212 THE BEE-MASTER OF WARRILOW 
sion of the bee-master, but he retains the colony of 
bees complete and unharmed for future service. 
He has secured all the golden eggs, and the goose 
is still alive. 
Those who desire to make a start in beemanship 
inexpensively might do worse than adopt a practice 
which the writer has followed for many years past. 
As soon as the time for the bee-burners’ work 
arrives, a bicycle is rigged up with a bamboo 
elongation fore and aft. From this depend a 
number of straw skeps tied over with cheese-cloth. 
A bee-smoker and a set of driving-irons complete 
the equipment, and there is no more to do than sally 
forth into the country in search of condemned bees. 
It is usually not difficult to persuade the cottage 
apiarist to let you operate on his hives. As soon 
as he learns that all you ask for your trouble is the 
bees, while you undertake to leave him the entire 
honey-crop and a pour-boire into the bargain, he 
readily gives you access to his stalls. The work 
before you is now surprisingly simple. A few 
strong puffs of smoke into the entrance of the hive 
under manipulation will effectually subdue the bees. 
Then the hive is lifted, turned over, and placed 
mouth upwards in any convenient receptacle—a 
pail or bucket will do, and will hold it as firmly as 
need be. Your own travelling-gear now comes 
into use. One of the empty skeps is fitted over 
the inverted hive. The two are pinned together 
with an ordinary meat-skewer at one point, and then 
the skep is prised up and fixed on each side with 
the driving-irons, so that the whole looks like a 
box with the lid half-raised. Now you have merely 
to take up a position in front of the two hives, and 
