THE MODERN BEE-FARM 261 
for diseases of the chest and throat. Thera- 
peutic hints from laymen are generally looked upon 
askance by medical men—at least, by those of the 
old-fashioned type; yet, on the chance that this 
page may come under the eye of some of the more 
elastic-minded, the thing may be hazarded. There 
are many who believe in it, and with good reason, 
as a sovereign specific where the disease is a wast- 
ing one. It is nothing else than the once famous 
Athole Brose, which, as all Scottish bee-keepers 
know, consist of equal parts of good thick honey, 
preferably from ling-heather, and of cream, and of 
mature Scotch whisky from the pot-still. Little 
and often is the rule for its administration, but, un- 
like most old wife’s remedies, faith has nothing to 
do with its wonder-working. Scepticism is a soil 
in which it seems to flourish as well as any. 
The man of business, resolved to take up bee- 
keeping as a livelihood, must, at the outset, decide 
on what scale he will carry the matter through. 
There are two aspects of the thing, each more 
alluring than the other, according to the tempera- 
ment and point of view. There is the Simple 
Life and the bee-garden—a life spent in the 
green quiet of an English village, within reach of 
a market town, where the produce of the hives 
may be disposed of. And there is the greater 
enterprise, the foundation of a bee-farm on an 
extensive scale, and on the most approved scien- 
tific principles, where the object is to supply the 
