Breckinridge County KyArchives History .....Honey Bees 
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File contributed for use in USGenWeb Archives by:
Dana Brown http://www.genrecords.net/emailregistry/vols/00005.html#0001067 September 23, 2006, 8:31 am

Book Title: A Glimpse Of The Past

Honey has been a source of food since God created the earth and all living 
things inhabiting its surface.  EArly settlers had a bountiful supply of wild 
honey stored in trunks and limbs of hollow trees through out the vast forest.  
This was theirs, simply by their locating it and taking it at no cost, unless 
tung by the producer, the honeybee.  Years before the forest was depleted, the 
finder of a bee tree was privileged to cut and remove the honey, without 
getting permission from the owner.  This was a privilege granted to everyone.  
The honey was taken in its pure state.  The bees had processed and stored it in 
little compartments ready to use.  After being drained from the sealed 
containers, called comb, it was sweet syrup at it finest.

Some people caught swarms of bees and confined them in a wooden box, set 
upright, with another detached box fitted on top, into which the bees could 
enter through an opening in the top of the lower box.  These were known as bee 
drums, or gums.  The honey was taken from the upper box or cap, leaving the 
honey below as food for the colony of workers.  The comb was melted into a 
liquid to form bee's wax.  It was left until it cooled and hardened into a waxy 
mass.  It was used for smoothing and waterproofing cords and rope and also for 
a sealing compound.

Bee colonies are the best organized and disciplined of the insect kingdom.  The 
queen bee is the exalted ruler of all bee colonies and when a swarm is ready to 
move to a new location, she locates suitable abode and leads her followers to 
it.  Unlike a family with a man in charge, who is the father of the off spring 
and remains as an exalted firgure until death doeth he part.  Male bees are 
kept until the end of the mating season, at which time, they are captured by 
the execution squad and sham of their wings, dragged to the door of their home 
and cast outside to die.  Murder, first degree!  Yes, this is cruel but 
necessary for survival.









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