seasons, genuine hard work. * * * There is risk in the business, I would not have you ignore this fact, but an experience of five years has led me to believe that the risk is less than is generally supposed." Mrs. L. B. Baker, of Lansing, Michigan, who has 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 in-doors, 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 out-door labor, and by mid-summer 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 head-ache. * * * 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;" so, too, such words as given above, show that apiculture offers special inducements to our sisters to become either amateur or professional apiarists. IMPROVES THE MIND AND THE OBSERVATION.