhere, set up your staff and box. You might find that the bees were returning on the line, then you would know that you had passed the hive. If bees enter a piece of woods, and there is an open spot beyond, they can be started from the open spot to decide if they turn back or go on. It is unnecessary for me to go further into the details of lining. It is a poor hunter that cannot overcome obstacles that spring up in his way.
When the tree is located, trouble begins. There are two ways of taking up the honey. One way is to plug the hole where the bees enter the tree, and then cut or bore a hole near the ground and insert the nose of an old tea-kettle filled with burning brimstone. The next day the bees will be dead, and the honey will be cool to handle. This is the method pursued by market hunters. I never took kindly to the method. Another method followed is to put on gloves, and for the head a straw hat with wide brim. Cover the hat with mosquito-netting long enough to be buttoned under the coat. This will prove a good protection against stinging. Tie the trousers legs at the ankles, and you are ready to begin. While cutting down the tree you will have no trouble if the tree is large and the hole high up. After the tree is down, you will have to cut into the honey and split off the outside wood. The moment a blow is struck over the honey the bees will pile on to you. You will have to brush them off, or you cannot see to chop. When the store is fully exposed, the bees will give up, and will begin to load with honey. Then they are harmless, and will not sting unless jammed. As soon as the bees give up, you may remove your protection, roll your sleeves up, sit on the tree and help yourself to the choice bits. You need not feel nervous if bees are flying all about you. The fight is all out of them as soon as the honey is exposed.
I forgot to say that when the first blow of the ax falls, after the tree is down, the fierce roar which the bees make would frighten a nervous person out of his senses. I have seen strong men cringe, and I can remember cases where fright led to flight.
Some persons are so nervous that they will not face the bees without protection. A friend that lived near my farm in Maine, came to me one morning with the story of a wild swarm of bees, which he had not been able to find, although he had at one time a line to the hive. We started out to find this swarm the twelfth day of September. The eighth was noted for wind, and thousands of forest trees had been turned up by the roots. We found some bees near a highway. They went due west into or over a bad swamp. The swamp was nearly two miles wide, with a bog on the west. The bog bordered Pickerel Pond on the south. We took some bees around the swamp to the open bog. We found that the bees kept on to the westward to a pine ridge. After hunting two hours, I found the hive. The tree was a pine, two feet through near the ground. The gale had broken it where the bees entered and so the part with the honey in it was on the ground. About a peck of bees had clung to the top of the stub. The ground around the tree was black with bees. The tree had split open and honey was slowly running out and dropping on to the pine needles. There were over two hundred pounds of honey in that tree when standing. The bees that were carrying away honey were mostly from tame swarms, but the woods were full of bees hunting for the store. I called my friend, and while he was coming I chopped out the honey. I did not disturb the comb, only to break off some to eat. The next day we returned in a team which we left in a clearing to the north and about one and a half miles from the honey. My friend was mortally afraid of bees. He swore that they would follow him into the house and sting him. I worked on the honey, filling buckets without protection. As it was a warm day, I worked bare-armed. The bees were completely harmless. My friend had on a close veil and two pairs of gloves, and all I could say had no effect. He swore the bees would sting him to death if he should remove his veil. He could not eat honey, and he was a great honey fiend. I would eat the best I could find before him, and chaff him all the time. At last he could stand it no longer. He took a sheet of well-filled comb and started up the hill. It was his idea to get away from the bees, where he could remove his gloves and veil and enjoy a feast.
Inside of five minutes I was startled by a succession of yells that appeared to extend in a line from the top of the hill to the swamp. Shortly a doleful voice called to me from the swamp. I went down and found my friend up to his hips in water. He wanted me to go up the hill and find his gloves and veil. I tried to have him come out, but he claimed that the bees had stung him until he was nearly blind. He told such a pitiable story that I believed him and hunted up his lost property. When he came to the edge of the swamp, I could not see anything that looked like stings on his face, and told him so. He had got his gloves and veil, so he simply grinned. When he undertook to eat his honey on the hill, bees that were hunting for honey had found him, and buzzed about his ears until he was completely demoralized with fear. They would not sting any one. My friend could have worked unprotected, just as I did, but his nerves would not permit it.
There is another method of bee hunting which I must describe, or my article would be incomplete. This method is pursued late in the season, when bees cannot be found on flowers. Pressed comb is burned to attract the bees. Take some of this comb to the woods, where there is likely to be a swarm, and make a fire. Heat two or three flat rocks, and use one at a time, sizzling the comb. Have honey handy so the bees will find it when they follow the scent of the burning comb to the spot. This method is successful early in the season some years.