Who Should Keep Bees?
61. The care of an apiary is well adapted to furnish recreation to men of sedentary professions, lawyers, ministers, doctors, and teachers especially, who are often at leisure during the summer months when the bees require the greatest amount of attention, and who may thus add quite a little to their income. Ladies may keep bees, and often succeed better than men, because they pay more attention to details. The bee-business is a business of details. It has been stated that the handling of heavy hives or supers full of honey is too hard for women, but it is easy to secure occasional help to do the heavy lifting required only when the honey crop is good. Patience, persistence before discouragements, neatness and foresight are the requirements of an apiarist. You must also learn to handle bees without fear, if you expect to enjoy the work. This is not difficult, and directions will be found in another chapter (74). Very little capital is required, for the business must be learned on a sma
