…..Robert Huish in his 1842 book, Bees: their natural history and general management,

“The most approved apparatus is a hood made of linen, large enough to throw over the head, and to fall below the shoulders, and fastened round the body by strings, to prevent the bees from slipping underneath: a mask should be made of iron wire, which is preferable to glass, horse-hair or gauze, as being more open, and less accompanied with those suffocating effects, than either of the afore-mentioned materials. The hood, when complete, presents the following appearance:

The gloves should be of the coarsest leather, such as the housemaids’ gloves are made of, through which no sting can penetrate; at the same time, the leather towards the fingers should be of the most pliant kind, for if it be stiff and unbending, any operation with the combs becomes difficult: a sleeve should be affixed to each glove, so as to reach nearly to the elbows, and gaiters should be used for the protection of the legs, on the supposition that the operator does not wear boots, which are in themselves a sufficient safeguard: with this armour, a person may defy a whole swarm of bees.   We generally make a small hole through the mask, for the purpose of admitting a tobacco pipe, which being filled with dry leaves, or even pounded tea, we have found to be of essential service in driving away the bees from any particular quarter, which is intended to undergo examination.”