62 THE BEE-MASTER OF WARRILOW 
once the knife was thrown back into its smoking 
bath, and a second one taken out, with which the 
other side of the comb was treated. Then the comb 
was hung in the rack of the trolley, and the keen 
hot blades went to work on another frame. As 
each trolley was fully loaded it was whisked off to 
the extracting-machine and another took its place. 
‘* All this work,’’? explained the bee-master, as 
we passed on, “‘ is done after dark, because in the 
daytime the bees would smell the honey and would 
besiege us. So we cannot begin extracting until 
they are all safely hived for the night.’’ He stopped 
before a row of bulky cylinders. ‘‘ These,’”’ he 
said, ‘‘ are the honey ripeners. Each of them holds 
about twenty gallons, and all the honey is kept here 
for three or four days to mature before it is ready 
for market. If we were to send it out at once it 
would ferment and spoil. In the top of each drum 
there are fine wire strainers, and the honey must run 
through these, and finally through thick flannel, 
before it gets into the cylinder. Then, when it is 
ripe, it is drawn off and bottled.” 
One of the big cylinders was being tapped at the 
moment. A workman came up with a kind of 
gardener’s water-tank on wheels. The valve of the 
honey-vat was opened, and the rich fluid came 
gushing out like liquid amber. ‘“‘ This is all white- 
clover honey,’’ said the bee-master, tasting it 
critically. ‘‘ The next vat there ought to be pure 
sainfoin. Sometimes the honey has a distinct almond 
flavour; that is when hawthorn is abundant. Honey 
varies as much as wine. It is good or bad accord- 
ing to the soil and the season. Where the horse- 
chestnut is plentiful the honey has generally a rank 
