Warning, don't give a poor man land and bees!

[Joseph]

‎"I do not think it is so certain or so safe a way of doing good, as by giving a poor man a stock of Bees, and then showing him how to take care of them, and to profit by them; for digging is thirsty work, and the beer-shop often stands hard by the allotment: so, although the labourer after his daily toil may go by himself to his plot of ground, yet he is very likely to find one or two gardeners, thirsty like himself, to walk toward home with him, but before they get there to drop into the beershop; and when once there, snugly seated in the chimney corner, neither I, nor, what is worse, their poor wives, can tell when they will get out of it."

WILLIAM CHARLES COTTON, M.A. in My Bee Book 1842

He also says: "a Bee-keeper's breath must be corrected by a cup of small beer, I should recommend, above all other drinks, one filled with good honey ale."

 

[beebopalula]

 

[For want of a better word]

"I do not think it is so certain or so safe a way of doing good, as by giving a poor man a stock of Bees, and then showing him how to take care of them, and to profit by them...
Was he the sage who also said " You can lead a horticulture, but you will never make her think...?