> A remarkable amount of folklore has from the earliest times attached itself to bees...

In defense of the authors of "folklore", bees thrived no matter what one did to them, and swarms abounded in those days, so nearly any approach to finding a swarm would seem wildly successful, and most any "management technique", even those bordering on outright abuse would result in a crop of honey, and enough bees raised to produce yet another swarm in spring.  Many farmers would literally have a hive of bees by the barn, and ignore it, except to harvest in late spring and in early fall.

This is what led to the perception that beekeeping "wasn't work", or wasn't a serious occupation.  

When I retired in the mid 1990s, and bought a 660 acre former dairy farm, my neighbors, all dairymen, asked me what I was going to do with the farm.  When I replied "I will be keeping bees.", the response was "That's not farming!, That's not even work!", which I countered with "You are welcome to come by at ear-tagging time, try your hand at it, and see for yourself just how hard the work is."

We got along fine.  

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