effected, I ask, cannot such a picture be 

 used by our opponents against us? 



We must keep comb liortey free from tlie 

 impression that it is otlier than tlie j)ure, 

 beautiful food God lias made it, working 

 tlirougli tlie wonderful instinct He has 

 planted in these little creatures. 



But let the impression once go forth that 

 it is otherwise, that it is " doctored," that it 

 contains anything of questioned purity, that 

 the beautiful comb is not the work of won- 

 derful instinct, but a thing gotten up by 

 machinery in any sense, and you have 

 deprived it of an interest to the consumer, 

 that must effect the sale of it as an orna- 

 ment and luxury to the table. 



The time may come when it will be cal- 

 culated as an article of food, like beans and 

 potatoes, simply for the amount of nutri- 

 ment it contains. But that time is not yet. 



Commercial men, whose business can be 

 changed at every emergency, dropping this 

 article they buy and sell, and taking up 

 another without serious loss ; or manufac- 

 turers, with a present self-interest, may 

 advocate its use, but the producer, who has 

 taken up the industry as a life business, 

 cannot, for a trifling consideration, afford to 

 affect its ]iresent standing as a strictly pure 

 and beautiful article of food. 



Of the few pure things tliat can be offered 

 to the public, as such, let this one of comb 

 honey remain permanent among them, as 

 the one most delicious in flavor, beautiful 

 in its purity, and of great interest, it being 

 the product of wonderful instinct. 



Some one may say that all wax is not 

 made from such stock as described. If not 

 all, I think there are but few bee-keepers 

 but what have seen such as described ren- 

 dered into wax. Others, that when foonda- 

 tious are used the bees reduce the thickness 

 to that of natural comb. 



And again, that they have been used in 

 surplus boxes and the product sold without 

 comi)laint. To the latter, I would call 

 attention to the small chance of any com- 

 plaint reaching the ear of the producer, and 

 to the fact that few consumers know of any 

 attempt to suplement nature. But publish 

 the fact that such a thing is introduced, and 

 that a substance of questioned purity, I 

 venture it will be found, and what has 

 been called a " fish bone " will be unpleas- 

 antly reported. While at times the bees 

 reduce the center quite thin, all who have 

 experimented know that very often, espe- 

 cially if the weather is cool, they leave it as 

 tliick as when introduced. 



For fear that some may misunderstand 

 me, I will say that I most heartily recom- 

 mend its use in the breeding apartment, 

 and believe it to take rank with the mova- 

 ble frame and extractor, the three great 

 improvements of the age. 



If there is profit in its use for surplus 

 boxes, there is no bee-keeper in the country 

 more favorably situated to reap such pres- 

 ent benefit than myself. But appreciating 

 in some, small measure the great future 

 interest at stake, I shall refrain from its 

 use, until careful thought and experiment 

 shall have determined to what extent it 

 may be used without the chance of inflict- 

 ing an inseperable damage to the industry. 

 J. E. Hetherington. 



Over-Stocking. 



KEAD BEFORE THE N. E. CONVEKTIOX. 



Brother Bee-Keepers of the NortJi-Eastern 

 Bee-Keepers^ Association : 

 Though the above sub.iect is somewhat 

 neglected of late, still I feel that it is one 

 that most of us will have occasion to think 

 of before many years pass by. It seems 

 that the mind of man is well calculated to 

 harbor accommodating theories, even unto 

 a settled belief. When we wish one to be- 

 lieve in our heaven, we do not try to prove 

 its existence, but we present in as glowing 

 style as possible, to his imagination, the 

 joys and beauties of that country — and he 

 believes from choice. 



Now, writers devoted to the different 

 branches of agriculture, of which bee-keep- 

 ing is one, take advantage of this same 

 weakness in us, their scholars, and treat us 

 to such errors as these : " This business is 

 the most profitable one known to man;" 

 " Can't over-do it;" "Hundreds of colonies 

 can be kept in nearly every locality without 

 overstocking the field;" "Thousands of 

 pounds of honey yearly go to waste," &c. 



It has been the business of the trinity of 

 reason, observation, and experience, called 

 science, to root out these accommodating 

 theories, and place in their stead some hard 

 facts, some of which are not just as we 

 would like them to be. It has been the 

 crowning glory of the nineteenth century to 

 prove the indestructibility of matter, and 

 the eternal persistence of force. Thus we 

 see that sweetness of any sort or kind has 

 never ".gone to waste." Maijle trees tapped 

 for many years lose their power to yield 

 sugar. The honey not gathered last season, 

 is to-day somewhen; in nature's great reser- 

 voir, awaiting the coming bee. (Cyprians, 

 no doubt.) 



How many colonies can we most profitably 

 keep in one place? Every one knows that 

 we can care for a number of colonies in one 

 apiary with much less expense and labor 

 than in two or three apiaries. An apiarist 

 whose judgment we all respect, last fall 

 " brimstoned" over one-half of his colonies. 

 Another successful bee-keeper said to me ; 

 " The ease of overstocking is little under- 

 stood by honey producers." 



My friend, W. J. Davis, of Youngsville, 

 Pa., whom we very well know to be a bee- 

 keeper of extraordinary skill and ojiportu- 

 nity, writes me as follows: " Your ideas of 

 'over-stocking' I know are correct, as aj)- 

 plied to this locality. I can secure more 

 surplus honey from 50 stocks (spring count), 

 than from 100 in the same locality. I have 

 now 100 in my home apiary, all heavy and in 

 fine trim for winter, and but for considera- 

 tions of humanity, I could net the most cash 

 within a year to kill one-half of them, using 

 the combs and honey for young swarms next 

 season." 



I would kill the queens about twenty-one 

 days earlier, and brush off the remaining 

 bees at the end of the honey season, sell the 

 honey, and lay away the combs for the next 

 year. 



I expect to see this method extensively 

 practiced by honey producers. It will pay 



