kindness of purpose that prompt men in their daily acts and to realize that it is woman's place to know her business of homemaking with its thousand duties just as much as it is man's duty to make the money for that home; to know as much about the gluten in the flour that makes their daily bread as the husband knows about the nitrogen in the fertilizer; to know how to make scraped beef when the child is sick as well as he knows how to tend the cattle; to know the cause and prevention of typhoid and to have a knowledge of those little labor-saving devices for the kitchen, the most expensive of which in the home are less dear than the cheapest of those used for man's work in the field. The only means that the average busy, tired mother on the farm has of gaining this knowledge is through the Woman's Institute, and she does not get that unless she attends the meetings.

The work of the Woman's Branch of the Farmers' Institute has met with warm approval and hearty enthusiasm through the State, as is evidenced by the fact that in 1906 there were twenty-one institutes held and this year seventy-four, with requests for more from every quarter. The women are just waking up to the great advantages to be derived from attending the institutes. There are three classes of people whom we women of the State wish to reach first, the legislators, who are the husbands, fathers, brothers and sons of ourselves. Our work being new it is not strange that they do not understand its purposes. When we bring to them a knowledge of what is being done in a definite, practical, first-hand manner by things learned, by lessons applied, there will be no trouble in getting legislators to lend their aid in extending this great work. In Ontario the members of the Legislature think so highly of it that where the women of a county band themselves into a local Woman's Institute the government gives them a grant of money to defray expenses.

Secondly, there are the men whom we need to have realize that they need our aid in all things, where the home and children are intimately affected. We have an example of how small, narrow and short-sighted the men of a community can be, right here in our own State. In one of our counties the men took little interest in having a good school for their own children, not having sufficient education themselves to realize its advantages, and a woman— free, talented and a money-maker-came in and worked until the school was provided. The men were so pleased that they wrote to Raleigh asking if it was legal to put her on the school board, and when the answer came, "The law says 'he' and 'him,' and not 'she' and 'her,' they said they would defy the law and put her on the school board, for it was nothing but right. They did put her on, and so efficient was she, so progressive, that the devil stepped in and said: "She makes better use of her brains than you men, she is more progressive, she is trying to build your children into noble men and women in spite of you, and hark, my children, she is making more money than any man of you, so cast her out, cast her out”; and these men, exulting in the manly, noble privilege of a free country, cast their votes against her, and did their utmost to stem the tide of progress. She was like a big toad in a very little puddle-she stirred up much mud and exposed the hidden, harmful germs of ignorance to the sunlight that kills.

Let us, as women, when we see any evidences of smallness of spirit on the part of man, or woman either, realize that without progress our children are not going to take their places in the great and ever-increasing tramp, tramp, tramp of humanity. There is no such thing as standing still; if we are not going forward we are going back, for, as Tennyson says, "The lives of men are widened by the progress of the suns." Above all things, let us make up our minds to accomplish our purposes, not by arrogance and combativeness and ill temper, but by sweetness, kindness and appeal to the reason of man.

Third. Let us realize that we come together more as teachers than as students. The army manual says that to be a good commander you must be a good soldier, so to be a good teacher you must be a good student. Let us come together as students and go forth as teachers; teachers in our own homes by example; teachers to our neighbors by word and helpfulness in time of need. and teachers to all the world by word and helpfulness and example in all that is of lasting benefit.

One thing I wish to emphasize, and that is the lack of development of local talent. I hope it will be but a very few years before local talent will be so utilized that to the country women will belong the organization, and then, instead

of the Department sending out speakers, the local organization will but appeal to the Department for specialists along whatever lines it at that time deems helpful. The best good can be accomplished only by the scientifically trained worker joining hands with the one whose information is gained by practical experience.

In the matter of labor-saving devices I have a few words to say. Where do you think your home farm would be to-day in comparison with the neighbors' if the only devices used were an old wooden plow and a mule? Many of the kitchens on the farms, as compared with the modern kitchen, is as that farm compared to a fine one in which machinery accomplishes what muscle could never do.

The kitchen is the workshop of the home, and the worker in it must have the proper tools if she is going to accomplish the greatest amount of work with the least expenditure of labor. If a man can have improved plows, harrows, etc., which cost many dollars, we can have a Blue Flame oil stove, the largest and finest of which costs $12.50, or a good range, or a washing machine and wringer for $8.50, oilcloths for the tables at twelve and one-half cents a yard, and the various graters and squeezers, which seldom cost over ten cents.

There is one matter to which I wish to draw your attention, and that is the necessity for interesting the young women in the work. They are the future homemakers, the wives of our sons and the mothers of our grandchildren. Encourage them to feel that they are a very important part of the organization, that they may consciously or unconsciously realize the dignity of home labor and the futility of going forth to be teachers or helpers in cities when their labor and brightness are more needed at home.

We cannot make our girls enjoy kitchen work until we make kitchens brighter and work less arduous. We cannot accomplish that until we make use of labor-saving devices, and we cannot get those until we have either obtained incomes of our own or succeeded in making the men see things domestic in the right light. And how woefully ignorant most men are of things domestic! If more men recognized the ability and strength it took to properly manage home perhaps more wives would have heart to make more effort. Men like to poke fun at woman's ignorance of business. Is it one-tenth as great as the dense ignorance of most men of matters pertaining to the work of the home? When any man realizes that the time saved from washing black pots and scrubbing bare boards will be spent in bringing up his children properly, in making home brighter, and in keeping herself bonnie for him, he will be glad to succumb and let her use her judgment in her own province.

A girl's ideal at seventeen

Must have fine eyes,

Likewise a bold and striking mien,

And faultless ties.

But later on her fancies roam

To one who'll bring his wages home.

A man's ideal at seventeen

Must be a sprite.

A dainty, fluffy little queen

Of sheer delight.

But later on he sort of feels

He'd like a girl who can cook his meals.

The woman who goes to the meetings will gain a knowledge of diseases, their cause and prevention, helps in the upbringing and educating of her children, a practical knowledge of the laws of hygiene; in short, a knowledge of homemaking and home keeping.

Like the little woman who said, "I never did do outside work, but I came to realize that I just had to go outside to know what was going inside my baby," let us use our own brains in deciding for ourselves the right of any moral custom in the community, and throw all our weight on the side we believe to be right. When we get to heaven the great book of life will not show how many times we used our influence on the side that was popular in the home, but it will show whether or not we used our influence for good or bad. Let it be good.

A French writer says: "If we would upbuild our nation, let us educate the mothers of our future sons." A superintendent of institute work puts it more beautifully than I can when he says: "Although we hear of political corruption, and betrayals of trusts, and frauds in business, we can place every confidence in the stability of the nation when the best mothers and daughters meet together in large numbers, with a common object in view-the betterment of the home and the advancement of the nation-For Home and Country.'

BEE-KEEPING AS AN OCCUPATION FOR WOMEN.

By WALTER L. WOMBLE, Raleigh, N. C.

Of the various industries in the State of North Carolina, bee-keeping could, with intelligent management and the expenditure of a little energy, be made to pay handsomely with less outlay of capital and time than anything else I know of; and of the various classes engaged in bee-keeping, the "woman on the farm," it strikes me, is the one best fitted to push this industry to the front.

In the first place, nature, as a rule, provides her with a good field, and this, combined with study and energy, will, under favorable circumstances, yield her quite a little income annually.

Do not understand me to say there are no ups and downs in the business, that all is clear sailing, that you will make money every year and plenty of it, regardless of the kind of bees you keep, the boxes you use or the section you live in, for such will not be the case.

Bee-keeping, as an occupation for woman, has its objectionable as well as commendable features, and for this reason I would not advise any woman to adopt it as an occupation until she is satisfied beyond a doubt that the section in which she lives is well fitted for bee-keeping. It is also necessary that she herself should have a taste for the business, otherwise I would not advise her to engage in it at all.

It is true, there are women in our State who have made quite a success financially as professional bee-keepers; but such cases are very rare and the sections in which they live are exceptionally fine for the production of honey. This is not said to discourage bee-keeping as an occupation, but as a profession.

While there are some whose locations are especially adapted to bee-keeping and who make handsome incomes annually, there are others who, with the same expenditure of labor and capital, owing to the unsuitability of their locations, make little or nothing. Hence, the location has more to do with successful bee-keeping, according to my way of thinking, than anything else. For instance, there are sections of our State where from 200 to 300 colonies of bees may be successfully kept in one yard, owing to an abundance of good honey-producing plants, while there are others where not more than a dozen may be kept profitably.

The proper method is not to invest too heavily at first. Two or three or four colonies of Italian bees in improved or movable frame boxes are sufficient to start with. Then subscribe to some good bee journal and study the business-study it hard. Test your field thoroughly, and add no more colonies to your yard than the field will support and give you a fair surplus under ordinary circumstances. When you have reached this point you can sell your increase (if you keep good, pure-bred stock) and add quite a nice sum to your income annually. If you keep good stock and advertise it, you will have no trouble in selling it at a fair price. And right here I will say there are more ways than one to get money out of bees. There is just as much money to be made from the sale of queen bees as there is from the sale of honey, and in a dull season, when there is not much honey made, you can divide your stock, build them up and sell off the surplus and still have as many or more

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colonies than you started with for the fall or next spring honey crop. ficial division and queen-rearing can both be very readily learned by anyone that has a taste for bee-keeping, and by these methods a nice little sum may be picked up annually by the farmer's wife or daughters.

If you wish to make a success with bees, do not start with black bees in box hives. If you do, you need not expect to succeed. Purchase one or more boxes of Italian bees in improved boxes, and start right. There is just as much in the stock of bees as there is in well-bred cattle, or anything else. The Italian bee was imported from Italy many years ago, and, after undergoing most thorough tests by expert bee-keepers, has long since been pronounced and recognized as the best all-round, general-purpose bee in the world. You will make no mistake in buying the Italian, either the three-banded, five-banded, golden, or leather-colored varieties. All are good.

The Italian will fly further for honey than any other bee, and, owing to its greater tongue-reach, can gather honey from many deep-tubed flowers which the common black bee cannot work at all. The tongue of the average Italian will measure from 20/100 to 21/100 of an inch, while that of our common black bee will not exceed 16/100 of an inch. Hence, when crimson clover is grown the Italians will, as a rule, store a nice crop of surplus honey, while the blacks will procure hardly enough to keep themselves alive. I have proven this to my own satisfaction time and again.

There is another point in favor of the Italians that speaks highly for them: They will not, under ordinary circumstances, tolerate the presence of the moth or webworm that destroys thousands of boxes of bees annually throughout the country where the blacks are kept.

An old box hive, as you perhaps know, sometimes throws out three or four swarms of bees in the spring. In a case of this kind there are usually not enough bees left to cover the combs. And here is where the moth gets in her work. It is the nature of the black bee to protect no more comb than they actually cover, and in a case of this kind three-fourths of the comb remains unprotected. Hence, the moth crawls in and deposits eggs in the cells of all unprotected combs, and in due time each egg produces a worm that spins webs from comb to comb, and in a short time completely destroys that which remains of the colony of bees and every particle of comb.

In the case of the Italians it is quite different. They rarely swarm themselves weak, and when this does occur I have proved that, though only a handful may be left, they will industriously traverse the combs and keep them clean and free from the eggs that the moth may slip in and deposit.

Perhaps it is not generally known that a colony of bees consists of four classes: Two classes of workers, queen and drones. The two classes of workers are field bees, those that gather pollen and honey, and nurse bees or combbuilders, those that attend to the duties inside the box. The duty of the field force is to bring the honey in and deposit it in the cells, while the nurse bees seal it up at the proper time, and also deposit food in the cells containing eggs or "grubs" (which are young bees just started), to be consumed by the "grub" after the cell is sealed up, which is promptly done on the ninth day from the time the egg is deposited by the queen. In twelve days more young, thoroughly developed bees will gnaw their way from the cells and crawl around on the comb two or three days before going forth on the wing to gather honey from the field.

A full colony contains usually from 30.000 to 60,000 bees, and, with the exception of a few hundred drones, all are females. It is strictly a "female institution," governed, and perfectly, too, by a queen. The drone, while he performs certain duties prescribed for him, has no "say so" as to the government of the colony at all. He is created for certain purposes, and after these are performed he is cast forth from the box, crippled and maimed, to starve. One of the most wonderful things about bees is this: By special feeding and treatment they can produce from any egg in the box either a worker, queen or drone. This is wonderful and something no expert has yet been able to explain.

Another wonderful thing, too, is this: It has been proven beyond contradiction that a good healthy queen can lay during the heavy breeding season, which is late spring, from 2,000 to 3,000 eggs a day. Now, to one not familiar

with bee-keeping this may seem unreasonable, but there is nothing strange about it. I have taken a comb from a box on which was a laying queen and proven to my own satisfaction that such is true. Of course, her body does not contain all these eggs at one time. After exhausting her supply she resorts to a cell or cut containing a white, "pasty"-like food. She will partake of this food and you can see with your naked eye her body gradually grow larger. After a bit she moves away and it will not be long before you will see her begin depositing eggs as before. Of course, it is absolutely necessary that she lay heavily, as she has a family of 30,000 or 60,000 to keep up, as the life of the field bee, or worker, is only about twenty-one days to a month. During the honey season they are dying by the hundred every day and hatching out at the same rate. Thus the "wheel" turns round.

To exhaust this subject would take an indefinite period. Like Tennyson's "Brook," it has no end.

Bee-keeping could be made a paying industry in this State, and if intelligently managed would be a source of considerable revenue; but as the men, who constitute the reigning factors in our State government, cannot see the matter in the light in which I have tried again and again to put it, I now appeal to the "woman on the farm," the farmers' wives and their daughters. It is up to you, ladies, to start the "ball a-rolling." I hope to live to see the day when the farmers' wives have made such progress along this line that their "masters" (?) will open their pocketbooks and cheerfully lend their assistance.

I guess you all have heard the story of the old woman and old man that were attacked by a bear. The man, without offering any protection whatever to his wife, climbed a tree and left her to fight the bear alone, which she did, and very soon laid him low with an axe. When the bear breathed his last breath, the old man came down from the tree and, seizing the axe, exclaimed: "Stand aside, Martha, and let me show you how to kill that 'b'ar.''

So it will be, perhaps, with the farmer's wife and her bees. When she begins to make annually from $50 to $100 from a half-dozen to a dozen boxes of bees, giving them but a small portion of her time during the swarming season, his eyes will then be opened, perhaps, and he, no doubt, will then come forward and offer to show her "how to keep bees."

California produces, on an average, from 3,000,000 to 5,000,000 pounds of honey annually and ships to the eastern markets from 200 to 300 car loads each year, and enjoys not only a national but an international reputation as a honey-producing State; while North Carolina, on the other hand, which has twice the number of bees of California, according to government statistics, enjoys no reputation at all as a honey-producing State, though she has a finer field for bees than California. What's the trouble? Answer: Crude methods in North Carolina and scientific bee-keeping in California.

As I have traveled extensively through North Carolina, California, Texas, Florida and other honey-producing States, I can honestly say I have never yet found a section that surpasses western and eastern North Carolina as bee-producing sections.

What we need to place North Carolina in the front ranks is energy, intelligence and up-to-date methods. There is plenty of money in bees and honey, but you will not get it by keeping your bees in old box-hives, hollow logs, nail kegs, etc. Modern boxes, modern bees and modern methods are the requisites to successful bee-keeping.