ADVANTAGES. 3 



6. Persons Unsnited to Bee-keeping. — Those who 

 have an idea that bees require no attention ; that care little for 

 their requirements, be it food in winter, or ventilation and shade 

 in summer — their only thought being the amount of honey 

 they can get without any trouble to the keepers. The I'll-do- 

 it-to-morrow bee-keeper cannot be successful. There are just 

 a few who are physiologically debarred from being bee-keepers, 

 but these are seldom met with. One who, when stung, feels 

 the effects in a highly dangerous form ; for such a one it is 

 extremely injudicious to keep, or, rather, to handle, bees. 

 There are many — and I wish to emphasise this — who start 

 bee-keeping, and expect others to look after their stocks. The 

 number of these is legion. To these, we advise either a little 

 more energy, or get rid of the bees. 



II.— ADVANTAGES OF BEE-KEEPING. 



6. An Intellectual Pursuit. — No one can watch a hive 

 of bees, be it an ordinary skep, a bar-frame, or an observatory 

 hive, without gaining intellectually. Watch the bee as it 

 brings home its load of pollen, carefully packed on its posterior 

 legs, just at the very time it is wanted for the hungry larvae 

 within. Step into the garden, and see it gathering these loads ; 

 not ,first on this species of flower and then on that, but choosing 

 all those belonging to one family — passing from a dandelion, 

 right over that box tree, choking with pollen, to another 

 dandelion adjacent ; dusting itself all over, and then, poising 

 in the air, removing the pollen grains from its body, and pack- 

 mg them tightly in its pollen baskets on each of its hind legs 

 while thus on the wing, and then returning to the flower for 

 another supply. Look into the observatory hive, and gaze 

 on the workers, hanging in clusters while secreting the wax, 

 and then, with busy feet and jaws, building their snow-white 

 comb with the minute scales of wax obtained from underneath 

 their bodies. Note the energy of those sentinel bees at the 

 entrance to the hive, in a moment detecting a stranger with 

 evident hostile intent — driving it away, or, perhaps, capturing and 

 killing it ; the industry with which they go and return with 

 their stores, collecting only such a description as is wanted at 

 that particular time, never for a moment at fault as to which to 

 take. What an example to the onlooker 1 How dense must be 

 his mind to fail to gain somethifig intellectual from these 

 examples 1 



7. An Aid to Health.. — Fresh air, plenty of sunlight, 

 healthy occupation for the mind, a moderate amount of exercise, 

 are all conducive to our well-being. All these bee-keeping 

 offers. The weakly are sufficiently strong to manage a few 

 hives of bees ; they require no great physical strength, but, 

 to attend to them, we must be in the fresh air and sunlight 



B 2 



