rORTY YEARS AMONG THE BEES. 311 



They are generally quite considerate in refraining from 

 interrupting my work by remarks directed personally to 

 me, but sometimes they forget. 



I count myself singularly blessed in having a home 

 where all the members of the family are so united in their 

 tastes and enjoyments. One of our chief earthly pleas- 

 ures is the love of flowers. At our quiet country home we 

 have room unlimited for producing summer roses by the' 

 bushel, and the bay window of the sitting-room brightens 

 the days of winter with its bright colors and luxuriant 

 green. If you were here, I am sure you would enjoy a 

 sight of that window, and then I would take pride in dis- 

 playing to you my set of china honey-dishes shown in the 

 first picture in the book. They were painted by my sister, 

 each dish showing a separate honey-plant, one-half the 

 dish being covered by a honey-comb. 



I desire to record my deep gratitude to a loving 

 Heavenly Father for giving me so busy and happy a life ; 

 and for you, dear reader, I can hardly express a better 

 wish than that your life may be as happy, if not as busy, 

 as mine. 



Some years ago, at the instigation of Editor E. R. Root. I 

 wrote a honey-leaflet which has been circulated by hundreds of 

 thousands. It has been thought well that it should be repro- 

 duced in more permanent form by having a place in the present 

 work, and here follows : 



HONEY AS rt WHOLESOME FOOD. 



About 60 pounds of sugar on the average is annually consumed by 

 every man, woman and child in the United States. Of course, many use 

 less than the average, but to make up for it some consume several times 

 as much. It is only within the last few centuries that sugar has become 

 known, and only within the last generation that refined sugars have become 

 so low in price that they may be commonly used in the poorest- fami- 

 lies. Formerly honey was the principal sweet, and it was one of the 

 items sent as a propitiatory offering by Jacob to his unrecognized son, the 

 chief ruler of Egypt, 3,000 years before the first sugar-refinery was built. 



It would be greatly for the heaith of the present generation if honey 



