FROM OLD TO NEW 
23 
its row of straw “skeps” in the flower garden, and an 
old “bee master,” in broad straw hat and long smock, 
calmly watching the comings and goings of his 
bees. When a swarm issued forth he would beat a 
pan underneath them to induce them to alight. And 
when the master died it was a rash courting of bad 
luck to omit the ceremony of “telling the bees! ” 
These old “bee masters” may not have had the 
same accuracy of information as our modern, up-to- 
date scientific honey producers, but they often had 
a rare and delightful philosophy, not so readily in¬ 
duced by the hustling life of those who produce big 
honey crops. They did not go into the business of 
rearing queen bees (in fact, at one time the belief 
prevailed that the ruler of the hive was a king!) 
or sell their honey to middlemen by the ton, but 
they did know many simple facts fully as well. 
They knew that bees are always gently disposed 
when swarming, and that a big, grape-shaped cluster 
of swarming bees shaken down off a limb would 
“march” into the straw “skep” carefully placed be¬ 
low. Their beekeeping methods being so primitive, 
they did not know how to prevent their bees from 
swarming to secure more honey; rather, they prized 
the swarms, which allowed them to kill the parent 
colony for honey and yet have no fewer hives. 
