72 THE BEE-MASTER OF WARRILOW 
“In the old days,’’ said the bee-master, ‘‘ before 
the movable-comb hive was invented, if the queen 
died like this, it would throw the whole colony out 
of gear for the rest of the season. Three weeks 
must elapse before a new queen could be hatched 
and got ready for work; and then the honey-harvest 
would be over. But see how precious time can be 
saved under the modern system.” 
He led the way to a hive which stood some dis- 
tance apart from the rest. It was much smaller 
than the others, and consisted merely of a row of 
little boxes, each with its separate entrance, but all 
under one common roof. The old bee-man opened 
one of the compartments, and lifted out its single 
comb-frame, on which were clustered only a few 
hundred bees. Searching among these with a 
wary forefinger, at last he seized one by the wings 
and held it up to view. 
‘* This is a spare queen,”’ said he. ‘‘’Tis always 
wise to bring a few to the heather, against any mis- 
chance. And now we’ll give her to the motherless 
bees; and in an hour or two the stock will be at 
work again as busily as ever.” 
