The Bee-Master of Warrilow. 



" What would be the good of a sword to a soldier," he 

 said, " if only one blow could be struck with it? It is 

 certainly true that the bee does not usually sting a second 

 time, but that is only because you are too hasty with her. 

 You brush her off before she has had time to complete her 

 business, and the barbed sting, holding in the wound, is 

 torn away, and the bee dies. But now watch how the 

 thing works naturally." 



A bee had settled on his hand as he was speaking. He 

 closed his fingers gently over it, and forced it to sting. 



" Now," he continued, quite unconcernedly, " look 

 what really happens. The bee makes two or three lunges 

 before she gets the sting fairly home. Then the poison is 

 injected. Now watch what she does afterwards. See ! 

 she has finished her work, and is turning round and round ! 

 The barbs are arranged spirally on the sting, and she is 

 twisting it out corkscrew-fashion. Now she is free again ! 

 there she goes, you see, weapon and all ; and ready to sting 

 again if necessary." 



The crocus-filling operation was over now, and the bee- 

 master took up his barrow and led the way to a row of 

 hives in the sunniest part of the garden. He pulled up 

 before the first of the hives, and lighted his smoking appa- 

 ratus. 



" These," he said, as he fell to work, " have not been 

 opened since October, and it is high time we saw how 

 things are going with them." 



He drove a few strong puffs of smoke into the entrance 

 of the hive and removed the lid. Three or four thicknesses 

 of warm woollen quilting lay beneath. Under these a 

 square of linen covered the tops of the frames, to which it 

 had been firmly propolised by the bees. My friend began 

 to peel this carefully off, beginning at one corner and using 

 the smoker freely as the linen ripped away. 



" This was a full-weight hive in the autumn," he said, 

 ' ' so there was no need for candy-feeding. But they must 

 be pretty near the end of their stores now. You see how 

 they are all together on the three or four frames in the 

 centre of the hive ? The other combs are quite empty and 

 deserted. And look how near they are clustering to the top 

 of the bars ! Bees always feed upwards, and that means 

 we must begin spring-feeding right away." 



22 



