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
thei