But where was honey ever made with one bee in a hive? 
—Thomas Hood 
IV 
TOOLS AND TECHNIQUE 
N ORTH of our house on the farm we had a 
lovely grove of trees which my father had 
planted many years before I began to keep bees. 
There were many varieties; beautiful white paper 
birches, a mulberry—whose fruit was shared about 
equally between the birds, my brothers, and myself 
—an Italian chestnut, Austrian pine, and English 
oak, as well as pines, spruces, and poplars. 
When I found myself becoming a real profes¬ 
sional, I moved my bees to the edge of this grove. 
A small pigeon house was also transported from be¬ 
low the barn at the foot of the driveway and in¬ 
stalled among the trees—to be known thereafter as 
the Bee House. No bees were ever kept inside, but 
it served me from then on as workshop and ware¬ 
house combined. 
The place no longer belongs to my family as 
the house burned down one spring evening, and the 
land and other buildings were sold soon after—but 
I will always remember well the happy working 
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