18 THE BKB-KEEPER'S GUIDE; 



written articles have so often charmed the readers of the bee- 

 journals, and who has had many years of successful experi- 

 ence as an apiarist — in a paper read before the Michigan con- 

 vention in March, 1887 : " I would gladly purchase exemption 

 from indoor work, on washing-day, by two days' labor among 

 the bees, and I find two hours' labor at the ironing-table more 

 fatiguing than two hours of the severest toil the apiary can 

 exact." I repeat, that apiculture offers to many women not 

 only pleasure but profit 



Mrs. L,. B. Baker, of Lansing, Mich., who had kept bees 

 very successfully for four years, read an admirable paper be- 

 fore the same convention, in which she said : " But I can say, 

 having tried both (keeping boarding-house and apiculture), I 

 give bee-keeping the preference, as more profitable, healthful, 

 independent and enjoyable. * * * I find the labors of the 

 apiary more endurable than working over a cook-stove indoors, 

 and more pleasant and conducive to health. * * * i be- 

 lieve that many of our delicate and invalid ladies would find 

 renewed vigor of body and mind in the labors and recreations 

 of the apiary. * * * By beginning in the early spring, 

 when the weather was cool and the work light, I became grad- 

 ually accustomed to outdoor labor, and by midsummer found 

 myself as well able to endure the heat of the sun as my hus- 

 band, who has been accustomed to it all his life. Previously, 

 to attend an open-air picnic was to return with a headache. 

 * * * My own experience in the apiary has been a source 

 of interest and enjoyment far exceeding my anticipations." 

 Although Mrs. Baker commenced with but two colonies of 

 bees, her net profits the first season were over $100 ; the second 

 year but a few cents less than $300 ; and the third year about 

 $250. "The proof of the pudding is in the eating ;" and such 

 words as those above show that apiculture offers special in- 

 ducements to our sisters to become either amateur or profes- 

 sional apiarists. At the present time almost every State has 

 women bee-keepers, whose success has won attention. True 

 it is, that in neatness and delicacy of manipulation, the women 

 far surpass the men. The nicest honey produced in Michigan, 

 year after year, comes from the apiary of two ladies who I 

 believe are peers of any bee-keepers in pur country. 



