The Writings of John Burroughs — Volume 05: PepactonBurroughs, John
History
The Writings of John Burroughs — Volume 05: Pepacton
Burroughs, John
Natural history -- Outdoor books
The other bee-tree in the vicinity to which I have referred we
found one warm November day in less than half an hour after
entering the woods. It also was a hemlock, that stood in a niche
in a wall of hoary, moss-covered rocks thirty feet high. The tree
hardly reached to the top of the precipice. The bees entered a
small hole at the root, which was seven or eight feet from the
ground. The position was a striking one. Never did apiary have a
finer outlook or more rugged surroundings.. A black, wood-embraced
lake lay at our feet; the long panorama of the Catskills filled the
far distance, and the more broken outlines of the Shawangunk range
filled the rear. On every hand were precipices and a wild
confusion of rocks and trees.
The cavity occupied by the bees was about three feet and a half
long and eight or ten inches in diameter. With an axe we cut away
one side of the tree, and laid bare its curiously wrought heart of
honey. It was a most pleasing sight. What winding and devious
ways the bees had through their palace! What great masses and
blocks of snow-white comb there were! Where it was sealed up,
presenting that slightly dented, uneven surface, it looked like
some precious ore. When we carried a large pailful of it out of
the woods, it seemed still more like ore.
Your native bee-hunter predicates the distance of the tree by the
time the bee occupies in making its first trip. But this is no
certain guide. You are always safe in calculating that the tree is
inside of a mile, and you need not as a rule look for your bee's
return under ten minutes. One day I picked up a bee in an opening
in the woods and gave it honey, and it made three trips to my box
with an interval of about twelve minutes between them; it returned
alone each time; the tree, which I afterward found, was about half
a mile distant.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
Reviews
Reviews
No reviews yet
Be the first to share your thoughts on this work.
Join the Discussion
Join the discussion
Sign in to leave a comment or review.
Sign InorCreate an account