I don't want to pretend to be cultured enough to read books but I
overheard a book tape my daughter was listening to awhile back. It was
called "Diary of a Farmer's Wife" and the author was wife to an English
farmer in 1793 (or thereabouts). She talked about harvesting honey by
placing the skeps in a pit or hole in the ground, setting in some burning
sticks soaked in sulfur, then covering the hole so the bees were killed.
That particular year the husband used his wife's kitchen to prepare the
sulfur sticks. In the process of doing this he spilled sulfur all over the
floor as well as his hands. The wife was very vexed with him for making a
mess of her kitchen and told him next year he could do that job in the
barn.

The next day the husband said his hands were too sore to help with the
honey harvest so the wife had to do it alone. So not much has changed in
the past 200 years when it comes to killing bees. However in this mordern
age most men are much more sensitive to their partners' wants and needs
and would never think of making a mess in his or her kitchen.

Feeling very old,

 Ted

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