Whoops! Turns out the book I wanted is by Abbé Warré and is available as a free pdf. What I got is this little gem by a fellow named Tickner Edwardes, written in 1922. Complete with vintage bookmark.
It has some good information, though, including some of the things I will need to get.
I am not sure how I'm going to come up with a bottle of cyanide, but I'll ask around. I'm sure Homeland Security will understand when I explain what it's for. 
I'm tempted to take up pipe-smoking just so I can cut a dashing figure in my bee-veil.I'll be out by the hive, tickling my bees with those feathers.
That's the outfit for when Robert Donat as Richard Hannay takes up apiology.
ReplyDeleteMy dad kept bees, but he didn't smoke a pipe. He did have a big white coverall and veil set, though. In several years of bee-keeping, the only time I was stung was when I accidentally stepped on a bee in the kitchen and it extracted its final revenge.
ReplyDeleteAnd what, pray tell, is the cyanide for?
ReplyDeleteCool! I will take pics of the beehives I see in the countryside for you.
ReplyDeleteWe had a bee book from the library--can't remember the name but I think it was from the 50s. It had a section on women and beekeeping: "good source of income for the lady of the house," and so on. Not quite as good as that pipe bit, but amusing all the same.
ReplyDeleteHey, KB. Know why bees hum?
ReplyDeletenbm, "The 39 Skeps," eh?
ReplyDeleteKathi, that's usually the way it happens with stings. Everyone just wants to mind their own business, but sometimes accidents happen.
Betts, the cyanide is for killing unwanted queens.
Lucy, that would be awesome. I'd love to see what some of those French country hives look like.
Laura, I think it goes along with keeping chickens. Good for pin money.
Hey Leah, I don't know! Why do bees hum?
Because they don't know the words!
ReplyDeleteI want to see a pic of you in that exact outfit, pipe and all!
ReplyDeleteAs for the cyanide? No worries, I know a guy...
:o)