22 



THE AMERICAN AFICULTURIST. 



out, the sooner will he grow contented 

 to take things as they come, especially 

 when lie can do nothing that will make 

 them diflerent. 



5. By agitation. Comparatively few 

 to-day know the great value of honey 

 both as a food and medicine. Were its 

 value as a medicine thoroughly known 

 it would displace in thousands of famil- 

 ies, the domestic remedies, or quack 

 compounds now depended upon by 

 them as cure-alls. 



If every beekeeper in the country 

 would write a series of articles for his 

 local weekly newspapers upon the val- 

 ue of honey, etc., it would soon create 

 a demand to supply which would re- 

 quire a much larger quantity than is 

 now produced. 



G, The marketing our honey. The 

 law of supply and demand regulates 

 itself as a rule ; still a demand can be 

 created, at any time by a little eflbrt. 

 Honey is now looked upon as a luxury ; 

 Its value as a remedial agent in many 

 diseases is unknown. All that is re- 

 quired on the part of the public is to 

 know its value and an immense demand 

 will be found to arise for it. There is 

 no reason why judicious advertising 

 should not cause a demand for a pro- 

 duct of the value of honey, when it will 

 set the world crazy over some humbug 

 quackpoison. 



If the beekeepers of every section 

 would associate themselves together 

 with a community of purpose and in- 

 terest, they would soon become a pow- 

 er that would be felt ; so long as they 

 undertake to work apart, they will be 

 like the bundle of twigs, weak wlien 

 separated ; strong as_^a steel cable when 

 united in harmony. 



Foxboro, Mass. 



ANSWERS BY G. AV. DEMAREE. 



1. I think the great variety in 

 hives, sections, etc., a misfortune to be- 

 ginners. I call to mind this minute 

 beekeepers who are doing poor work 

 in their apiaries from year to year 

 simply because they adopted an infe- 

 rior hive and implements at a time 

 when they did not know any better. 

 The facts show that the standard 

 Langstroth hive is in use by success- 

 ful beekeepers in every state in the 

 union, and perhaps the same may be 

 said of some other hives. This indi- 

 cates that it is possible to construct a 

 hive that will answer every purpose 

 in every section of the north and the 

 south. 



The whims of beekeepers are a great- 

 er barrier in the way of adopting a 

 standard hive than all the difficulties in 

 the way of its construction. This lilve 

 business has nearly ruined the bee in- 

 terest. The meaner the hive, the 

 more blowing is resorted to, to induce 

 the ignorant to buy it. 



2. In view of the fact that the adul- 

 terators of the present time are under- 

 mining the health and the morals of the 

 people, we should have no doubt as to 

 what our duty is. We should expose 

 the thieving business at all times, and 

 on all suitable occasions. Much has 

 already been done in this direction. A 

 few years ago, glucose honey was sold 

 openly in the .stores here, and people 

 talked about recipes to make honey. 



Glucose sugar and glucose syrup 

 were as connnon as our daily bread. 

 Well, the few first articles I wrote in 

 our local papers, exposing the fraud, 

 brought out some opposition and some 

 attempt at ridicule, but I battei'ed 

 away at the sneaking business till it 

 slunk its dirty self away out of sight. 

 The great masses of the people have 

 no sympathy for the sly craftsmen, 

 hence, all that is necessary is to edu- 

 cate them. I have about as much pa- 

 tience with the conceited wise man, 

 who proposes to kill the adulterators 

 by " letting them alone," as I would 

 have with the farmer who proposed to 

 kill the weeds in his cornfields by "let- 

 ting them alone." 



;>. Anything that is Avorth doing at 

 all should be done well. There is no 

 reason why the small honey producer 

 .should not put his honey, which he de- 

 sires for the market, in as good shape 

 as the larger producers do. If he 

 does this he is not in the way. 



4. I think they set their colter too 

 deep. Conventions in our state have 

 helped the honey mai-ket. I used to 

 sell a little honey at a big price, and 

 that was all that I could do. My bees 

 would not pay me now in that way, as 

 we must sell honey by the tons. We 

 accept "demands" for large lots of 

 honey at lower prices, rather than lit- 

 tle or no demand at high prices. The 

 greatest enemy the honey producer has 

 is., those publications which are pub- 

 lished in the interests of the proprie- 

 tors whose business it is to collect 

 money from other people to pay their 

 advertising bills, and to allure a lot of 

 blockheads into the "bee business" in 

 order that they may sell them a lot of 

 supplies. The only remedy is to "take 

 off the feed" and let such fellows run 

 their own shebangs. 



