4 HOW TO KEEP BEES 



One may keep bees for the sake of the honey, 

 which is a most legitimate and fit reason. Honey is 

 a wholesome and delicious addition to the family 

 table. Though it is a luxury, yet it may be afforded 

 by one living in moderate circumstances, if he be 

 willing to give a modicum of time and care to the 

 happy little creatures that gladly make it for him, 

 free of all expense. But for the one possessed of 

 great wealth, and able to corner the honey-market 

 any day, there is sure delight, as well as education, in 

 raising his own honey. Any person of experience 

 well knows that the honey made by one's own bees 

 has quality and flavour superior to that made by 

 other people's bees. In fact, the only way to become 

 a connoisseur of honey is to keep bees, for thus 

 only may one learn to discriminate between honey 

 made from basswood and that gathered from clover; 

 or to distinguish, at first taste, the product of orchard 

 in bloom from that drawn from vagrant blossoms, 

 which, changing day by day, mark the season's 

 processional. He who has once kept bees and be- 

 come an artist in honey-flavours, would never again, 

 willingly, become a part of the world at large, which, 

 in its dense ignorance, dubs all white honey "bass- 

 wood" or "clover" indiscriminately, and believes 

 all dark honey is gathered from buckwheat. 



Some, perhaps, might keep bees for the sake of 

 making money. For him who would get rich keeping 

 bees, this book manifestly is not written; its title 

 explains that it is meant to show how to keep bees, 

 and not how to make bees keep him. The person who 



