06/16/2022
An incredible photo documenting the history of beekeeping !
Women in Beekeeping
circa. 1915 ~ A Cotswold Bee-Mistress
This view of a Cotswold bee-garden
is presented to the reader as
typical of scenes that are frequently
to be met with among the quaint hamlets
of the Cotswold Hills.
The cottage is the home of a cheerful
couple, Mr. and Mrs. Bowles, of Notgrove
Village, and it has been in the family
for something like 100 years.
"Willum," as he is popularly known,
was for many years an earth-stopper to
the Cotswold Hunt, and he will tell
numerous tales of his nights' work in the
woods, and of the early days when, as
a boy, he used to help in "mindin' the
bees," which his mother kept in the
same old corner where hives stand now.
The old man was having his midday
"nap" when the camera was ready, or
I should have liked to have had him
in the picture.
However, the ordering of the bee
garden is left much in the hands of Mrs.
Bowles, because, he says, "I can't abide
'em now; they kick I too much when
I be workin' near 'em in the gardin'."
She feeds the weak casts in spring,
either in the time-honoured way of a
saucer pushed under the skep or by
means of a scooped-out alder stick, which
is filled with syrup and pushed or thrust
right inside the narrow entrance.
Swarming commences about the latter
end of May if the season is good, and
continues in a " happy-go-lucky'' manner
until July comes in.
It is rare fun having an apiary of
skeps, I can assure you. You get first
swarms, and " cuts," a "smart," and a
" lob " which is as big as a duck's egg.
Then you may have a maiden swarm
from an early swarm hived in a small
skep, and if luck is on your side you may
even get a stray swarm or two from out-
side, which helps in increasing the
number of stocks for "taking up" time.
It is an interesting sight on a warm
evening to see the great clusters of bees
"hanging" out all over the face of the
hive and down between the legs of the
stand.
When the bees swarm they generally
lodge on the nut-bushes over the hives, or
on a low plum-tree near by, and are
easily hived by the bee-mistress, after
the '' tanging " has induced the bees to
settle quietly. Beyond putting two sticks
inside the skep as supports for the combs,
nothing is done to assist, and so they go
on unaided and unhindered.
The passing of the swarming season
brings a pleasant change, when the bees
settle down once more to the peaceful
duties of honey-making
Frequently at this period the hives
would number ten or fourteen, but
towards August the old man would blow
in a puff of smoke from his pipe and
"heft" the hives, marking the heaviest
swarms and the lightest cuts as those to
be taken, and leaving the old lots for
swarming another year. But when a
hive got too old and shaky the bee-
mistress would have it taken and a
swarm in a new skep left in its place.
In former years it was the sulphur rag and
pit that did its deadly work at the bottom
of the gulden, but now the bee-mistress
prefers the more humane plan of having
the bees driven out to save their lives.
"Taking time" over, there comes the
draining of the honey, the brewing of
metheglin, a delicious and wholesome
drink, and the rendering of wax.
For days in the cool kitchen would
stand the pans into which the honey
dripped from cheesecloth bags hung from
the rafters; and, oh ! the wasps, they
would come from their holes in hundreds,
until the bottles of stale beer hung about
the door were solid with drowned wasps.
But these troubles were soon forgotten
when the draining part was over and
when the honey was safely tied down in
the large earthenware jars.
The little profit that results from the
old-fashioned skep system is much
appreciated, while the pleasure derived from
tending the bees during the months of
sunshine assists greatly in brightening
the somewhat uneventful lives of our
village folk. — A. H. Bowen, Cheltenham,
Source:
British bee journal & bee-keepers adviser
January 21, 1915, Page 18
https://archive.org/details/britishbeejourna1915lond/page/18/mode/2up
