BEE-KEEPING AND THE SIMPLE LIFE 271 
recollection ;—but now, look how all was changed ! 
He waved a triumphant, proudly proprietary arm 
around him. The cottage was sound and well 
furnished throughout. The three or four bought 
hives, with which he had started his business, had 
multiplied into sixty or seventy, all made by his 
own hands. Where had he got the bees? Well, 
that threepenny book had taught him a secret— 
the art of bee-driving. Nearly all the cottagers 
for miles round were in the habit of sulphuring 
their bees to get at the honey. The first autumn, 
and every autumn since then, he had gone to his 
neighbours and told them he would take the bees 
out of the hives for them, and leave them all the 
combs and a good trink-geld into the bargain, if 
they would let him have the bees for his trouble. 
And they were more than willing. And thus he 
had gradually built up his little principality of 
hives. 
But, the profit of the thing? This, indeed, 
was nothing much to boast of. He sold all the 
honey and wax he got, sending it away, for the 
most part, by post, and extending the circle of his 
custom by little and little with every year. Taking 
the bad years with the good, he had made a 
net return of £2 for every hive; in bumper- 
seasons it was always much more. It was nota 
great deal, but there were only three of them, and 
their wants were simple. Their greatest needs— 
fresh air, peace, and quiet, the healthful life of the 
