When
That Is The Case With Mine, I Seldom Thwart Their Inclinations; It
Is In Freedom That They Work:
Were I to confine them, they would
dwindle away and quit their labour.
In such excursions we only part
for a while; I am generally sure to find them again the following
fall. This elopement of theirs only adds to my recreations; I know
how to deceive even their superlative instinct; nor do I fear losing
them, though eighteen miles from my house, and lodged in the most
lofty trees, in the most impervious of our forests. I once took you
along with me in one of these rambles, and yet you insist on my
repeating the detail of our operations: it brings back into my mind
many of the useful and entertaining reflections with which you so
happily beguiled our tedious hours.
After I have done sowing, by way of recreation, I prepare for a
week's jaunt in the woods, not to hunt either the deer or the bears,
as my neighbours do, but to catch the more harmless bees. I cannot
boast that this chase is so noble, or so famous among men, but I
find it less fatiguing, and full as profitable; and the last
consideration is the only one that moves me. I take with me my dog,
as a companion, for he is useless as to this game; my gun, for no
man you know ought to enter the woods without one; my blanket, some
provisions, some wax, vermilion, honey, and a small pocket compass.
With these implements I proceed to such woods as are at a
considerable distance from any settlements. I carefully examine
whether they abound with large trees, if so, I make a small fire on
some flat stones, in a convenient place; on the fire I put some wax;
close by this fire, on another stone, I drop honey in distinct
drops, which I surround with small quantities of vermilion, laid on
the stone; and then I retire carefully to watch whether any bees
appear. If there are any in that neighbourhood, I rest assured that
the smell of the burnt wax will unavoidably attract them; they will
soon find out the honey, for they are fond of preying on that which
is not their own; and in their approach they will necessarily tinge
themselves with some particles of vermilion, which will adhere long
to their bodies. I next fix my compass, to find out their course,
which they keep invariably straight, when they are returning home
loaded. By the assistance of my watch, I observe how long those are
returning which are marked with vermilion. Thus possessed of the
course, and, in some measure, of the distance, which I can easily
guess at, I follow the first, and seldom fail of coming to the tree
where those republics are lodged. I then mark it; and thus, with
patience, I have found out sometimes eleven swarms in a season; and
it is inconceivable what a quantity of honey these trees will
sometimes afford. It entirely depends on the size of the hollow, as
the bees never rest nor swarm till it is all replenished; for like
men, it is only the want of room that induces them to quit the
maternal hive. Next I proceed to some of the nearest settlements,
where I procure proper assistance to cut down the trees, get all my
prey secured, and then return home with my prize. The first bees I
ever procured were thus found in the woods, by mere accident; for at
that time I had no kind of skill in this method of tracing them. The
body of the tree being perfectly sound, they had lodged themselves
in the hollow of one of its principal limbs, which I carefully sawed
off and with a good deal of labour and industry brought it home,
where I fixed it up again in the same position in which I found it
growing. This was in April; I had five swarms that year, and they
have been ever since very prosperous. This business generally takes
up a week of my time every fall, and to me it is a week of solitary
ease and relaxation.
The seed is by that time committed to the ground; there is nothing
very material to do at home, and this additional quantity of honey
enables me to be more generous to my home bees, and my wife to make
a due quantity of mead. The reason, Sir, that you found mine better
than that of others is, that she puts two gallons of brandy in each
barrel, which ripens it, and takes off that sweet, luscious taste,
which it is apt to retain a long time. If we find anywhere in the
woods (no matter on whose land) what is called a bee-tree, we must
mark it; in the fall of the year when we propose to cut it down, our
duty is to inform the proprietor of the land, who is entitled to
half the contents; if this is not complied with we are exposed to an
action of trespass, as well as he who should go and cut down a bee-
tree which he had neither found out nor marked.
We have twice a year the pleasure of catching pigeons, whose numbers
are sometimes so astonishing as to obscure the sun in their flight.
Where is it that they hatch? for such multitudes must require an
immense quantity of food. I fancy they breed toward the plains of
Ohio, and those about lake Michigan, which abound in wild oats;
though I have never killed any that had that grain in their craws.
In one of them, last year, I found some undigested rice. Now the
nearest rice fields from where I live must be at least 560 miles;
and either their digestion must be suspended while they are flying,
or else they must fly with the celerity of the wind.
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