There is nothing like a testimonial to appeal to a receptive reader! This article by Albert Cook contains a few.
Albert Cook wrote this in 1904 at the age of 62. He was an open minded man for his time, although the cultural bias of the 19th century are noticeable in his phrasing, his intent is clearly supportive of women run businesses. Women have worked apiaries "forever", but a dedicated business is different than farm work which includes bees within the money making opportunities from surplus crop and animal products.
(Beekeeping's) ADAPTATION TO WOMEN.
Albert Cook wrote this in 1904 at the age of 62. He was an open minded man for his time, although the cultural bias of the 19th century are noticeable in his phrasing, his intent is clearly supportive of women run businesses. Women have worked apiaries "forever", but a dedicated business is different than farm work which includes bees within the money making opportunities from surplus crop and animal products.
This following illustrations are not from the article but were published 1905
showing women students of beekeeping.
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Tuskegee & Its People - Their Ideals and Achievements By Booker T. Washington |
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| http://www.womenintexashistory.org/learn/papers/ |
(Beekeeping's) ADAPTATION TO WOMEN.
Apiculture may also bring succor to those whom society
has not been over-ready to favor — our women. Widowed
mothers, dependent girls, the weak and the feeble, all may find
a blessing in the easy, pleasant and profitable labors of the
apiary. Of course, women who lack vigor and health can care
for but very few colonies, and must have sufficient strength to
bend over and lift the small-sized frames of comb when loaded
with honey, and to carry empty hives.
With the proper
thought and management, full colonies need never be lifted,
nor work done in the hot sunshine. Yet, right here let me
add, and emphasize the truth, that only those who will let energetic thought and skillful plan, and above all promptitude and
persistence, make up for physical weakness, should enlist as
apiarists.
Usually a stronger body and improved health, the
result of pure air, sunshine and exercise, will make each successive day's labor more easy, and will permit a corresponding
growth in the size of the apiary for each successive season. One of the most noted apiarists, not only in America, but in
the world, sought in bee-keeping her health, and found not
only health, but reputation and influence. Some of the most
successful apiarists in our country are women. Of these,
many were led to adopt the pursuit because of waning health,
grasping at this as the last and successful weapon with which
to vanquish the grim monster.
That able apiarist, and terse writer on apiculture, Mrs. L.
Harrison, states that the physicians told her that she could not
live; but apiculture did for her what the physicians could not
do— restored her to health, and gave her such vigor that she
has been able to work a large apiary for years.
Said "Cyula Linswik"—whose excellent and beautifully written articles have so often charmed the readers of the bee-
journals, and who has had many years of successful experience as an apiarist — in a paper read before the Michigan convention in March, 1887:
Although Mrs. Baker commenced with but two colonies of bees, her net profits the first season were over $100; the second year but a few cents less than $300; and the third year about $250. "The proof of the pudding is in the eating", and such words as those above show that apiculture offers special inducements to our sisters to become either amateur or professional apiarists. At the present time almost every State has women bee-keepers, whose success has won attention.
($300 is worth, in today's dollars, around $8,000.)
True it is, that in neatness and delicacy of manipulation, the women far surpass the men. The nicest honey produced in Michigan, year after year, comes from the apiary of two ladies who I believe are peers of any bee-keepers in our country.
"I would gladly purchase exemption from indoor work, on washing-day, by two days' labor among the bees, and I find two hours' labor at the ironing-table more fatiguing than two hours of the severest toil the apiary can exact."I repeat, that apiculture offers to many women not only pleasure but profit. Mrs. L. B. Baker, of Lansing, Mich., who had kept bees very successfully for four years, read an admirable paper before the same convention, in which she said:
"But I can say, having tried both (keeping boarding-house and apiculture), I give bee-keeping the preference, as more profitable, healthful, independent and enjoyable. ...I find the labors of the apiary more endurable than working over a cook-stove indoors, and more pleasant and conducive to health. ... I believe that many of our delicate and invalid ladies would find renewed vigor of body and mind in the labors and recreations of the apiary. By beginning in the early spring, when the weather was cool and the work light, I became gradually accustomed to outdoor labor, and by midsummer found myself as well able to endure the heat of the sun as my husband, who has been accustomed to it all his life. Previously, to attend an open-air picnic was to return with a headache. ... My own experience in the apiary has been a source of interest and enjoyment far exceeding my anticipations."
Although Mrs. Baker commenced with but two colonies of bees, her net profits the first season were over $100; the second year but a few cents less than $300; and the third year about $250. "The proof of the pudding is in the eating", and such words as those above show that apiculture offers special inducements to our sisters to become either amateur or professional apiarists. At the present time almost every State has women bee-keepers, whose success has won attention.
($300 is worth, in today's dollars, around $8,000.)
True it is, that in neatness and delicacy of manipulation, the women far surpass the men. The nicest honey produced in Michigan, year after year, comes from the apiary of two ladies who I believe are peers of any bee-keepers in our country.
The Bee-keeper's Guide: or, Manual of the Apiary, 1904, Albert Cook, (1842-1916)
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