were successful in hiving it in the old box hive (the kind mostly in use in my boyhood days), we thought the last chapter of bee-keeping had been learned. Then, after the movable frame hive came into use the tree would be cut, the bees drove into a box, the honey taken from the tree and with a few pieces of brood all was taken home. The small bits of comb were tied in the central frames for the bees to cluster on and the bees shaken from the box in front of the hive. This plan was certainly superior to the first mentioned but had one serious drawback--the brood that was in the tree was left to perish./

After seeing the serious defects in the described methods, my next move was to take a hive with me on going to cut the tree. All comb containing brood was placed in the frames, the bees run into the hive, which was left at the tree for a week or more in order that the bees might have all the combs joined to the frames, and then brought home. This was another advance in the method of transferring, for the thousands of young bees about to emerge from their cells were saved, and the colony having its brood and strength undiminished should be able to fill at least one super of honey besides all stores needed for themselves. Taking it for granted that we cut the bee in the early part of the summer, one super would be a low estimate, but even this would pay all expenses connected with the cutting, buying a hive and fixtures, and as the bee is now in an ideal hive we can hopefully look forward to the next year when our profits are coming in.

There could be other plans given, some of them having virtue, but I will now lay a plan before the reader which if followed will prove more remunerative, and with less expense, than the former methods. To carry a hive and tools necessary to cut a bee tree will require the service of an assistant and when, after a week or so, we return to bring the bee home, more help is needed. A man is worthy of his hire and of course is paid. Carrying a hive over rough and uneven ground is hard work. So by the time we have the bee home and sum the matter up, the financial part of bee hunting don't impress us very strongly.

I have been in the habit of hunting bees during the fall months, but if I need a day's outing, no month from early spring, until late fall fails to find me on my tramps through the forest in search of a bee tree. No difference what time of the year I find my bee nor how many may be found in any particular season, they are always left stand over winter and cut the following spring, but not before May, for I want the bee to be strong in bee with abundance of brood. About this time of year I take a box eight inches square at the end and two feet in length. Over the one end some wire screen is nailed and a lid, the center being cut out and replaced with wire screen, serves as a covering for the other end.

With bucket, ax, and this box we will go to the tree, cut it, being careful to fell it as easy as possible. When it falls the bees should be smoked at once to prevent them rising in the air. For good reasons I prefer to cut the tree about nine or ten o'clock in the forenoon. After blowing a little smoke in at the entrance, proceed to chop a hole in the tree low down on the side, then another hole farther up or down the tree, depending on whether the bee works up or down from the place of entrance. After this is done, split the piece out, blow more smoke on the bees and take the combs out. Brush the bees off, lay them on the log some distance from the bees, place the forcing box over the main body of the bees and by brushing and smoking drive them into it. The box should be in an elevated position, say forty-five degrees or more, as bees will go on the upper end much more readily when the box is in this position. Be sure the queen is in, which can generally be determined by the manner in which the bees enter the box. If they are inclined to run back out after being forced in, it is a pretty sure sign the queen is not with them. When you are sure the queen is with them, and there is a sufficient number of bees with her, lift the box gently off, turn it upside down and place the lid on and fasten with a couple of tacks taken along. Now place the brood combs back in the tree. First a comb then a couple of small sticks crosswise to form a bee space. Continue this until all the combs are back in the tree, and as the top part of the log was not split off, the piece split from the side can be fit in, bark and flat stones can be used to form a covering that will keep the rain from getting in. By cutting the tree at this time of day thousands of bees are out in search of nectar and when they come home and find their home gone, will fly around in the air until becoming exhausted, and will then settle on the leaves and bushes in bunches and knots by the hundreds. If there was any nice white honey we have it in the bucket and picking up the box start on the homeward journey. Presuming we have a movable frame hive at home with an inch of starter in the frames or, what would be better, a hive filled with comb from the year previous, we place the hive on its permanent stand and take the lid from the box and shake the bees down at the entrance. For fear the queen has been left in the tree it would be well to have an entrance guard placed on the hive, as this would exclude the queen and as soon as the queen is seen the guard can be removed. In a short time we can tell whether they take kindly to their new home. The queen is a laying one and some pollen should be taken in the following day. I always made sure I had the queen and never had a bee so treated to swarm out after being hived.

Now what about the bee in the tree? When we left it there were thousands flying around and settling on the leaves and bushes, other thousands in all stages of development in the combs. The ones that are hanging on the bushes begin to make further investigation and finding their brood soon cover it and with the bees hatching out every hour soon make the colony almost as populous as it was before the tree was cut. In taking the combs out we may have seen some queen cells started. If so, so much the better. If not, there certainly were eggs in some of the combs and in sixteen days at the most they can rear a queen from these eggs. When this time has elapsed, take your box and smoker. Take the combs out as before; drive the bees into the box, and as the brood is nearly all hatched out by this time you will have nearly as many bees as you got the first time. These are brought home and treated as the first swarm and the combs can be placed in the log again for the few remaining bees that may have been left, to cluster on and these can be brought home later and joined to the second swarm. By this method you get two strong colonies from one tree. There is no help needed; no heavy lifting and carrying of hives to and from the tree. By following this plan you can soon have quite an apiary and be on your way to enjoy the profits as well as the pleasures of bee hunting. This plan is original with me and I believe it to be the very best plan given so far, and I expect to follow it until someone gives us something superior.

The profits of bee hunting will depend on the ability of the man to manipulate the bees after taking them from the tree. You must agree with me that in cutting the tree, there is nearly always some of the combs containing honey broken up and covered with dirt, and this honey can never be classed as salable. Therefore, if we hunt bees merely for what honey may be in the tree and leave the bees to perish from starvation and cold, it were far better, from a moral and financial point of view, to let the tree stand.

CHAPTER XI.
CUSTOMS AND OWNERSHIP OF WILD BEES.

There are customs in vogue among sportsmen that have been handed down from generation to generation, that have almost become laws. Indeed, we have heard it said that custom becomes law.

A hunter may wound a deer, follow it for a distance and find that another hunter has