106 FOLLOWING THE BEE LINE 
thing, let her take her worries to the bees. They 
will take care of them just as well as she. Further¬ 
more, they will give her something else to worry 
about—of such a different nature that it will be a 
change and relaxation to her mind. She will have 
to forget her own problems and those of her neigh¬ 
bors when the bees are swarming or she is hunting 
for the queen! 
The preponderance of the male sex among bee¬ 
keepers may be because beekeeping is a branch of 
agriculture; not distinctly a woman’s line, and only 
undertaken by individuals here and there. More¬ 
over, it seems that women generally must classify the 
bee as a most particularly undesirable acquaintance. 
The industry simply does not attract women into its 
ranks in any considerable number. So much more 
the pity, from the standpoint of one who has not 
only known its many disappointments but also its 
many more joys. 
Yet, though their numbers be comparatively few, 
there are some very fine, able women beekeepers; 
owners of a few hives kept for enjoyment and pin 
money; and real apiarists with apiaries of many 
hundred colonies. 
In several large apiaries in this country, women 
take charge of all the work connected with queen 
