Carting the Bees 159 



settles the matter. The boy who has been to the 

 Cheviots has won his spurs has begun to be a man : 

 for, indeed, it remains an event to the strong young 

 village bachelor of twenty-five or so, and even the arch 

 ne'er-do-weel who commands the expedition anticipates 

 it not without a thrill. He, too, is a bachelor ; for, 

 somehow, when a man is married he loses taste for 

 these adventures. You seldom find individuality in 

 a married rustic. As soon as he goes to the altar he 

 perishes, so far as oddity and character are concerned. 

 There is no lack of volunteers to carry the bees to 

 the hills : for the transference should take place in 

 one of the quiet interludes in rural labour that which 

 comes between the hay and the corn harvest ; for the 

 heather blooms on the hill exactly at the time when 

 the oats begin to yellow. The custom is common in 

 those parts of England, Scotland, and Wales that lie 

 too far away from the stretches of heather for the bees 

 to fly to them from their usual stances. The bee- 

 keeper expects two harvests from his little workers, 

 one from the plains, the other from the Cheviots. 

 The first is gathered almost exclusively from the 

 white clover and bean blossom ; and when these are 

 past the bees would be reduced to idleness but for 

 the expedient of carrying them to the hills. Other- 

 wise, as may be proved by weighing the hives, the 

 bees are forced to begin drawing on their capital in 

 other words living on their winter hoard early in 

 August. Of course this does not apply universally, 



