Thanks to Gail Duncan for sharing a gem of beekeeping history — “I guess it could have been worse,” she says, of the “Beekeeping for Women” section from the 1915 classic Beekeeping book by E.F. Phillips. “Sounds like he was trying to soften the blow to the dear sweet women folk!”
Beekeeping for Women
A question much discussed in books and journals on bees is that of beekeeping for women. Many women can and do handle bees (Fig 14) with marked success. In those parts of the business which require delicacy of touch and minute attention, such as queen-rearing, women often surpass men in proficiency. As amateur beekeepers they are at home.
The question which usually presents itself, however, is whether beekeeping is suitable for women as a means of earning a livelihood and repeatedly has the writer been asked for advice on this subject. Professional beekeeping on a scale sufficiently large to supply an adequate income requires long hours of work in the hot sun, heavy lifting and unremitting physical endurance. On a small scale these obstacles may be overcome, but in a commercial apiary, the work must be done promptly, for delay means loss. While some women have found pleasure and profit in the commercial beekeeping, it emphatically cannot be recommended for the majority of women, and this should be made clear to avoid disappointment for those who may be attracted to it. Of course, this applies only to those women who have no man in the company to do the heavy work. Many a professional beekeeper has received assistance of incalculable value from the women of the family. It should be made clear that the obstacles to the commercial success of women beekeepers are physical ones only.
Beekeeping: A Discussion of the Life of the Honeybee and of the Production of Honey
by Everett Franklin Phillips (1878-1951)
The rural science series, L.H. Bailey editor
New York: The Macmillan Company, © 1915, reprinted 1917
p.15-16
Gail Duncan is lucky enough to have a printed copy of this book, which she brought to show us at the the last CBA meeting, but the rest of us will have to enjoy it online. The full text is available in The Hive and the Honeybee: Selections from the E. F. Philips Beekeeping Collection at Mann Library, Cornell University.
The Phillips’ Beekeeping Collection at Cornell’s Albert R. Mann Library is one of the largest and most complete apiculture libraries in the world. The Hive and the Honey Bee consists of the full text of 30 rare beekeeping books from the Phillips Collection, and each book is fully searchable. To find out more about supporting this growing collection, please contact Eveline Ferretti, Albert R. Mann Library, by telephone at (607) 254-4993 or email ef15@cornell.edu or visit http://bees.library.cornell.edu.
Myths about honey bees abound and the Central Beekeepers Alliance (CBA) is devoted to smashing these misconceptions. 