150 



GLEANINGS TN BKE OTTLTURE 



pollenizer, and perfect 

 pollenizalioii ineaiis 

 perfect fruit and 

 grain. 



Buckley, Wash. 



HOW A WOMAN FOUND 



RECREATION WITH 



BEES, FRUIT, AND 



FLOWERS 



BY DR. EDNA P. 

 MATTHEWS. 



Fig. 1. — Dr. Edna P. Matthew.s' plan of luiuliug cului 

 tonfi'ele foinuUitions. 



cooking, baking, and candy-making — in 

 fact, in any thing that sugar and water are 

 used in. It has greater sweetening power 

 than most of the manufactured syrups, and, 

 besides, possesses great medicinal value. 



As a remunerative occupation for women 

 it has been my experience that it is extreme- 

 ly profitable, clean, and healthful. When 

 bees have been properly cared for during 

 the winter and spring, and a proper method 

 employed during the summer, a single 

 swarm can produce from 50 to 200 one- 

 pound sections of surplus honey which can 

 always be sold at good prices. It is a busi- 

 ness that can be carried on with one or two 

 hives or one or two hundred. It can be 

 carried on at home, thus affording a great 

 opportunity for self-improvement. There 

 should be at least one or two hives of bees 

 in every garden, especially in the rural sec- 

 tions of our country, as the bee is the best 



FlQ. 2. — Latticed grapevines for sliade. 



A woman is mental- 

 ly and physically qual- 

 itied for bee culture. 

 Twenty-five years of 

 intimate study of wom- 

 en, both in health and 

 in sickness, gives me the foundation for 

 the above arbitrary statement. Her long 

 years of training in household detail, her 

 quick perception, enthusiasm, and versatil- 

 ity, all combine to make her an ideal bee- 

 keeper. Often longing for the real things 

 of life and their doing, it is a blessing to her 

 if she can pick up an avocation that is 

 pleasing, healthful, and reuuinerative, tiuis 

 segregrating herself from idleness and friv- 

 olity.^ 



" Cottage Garden " is a two-acre fi-uit 

 and flower farm developed out of a forsak- 

 en, barren, suburban knoll composed mostly 

 of subsoil. We took up a proposition of 

 this kind because of a breakdown under a 

 tremendous strain. (Note the willingness 

 of one doctor to take his own medicine!) 

 Our plan, originally, was to put out choice 

 fruits and vegetables for the use of our 

 family, selling the surplus. We wanted a 

 large planting of fine 

 peonies, a large vine- 

 yard of fancy table 

 grapes, and we also 

 wanted bulbs and 

 shrubbery blooming 

 for Memorial day. Our 

 income was standard- 

 ized at $500 a year, 

 and the labor at five 

 hours a day; but we 

 found that these could 

 not be kept uniform, 

 as some crops failed 

 on account of condi- 

 tions beyond our con- 

 trol, and some requir- 

 ed tAventy-four houi"s' 

 labor a day. For in- 

 stance we cut and mar- 



