June 13, 1907 



Sll 



point should be emphasized for the city 

 bee-kecpcr : Gentleness of character is 

 of first importance ; if they will gather 

 only half as much honey, to have bees 

 that are gentle. If we arc away off in 

 the country it doesn't matter so much. 

 Mr. WlK'cler — I would like to make 

 one other point ; that is, a good smoker. 

 It is worth more than all your breed of 

 bees. Do not fool around with a cheap 

 smoker which many people get. They 

 buy a smoker that costs very little — 

 a quarter, or something of that kind. 

 It will go out and bother them. They 

 would better spend a little money for a 

 good smoker, and go at the bees and 

 frighten them well, and they won't 

 sting. 



Women as Bee-Keepees. 



"Would you advise a woman to keep 

 bees? Would she be equal to it?" 



Mr. Taylor — It would depend upon 

 the woman. 



Pres. York — I think perhaps Miss 

 Wilson can answer that. 



Miss Wilson — That would be my an 

 swer. It would depend upon the woman. 



Mr. Wilcox — It might be proper to 

 say that because she is a woman is no 

 reason why she should not keep bees. 

 If she has the strength and the inclina- 

 tion, she can keep them just as well 

 as a man. 



Mr. Whitney — I have had a little ex- 

 perience in giving women some instruc- 

 tions in handling bees. There are quite 

 a number in Lake Geneva and they are 

 quite successful. They have no trouble 

 in handling them at all, and I think they 

 are more gentle in handling bees than 

 men are. Although they may be of a 

 nervous temper they handle the bees 

 very carefully, without any trouble at all. 

 We know from what we read in our 

 journals that there are very successful 

 bee-keepers among women all over the 

 country. 



Mr. Abbott — I think there is no rea- 

 son why she would not do anything 

 because she is a woman, if she knows 

 how, and wants to. She can keep bees 

 or run a farm, or a livery stable, or 

 a barber shop, or anything she wants 

 to. Some women could not keep bees at 

 all. I don't think my wife could keep 

 them long. If she had a colony she 

 might keep it a good while, because 

 she would not go near it. I do not think 

 there is money enough to hire her to 

 examine a colony of bees. She is timid 

 about it, though she will run my busi- 

 ness when I am gone, look after s or 

 6 head of stock, and do anything else, 

 though she can't keep bees. A woman 

 like that would better let them alone. 

 But it seems to me it is an industry 

 peculiarly adapted to women who want 

 to pick up a few dollars for spending 

 money to use as they will. There are 

 only a few husbands who seem to think 

 women need any money except what 

 they dole out to them. But on the 

 farm, if some girl in her teens takes up 

 the study of bee-keeping and studies 

 it with great patience, she can soon 

 have an income coming in and be in- 

 dependent of her father and her folks. 

 It is quite easily done, especially on a 

 farm. Of course it can be done in the 

 city if you have room enough. I know 

 a number of girls who get all the spend- 



AmericaD liee Journal 



ing money they want. I know one lady 

 — a widow, will) for years had just 12 

 colonics. She would let her bees swarm, 

 and then she would double them back 

 and in the spring she always had 12 

 colonies. She has been getting all her 

 spending money for all these years; 

 bought her own clothes, and had what- 

 ever she wanted and was independent; 

 notwithstanding she inherited a good 

 deal from her mother, she didn't have 

 to ask her brothers for anything; made 

 it all out of the bees and a little poultry. 

 I know a number of such ladies, and I 

 don't know any reason why more should 

 not do it. 



A Member — I think a lady bee-keep- 

 er is just as good as a man. I know 

 a lady whose husband was a cripple, 

 who made $150 a year, and it was quite 

 handy to her. I think she handles then 

 better than I do. 



Mr. Taylor — An old gentleman used 

 to come to my place and get pointers 

 on bee - keeping. He complained that 

 his eyesight began to fail him, and it 

 was hard to deal with his bees, look 

 them over, find queens, and so on. One 

 day I came there and he said, "I have 

 been getting married. My eyesight was 

 so poor that I thought that I would get 

 some one to find queens for me; but she 

 can't find them any better than I can." 

 Pres. York — I think we ought to hear 

 from Mrs. Meredith before Mr. Mere- 

 dith on this question. 



Mr. Meredith — She probably can give 

 you some information. She had 100 

 colonies the past summer. 



Mrs. Meredith — I am not much of a 

 speaker in public. I can tell you that 

 I like handling the bees very much, and 

 I think I could do it quite successfully. 

 Pres. York — Miss Meredith, I think, 

 looks as if she wanted to be independ- 

 ent., as Mr. Abbott was saying. 



Miss Meredith — I haven't any bees, 

 though! [Laughter.] 



Dr. Bohrer — My observation is that 

 the ladies are a good deal like men. If 

 they are adapted to the business, and 

 have a taste for it, they become just 

 as expert as men. I used to be a bee- 

 keeper in Indiana and had quite a cor- 

 respondence with both ladies and gen- 

 tlemen who kept bees. I found the wo- 

 men eminently successful. They couple 

 them with poultry, perhaps, or some one 

 who took in sewing or washing owned a 

 house and an acre or two of ground 

 kept a few colonies of bees, and the 

 bees coupled with poultry and other 

 labor, made an excellent living, a very 

 nice little income, and there are #ious- 

 ands of ladies that I am satisfied if they 

 were encouraged to take hold of the 

 industry would be successful. Francis 

 Ruber's wife was his principal helper 

 in his discoveries. I have some daugh- 

 ters that are mnrried now, not at home; 

 they do not keep bees at all. But 1 

 have one that does a whole lot harder 

 work. Her husband is not a strong 

 man. She will order him to stay at the 

 house and do something in the shade, 

 and she will yo out and drive a 4-horse 

 plow, and d«) ihat and help him raise 

 40(10 or 3000 bushels of wheat in n ft 

 year. I think with proper surroundings 

 she would r ike to bee-keeping. As a 

 child she r -.M pick out the queens as 



quickly as I could; help carry the frames 

 from the extractor and back again; 

 and could have been a manager of an 

 apiary if it had been necessary and a 

 duty that fell to her. I believe it to 

 be the duty of every bee-keeper through- 

 out the country to encourage the ladies 

 in every way to engage in the business. 

 Not to buy up a large number of colo- 

 nies to begin with, but take one colony, 

 study their habits carefully, read a bee- 

 paper and some of the standard works 

 on bee-keeping. Women are just as apt 

 at taking up information of that kind as 

 men arc, and there is no reason why 

 hundreds and thousands of women that 

 have not a fair income could not add 

 materially to the little income that they 

 have in engaging in this industry. I am 

 sometimes asked by ladies, "Can I en- 

 gage in bee-keeping and make a living 

 out of it?" My reply would be, "It 

 depends upon circumstances. If you 

 study the habits of the bee, their stings 

 are not poisonous to you, you keep 

 enough of them— many farmers I think 

 would furnish the ground and allow you 

 to keep a good many colonies of bees 

 there — I -think you could not only make 

 a living out of it but make money be- 

 sides." A great many people can not 

 engage in the industry of bee-keeping, 

 and cannot make money out of it, but 

 almost every farmer through the country 

 can if he will ; but they won't do it. They 

 have no taste for it. Thej' do not like 

 bees, do not like their stings— they are 

 susceptible to the influence of their poi- 

 son; that class of people I advise to let 

 it alone, both men and women. But 

 there are many who can learn it; the 

 stings do not hurt them, and a good 

 many of them can make money out of 

 if it they will keep bees enough. Al- 

 most any farmer whom bee-stings do not 

 poison can keep a few colonies and 

 produce all the honey he needs at home. 



Defending Against Troublesome 

 Neighbors. 



"Should this Association defend_ its 

 members against troublesome neigh- 

 bors?" 



Mr. Wilcox— I should say absolutely 

 no, under any circumstances. 



Pres. York— I might say that there 

 are no funds to do it with, any way; 

 and every bee-keeper ought to become a 

 member of the National. That is part 

 of its business. 



Mr. Horstmann— I asked that ques- 

 tion. This question has been pretty 

 well discussed this afternoon, not ex- 

 actlv talking on that question, but we 

 have been talking on those lines. I say 

 this Association should defend the mem- 

 bers. If the Association does not want 

 to defend its members against trouble- 

 some neighbors, I say what good is 

 the Association? What is the use in be- 

 longing to it, if the Association is not 

 going to be of some benefit to you? I 

 think that in a case similar to the one 

 that I spoke of here this afternoon, it 

 should be investigated by the executive 

 committee of this Association, and if 

 they find, after investigation, that the 

 bee-keeper is at fault he should have 

 no defense ; and if they find that the 

 neighbors have been quarreling, and 

 they are only making trouble for the 



