Bee-keeping is one of the best of these life-saving, nerve-healing avocations; it takes the mind from household cares as completely as would a trip to Europe, for one cannot work with bees and think of anything else. Some of the attributes which make bee-keeping an interesting avocation I will mention: First of all, the bees are such wonderful little creatures and so far beyond any comprehension, that they have for us always the fascination of an unsolved problem. I never pass our hives without mentally asking, "Well, you dear little rascals, what will you do next?" The bees are of particular interest to women for several reasons, if she likes good housekeeping, then the bee is a model; if she likes a woman of business, again is the bee a shining light; if she is interested in the care of the young, then is the bee nurse an example of perfection; if she believes in the political rights of woman, she will find the highest feminine political wisdom in the constitution of the bee commune. In fact, it is only as a wife that the bee is a little too casual to pose as an ideal, although as a widow she is certainly remarkable and perhaps notorious.

Another phase which makes bee-keeping a pleasing avocation for women is that much of the work is interesting and attractive. I never sit down to the "job" of folding sections and putting in starters without experiencing joy at the prettiness of the work. And if there is any higher artistic happiness than comes from cleaning up a section holding a pound of well-capped amber honey and putting the same in a dainty carton for market, then I have never, experienced it; and the making of pictures has been one of my regular vocations. By the way, woman has never used her artistic talent rightly in this matter of cartons. Each woman bee-keeper ought to make her own colored design for her carton, thus securing something so individual and attractive as to catch at once the eye of the consumer.

As a means of cultivating calmness, patience, and self-control the bee is a well recognized factor. Bees can be, and often are, profoundly exasperating, and yet how worse than futile it is to evince that exasperation by word or movement. No creature reacts quicker against irritation than does the bee. She can not be kicked or spanked; and if we smoke her too much, we ourselves are the losers. There is only one way to manage exasperation with bees, and that is to control it, and this makes the apiary a means of grace.

The money-making side of bee-keeping is a very important phase in arousing and continuing the woman's interest in her work. I think woman is by birth and training a natural gambler, and the uncertainties of the nectar supply and of the honey market add rather than detract from her interest in her apiary. I have known of several women who have made comfortable incomes and supported their families by bee-keeping; but, as yet,

I think such instances are few. However, I believe there are a large number of women who have added a goodly sum yearly to their amount of spending money, and have found the work a joy instead of drudgery. Personally, I have had but little experience with the commercial side of bee-keeping. Once when our maddeningly successful apiary grew to forty hives when we did not want more than a dozen at most, and the neighborhood was surfeited with our bounty, we were "just naturally" obliged to sell honey. We enjoyed greatly getting the product ready for market, and were somewhat surprised that so much fun could be turned into ready cash. As a matter of fact, both my husband and myself have absorbing vocations and avocations in plenty so that our sole reason for keeping bees is just because we love the little creatures, and find them so interesting that we would not feel that home was really home without them; the sight of our little busy co-workers adds daily to our psychic income. We are so very busy that we have very little time to spend with them, and we have finally formulated our ideals for our own beekeeping. and that is to keep bees for honey and for "fun." We shall have plenty of honey for our own table and just enough to bestow on the neighbors, so they will not get tired of it: and fun enough to season life with an out-of-doors interest and the feeling that no summer day is likely to pass without a surprise.