Vol. XV 



FEBRUARY, 1905. 



No. 2 



APICULTURE FOR WOMEN. 



A System of Education Proposed. 



By J. W. Tern. 



THE establishment of agricultural 

 and apicultural schools would 

 open up a new field for women 

 Df activity to which too little atten- 

 tion has been paid. Down to the 

 present time the majority of attempts 

 n this department have been made 

 or the boys, but it is peculiarly fitting 

 hat we should endeavor to find out 

 lust what may be done to ameliorate 

 'he economic condition of women of 

 he industrial classes, and that in a 

 iractical manner which shall increase 

 he health as well as increase the in- 

 ome. 

 Since men have deserted the land 

 nd have monopolized many of the 

 rades, why should not women re- 

 jrn to the land and cultivate small, 

 -uits, poultry and bees? I do not 

 esire to make laborers of women, 

 ut rather train int^elligent cultiva- 

 :irs of bees, who will become pro- 

 Licers of the first order. 

 England, ever since 1871, has had 

 iT feminine colleges of horticulture, 

 rriculture and apiculture, which fur- 

 sh gardeners, horticulturists, and 

 )iarists for ereat properties. Ger- 

 any, on her side, has a female agri- 

 Itural school; Austria has fifty-sev- 

 I garden schools in the suburbs of Vi- 

 na and 1,200 in lower Austria, while 

 issia has founded two agricultural 

 hools for women which are under 

 e protection of the empress and oth- 

 great court ladies. 



When one thinks of the matter he 

 becomes convinced that there is no 

 occupation which could hold women 

 by stronger ties than that of rural life. 

 Therefore, we should proceed to 

 teach our women horticulture and ag- 

 riculture, the dressing of gardens, 

 cutting and trimming of trees, shrubs, 

 etc. Apiculture is peculiarly adapted 

 to women, which can be made re- 

 rnunerative and a delightful occupa- 

 tion. 



If we are told that the physical qual- 

 ities of woman unfit her for rural life, 

 we reply that the unhappy seamstress, 

 bent double over her work from morn 

 until night, expends a much greater 

 amount of energy than she would in 

 apiculture. 



Each bee-keeping woman is bound 

 to make the little circle in which she 

 lives better and happier. Each one 

 is bound to see that out of that small 

 circle the widest good will come. Each 

 one may have fixed in mind a thought 

 that out of a single apicultural house- 

 hold may flow influences that shall 

 stimulate the whole apicultural world. 



The mere study of bees and bee- 

 keeping is wonderful. To study their 

 comb-building, their habits, their re- 

 quirements, their importance to man. 

 To study the pollen they gather, and 

 how they fertilize the flowers, the 

 swiftness of flight, the high instincts 

 in the construction of their nests, in 

 their care for their young and in the 



