BEEKEEPING FOR WOMEN IN CALIFORNIA 



MRS. J. B. AniS. 



ACTUAL experience has proved beekeeping to be a profitable as well as 

 a healthful occupation for women in California. The ready market 

 for comb and extracted honey removes all difficulties in disposing of 

 the product of the busiest of all animals, and the mild climate per- 

 mits the outdoor work necessary for the care of the bees during a 



long and pleasant season. 

 The woman who would keep bees, either to supply her household needs 

 or with a view to earning a living, has but to understand and apply the 

 two following very simple essentials to the profitable raising of bees. They 

 are, first: that the animal life be properly nourished, and second: that Nature 

 be so assisted by intelligent methods of keeping and reasonable care as to 

 give best results to the keeper. But these essentials may be supplied here 

 in California with a minimum expenditure of work and money. So many 

 localities furnish abundant food for the bees that the question of feeding 

 them is solved for the keeper, while by an intelligent selection of location 

 and methods of handling the best results are easily obtained. 



There being no winter problem in California it is not necessary to 

 carry the bees with six months' supplies into the cellar. In colder climes 

 the bees are "wintered" in cellars, where from Thanksgiving until the 

 middle of April the hives are stored in cellars for protection, in spite of 

 which, however, winter loss is common. A beekeeper in Wisconsin writes: 

 "On April 1 2th I took out the last bees. From then till the 22d we had 

 heavy frost and cold weather. On the 26th and 27th the weather is so 

 unfavorable that one day they work and the next day they have to lay up 

 again on account of high winds and cold." We in California have but to 

 read this from an Eastern beekeeper to appreciate the advantages of Califor- 

 nia's wonderful climate for beekeeping. In fact it has been the writer's ex- 

 perience that the bees not only stay on the same stands but also gather 

 nectar every month in the year, so that in the early spring they are in good 

 condition to work and increase. All the work attendant upon the keep- 

 ing of bees can thus be readily done by women and the prevailing whole- 

 sale prices of 10 cents per pound for comb and 5 cents for extracted honey 

 yield a handsome profit to the industrious keeper. 



That there is room and that there are abundant opportunities lor 

 engaging in beekeeping in California is shown by the present problem of 

 disposing of the annual increase. And why should not women take up this 

 industry since it is so pleasant and profitable an occupation for women? 

 At present it is largely confined to farmers' wives and daughters, who al- 

 ready have many duties to perform, but the pleasant nature of the work bids 

 fair to attract women who will be able to devote their attention and ener- 

 gies to developing the industry on a larger scale. 



K is a well-known fact that honey-bees will select a home in a hollow 

 tree and there not only attend to all their natural wants and provide for 

 an increase, but also lay up a surplus store of honey. Climatic condition* in 

 California are so favorable that it only remains for man to turn them to hii 

 benefit. Here there is no expense for feed for the bees feed them- 

 selves the year round. They not only feed themselves but also feed and 

 care for their young, thus relieving the keeper of much care so that there 

 is no need to interfere with the increase except at the swarming season, 

 then to provide new homes for tho new swarms, where they can thrive and 

 work and produce that delicious food the value of which I trust will some 

 day be fully realized by rich and poor alike. 



Although California's output of honey in 1905 will be the largest in 

 many years, it will be quite insufficient to meet the extraordinary demand 

 caused by the short crop in other States. One State usually feadiruT in 

 honey production will produce hardly a fourth of a crop this year while 

 another is nearer to a honey failure than it has been for twenty yea». 

 Here is women's opportunity in California to enter this profitable busir 

 which has also always been to the writer a pleasant one. 



