This was sent to me by Jack Freeman drafter@brightok.net and I've received permission to share it with you: Bee "gums" or makeshift hives were the portion of the tree where the bees were, cut above and below and taken home and set on a stand with a cover over the top, broken comb was tied back in with cotton string which the bees would later remove---this was in Ga. during the civil war, uncontroled northern soldiers delighted in knocking them over when the north swept thru Ga.---related to me by my mother from her mother and grandmother in 1935 (Jack Freeman age 78)