ILLINOIS STATE BEE-KEEPERS ASSOCIATION 



135 



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 doh't think my wife could keep 

 them long. If she had a colony she 

 might keep them 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 5 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- 

 ing money they want. I know one lady 

 — a widow, who for years had just 12 

 colonies. 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 them 

 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 lOO 

 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 thous- 

 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 married 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 go out and drive a 4-horse 

 plow, and do that and help him raise 

 4000 or jooo bushels of wheat in one 

 year. I think with proper surroundings 

 she would take to bee-keeping. As a 

 child she could pick out the queens as 

 quickly as I could ; help carry the frames 

 from the extractor and back again; 



