Bee-Keeping

Synopsis

We live in a practical age. Proposals of all sorts are too often, right or wrong, weighed against gold:—"How much will it bring? Can I turn a penny by this business?" I do not pretend to say bee-masters are rich men, or that the way to a fortune is through a bee-hive; but I do assert that a poor parish minister, vicar, or curate with a little glebe—a cottager who works all day for the squire—or maiden ladies who desire to engage in very delightful and loving labour—may add to their little income or stipend or dividend from ten to twenty pounds a year.

To half-pay officers I would earnestly recommend bee-keeping. It would keep them out of those wild speculations into which, from their inexperience in business matters, they are so frequently and ruinously drawn, by giving them an interest, which would soon become a passion, in studying and conferring with a new family, besides yielding them a few spare sovereigns for personal use or charity.

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