Modem Bee-Tceeping. 
115 
are at the bottom of our success. The planks of our platform 
mav be arranged thus : — Movable Comb Hives. Comb Fonnda- 
tion, Extractors, Sections, and, by no means least, Education. 
For the last named we are indebted to the British Bee 
Keepers' Association, as galvanised into life by the Eev. H. R. 
Peel. To his great efforts, untiring perseverance, and per- 
sistent overcoming of difficulties, British Bee-keeping can never 
cease to be indebted. Though we had another good pioneer 
in the person of Mr. C. N. Abbott, with his Bee Journal," 
still, it is not too much to say that Mr. Peel was everything to 
the cause of Bee-keeping in that day. He gave time, energy, 
means, and that too without stint : he clearly saw that the 
British Bee Keepers' Association must assume the position 
of a parent, and that every county in Great Britain must 
become its child, and be educated on this question. He 
therefore started on the work of forming, in the counties, 
Bee Keepers' Associations, in affiliation with the Central 
Society whose headquarters were in London, and at the 
time of his much lamented death he had in a great measure 
accomplished the work. In every county the advanced Bee 
Keepers were sought out and brought together into an associa- 
tion, and then began the work of educating the unskilled Bee 
Keepers of the county and of inducing all who were connected 
with agriculture or horticulture to commence Bee-keeping on 
right lines. The humble cottager was, however, the chief sub- 
ject of instruction. With the spirit of a true philanthropist, 
Mr. Peel strove to better the position of the labourer, to raise 
him by means of his Bees, and to lessen his poverty by his own 
exertions, so that in being relieved he was not in anv way 
pauperised or a loser of his self-respect. There are numbers of 
this class spread over the land who have cause to be thankful 
for the knowledge they gained from their County Bee Keepers' 
Association. ♦ 
Experts were engaged, and made visits to every Bee Keeper 
in the county. Bees were examined and some practical 
work was done in each Apiary, and, in several of the 
largest and most successful associations, a census was taken of 
the number of stocks of Bees. To the local Agricultural and 
Flower Shows the Bee Tent was sent, and practical lectures with 
illustrations were given to all who desired to see and to listen. 
In the very early days of this Tent work great wonder was 
excited, and the lookers-on would scarcely believe their eyes. 
When the work was begun in the counties it is scarcely too 
much to say that it was the custom to kill 90 per cent, of the 
Bees at the end of the season in order to obtain their Honey. 
I 2 
