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GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE. 



Aug. 1 



other reasons, that bee-keeping may be an 

 interesting avocation which may be carried 

 on coincidentally with other employment; 

 it is an interesting study in natural history; 

 it cultivates calmness in spirit; self control 

 and patience; it is "a heap" of fun; inci- 

 dentally it may supply the home table with 

 a real luxury; and it may add a very con- 

 siderable amount to the woman's spending 

 money. It also may be carried on as a reg- 

 ular business and be made to support a 

 family. 



But it is as an avocation that I am espe- 

 cially interested in the apiary. Any woman 

 who keeps house needs an avocation which 

 shall take her mind and attention complete- 

 ly off her household cares at times. There 

 is something about the daily routine of 

 housekeeping that wears the mind and body 

 full of ruts, even in the case of those who 

 love to do housework better than anything 

 else. Talk about the servant question! It 

 is not the servant question, it is the house- 

 work question. If some means could be de- 

 vised by which housework could be per- 

 formed with inspiration, zeal, and enthusi- 

 asm, the servant problem would solve it- 

 self; but this ideal way of doing housework 

 can be carried on only when the spirit is 

 freed from the sense of eternal drudgery. 

 I am not a wizard to bring about this change; 

 but I know one step toward it, and that is 

 the establishment of some permanent inter- 

 est for woman that will pull her out of the 

 ruts and give her body and mind a complete 

 change and rest. Embroidery, lacemaking, 

 weaving, painting, and several other like 

 occupations, may serve this purpose in a 

 measure, and perhaps if carried on in the 

 right way might achieve more in this line 

 than they do at present. But these are all 

 indoor occupations; and what a woman nesds 

 is something to take her out of doors where 

 she can have fresh air. The excess perspi- 

 ration induced by the cook- stove is weak- 

 ening; but the honest sweat called forth in 

 the open air by an application of generous 

 sunshine is a source of health and strength. 



Bee-keeping is one of the best of these 

 life-saving, nerve- healing avocations; it 

 takes the mind from household cares as 

 completely as would a trip to Europe, for 

 one can not work with bees and think of 

 any thing else. Some of the attributes 

 which make bee-keeping an interesting av- 

 ocation I will mention : First of all, the bees 

 are such wonderful little creatures, and so 

 far beyond our comprehension, that they 

 have for us always the fascination of an un- 

 solved problem. I never pass our hives 

 without mentally asking, "Well, you dear 

 little rascals, what will you do next ? ' ' The 

 bee=! are of particular interest to woman for 

 several reasons: If she likes good house- 

 keeping, then the bee is a model; if she 

 likes a woman of business, again is the bee 

 a shining light; if she is interested in the 

 care of the young, then is the bee nurse an 

 example of perfection ; if she believes in the 



Eolitical rights of woman, she will find the 

 ighest feminine political wisdom in the 



constitution of the bee commune. In fact, 

 it is only as a wife that the bee is a little 

 too casual to pose as an ideal, although as a 

 widow she is certainly remarkable and per- 

 haps even notorious. 



Another phase which makes bee-keeping 

 a pleasing avocation for women is that 

 much of the work is interesting and attrac- 

 tive. I never sit down to the "job" of 

 folding sections and putting in starters with- 

 out experiencing joy at the prettiness of 

 the work. And if there is any higher artis- 

 tic happiness than comes from cleaning up 

 a section holding a pound of well-capped 

 amber honey and putting the same in a 

 dainty carton for market, then I have never 

 experienced it; and the making of pictures 

 has been one of my regular vocations. By 

 the way, woman has never used her artistic 

 talent rightly in this matter of cartons. 

 Each woman bee-keeper ought to make her 

 own colored design for her carton, thus se- 

 curing something so individual and attrac- 

 tive as to catch at once the eye of the con- 

 sumer. 



As a means of cultivating calmness, pa- 

 tience, and self-control the bee is a well-rec- 

 ognized factor. Bees can be, and often are, 

 profoundly exasperating, and yet how worse 

 than futile it is to evince that exasperation 

 by word or movement. No creature reacts 

 quicker against irritation than does the bee. 

 She can not be kicked nor spanked; and if 

 we smoke her too much, we ourselves are 

 the losers. There is only one way to man- 

 age exasperation with bees, and that is to 

 control it, and this makes the apiary a 

 means of grace. 



The money- making side of bee-keeping is 

 a very important phase in arousing and con- 

 tinuing the woman's interest in her work. 

 I think woman is by birth and training a 

 natural gambler, and the uncertainties of 

 the nectar supply and of the honey market 

 add to rather than detract from her interest 

 in her apiary. I know of several women 

 who have made comfortable incomes and 

 supported their families by beekeeping; 

 but, as yet, I think such instinces are few; 

 However, I believe there are a large num- 

 ber of women who have added a goodly sum 

 yearly to their amount of spending money, 

 and have found the work a joy instead of 

 drudgery. Personally, I have had very lit- 

 tle experience with the commercial side of 

 bee-keeping. Once when our maddeningly 

 successful apiary grew to forty hives when 

 we did not want more than a dozen at most, 

 and the neighborhood was surfeited with 

 our bounty, we were ' ' just naturally ' ' 

 obliged to sell honey. We enjoyed greatly 

 getting the product ready for market, and 

 were somehow surprised that so much fun 

 could be turned into ready cash. As a mat- 

 ter of fact, both my husband and myself 

 have absorbing vocations and avocations in 

 plenty, so that our sole reason for keeping 

 bees is just because we love the little crea- 

 tures, and find them so interesting that we 

 would not feel that home was really home 

 without them; the sight of our busy little 



