the whole year. The grower is not com- 

 pelled to rush his crop into market 

 within a few days, and take whatever a 

 glutted market will offer. He can keep 

 his crop without loss, can send it to 

 market in small quantities if that is 

 best, and can take advantage of any 

 favorable changes in the market. 



2. Honey can be transported to any 

 part of the world, and so may seek the 

 most distant markets. Extracted honey 

 is as easily transported in barrels as 

 sugar or syrup. Comb honey properly 

 packed, is now carried across the con- 

 tinent by rail, and across the Atlantic 

 by steamer, with perfect safety. The 

 producer of honey is not confined to a 

 single village, or city, or State for a 

 market. He may find a market in any 

 part of the world. 



3. Honey is an article of food which 

 is relished by nearly all people in all 

 climates and classes of society. Of 

 course there are exceptions. Now and 

 then a person is found who does not 

 like honey. But these exceptions are 

 so few in number that, practically, they 

 need not be considered. 



4. Notwithstanding the fact that 

 nearly all persons like honey, there are 

 only a few families in which it appears 

 as an article of food. The families in 

 which it appears, usually consume only 

 a few pounds in the course of the year. 

 In much the larger part of families not 

 a pound of honey is bought in a year, 

 yet such families buy sugar, and syrup, 

 and butter in abundance. They think 

 that honey is an expensive luxury, and 

 hence do not buy it; or they have 

 never got into the habit of buying it. 

 Very much depends upon this matter 

 of habit. 



5. Notwithstanding the fact that the 

 whole world may be a market for the 

 sale of honey the bee-keepers of 

 America have, until recently, made but 

 little attempt to open up this market. 

 Attempts are now being made by a few 

 dealers, and with good results. But 

 ability and enterprise expended in this 

 direction may soon develop a foreign 

 market which will demand more than 

 the whole present honey crop of the 

 United States. 



6. Let attention be given to devel- 

 oping our home and foreign market, 

 until honey shall become in as constant 

 demand as butter, and syrup, and sugar 

 now are. This can be done. All intel- 

 ligent people know that we need not 

 look back many hundred years to find 

 the time when butter was used only by 

 the wealthy. Sugar and syrup have 

 come into general use within a few 

 score years, as it were. Yet now the 

 production and transportation of these 



three articles are of national impor- 

 tance. They are very extensively used 

 in all civilized countries. Let people 

 see that honey is within their means, 

 that it is pure and healthy, and there is 

 no doubt but a very large demand for it 

 will grow up both at home and abroad. 

 Bee-keeping will then become just as 

 legitimate a business as any other 

 branch of farming, will be pursued with 

 the same practical sagacity, and with 

 the same rational expectations. 

 Iowa City, Iowa, March 10th, 1879. 



For the American Bee Journal. 



The Best Size for Section Frames. 



A. W. FOREMAN, M. D. 



Mine are exactly 5 inches square, and 

 when filled with separators between, 

 weigh about 1}4 lbs. I have weighed a 

 great many, and they do not vary 1 oz. 

 from that figure. I leave them in the 

 stores in cases with glass fronts, and re- 

 tail them at 25 cents apiece, without 

 weighing. I think this sized section and 

 this plan of selling has advantages. 

 For instance, the grocery man will han- 

 dle them much cheaper, if he don't 

 have them to weigh. The price — 25 cts. 

 — is convenient, and purchasers are 

 much more apt to buy than if it was 

 30 or 35 cts., or some odd number be- 

 tween these figures. Human nature is 

 peculiar, and we must study its pecu- 

 liarities as well in selling honey as else- 

 where. It is well known by observing 

 merchants, that a given article can be 

 sold for $1.00 much easier than for 95 or 

 98 cents. It is particularly the case with 

 the odd cents. The average buyer.will 

 ask to have them thrown off, and unless 

 his wish is complied with he will refuse 

 to buy ; while the article at the even 

 $1.00 will be taken without a word. 



The first honey I put on the market 

 was built without separators, and the 

 sections ranged from 1 to 1% lbs., and 

 had to be sold by the pound. The result 

 was, I always lost the odd cents. 

 Again, I am satisfied the prize box, so- 

 called, is too large for retail purposes. 

 There is a large class of purchasers who 

 will frequently buy a package for an 

 even25-cent piece, who will very seldom 

 buy the same goods if proportionately 

 larger packages only can be had for 35 

 or 40 cts. It frequently happens that a 

 laborer goes into a store perhaps with 

 but 50 cts. in his pocket. He wants 25 

 cts. worth of tea or coffee, or, may be, 

 tobacco ; he sees these sections of honey; 

 inquires the price ; takes one ; leaves 

 his 25-cent piece, and goes off happy. 

 Had it been a prize box, he would have 



