CHAPTER XVI 



THE MODERN BEE-FARM 



IT is well enough to consider the scientific side 

 of hive-life for its intrinsic interest, to treat it 



for what it really is — one of the most absorbing 

 studies available for leisure hours. But the honey- 

 bee is something more than a wonder-maker, or 

 a peg on which to hang, dilettante moralisms. 

 Rightly treated and exactly understood, she can 

 be made of great use in the world. 



There are two things in this England of ours 

 which profoundly astonish all who love bees, and 

 have a true conception of their possibilities. 

 Travel where you may in the land, the last thing 

 you are likely to meet with is a bee-farm, or even 

 a few hives in a cottage-garden ; while every yard 

 of your way has its nook of blossom, and every 

 mile its stretch of flowery pasture, where, in sober 

 truth, tons o^oney|are annually running to waste. 

 All this could be garnered and sold to the people 

 at little trouble and great profit, if only enterprise 

 would wake up from its island-lethargy and stretch 

 forth the hand. But the years dribble uselessly 



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