even greater importance, and that is to get 

 their crop in such a shape that it will be of 

 ready sale. 



During the last fall and winter the writer 

 has seen honey bought by retailers at from 

 10 to 12c. per lb., to be sold again at 15c. 

 The same dealers refused honey which was 

 equally good, when it was offered at 5c. per 

 lb., because its appearance was such that 

 they could not sell it at any price. Here we 

 see two lots of honey side by side, one sell- 

 ing briskly while the other goes a begging. 

 One producer gets paid for his work while 

 the other sets up the cry of "hard times " 

 and "over-stocked market." 



The United States uses less honey than 

 almost any country ; the chief reason of 

 this is, that it has never been given its place 

 among other edibles. 



This is not the fault of store-keepers, for 

 they are always anxious to keep whatever 

 they can sell at a profit. All kinds of gro- 

 ceries and fruits, both fresh and canned, are 

 put up in the most tempting styles and 

 forced upon the attention of dealers, who 

 in turn urge them upon their customers. 



In this way very much more is sold than 

 if the trade were not directed by tact and 

 pushed by energy and intelligence. A large 

 part of this tact and intelligence is directed 

 to make goods convenient for the dealers 

 and attractive to customers. And these two 

 things are absolutely necessary to success. 



Now let us look at the honey trade and 

 see how much it has been helped along by 

 the intelligence and business skill and en- 

 ergy which have been the means of build- 

 ing up other trades. 



The tact and taste which are employed in 

 preparing most goods for the market, may 

 be even the most common commodities, 

 look attractive and in this way increase 

 their money value. Almost every kind of 

 goods, when they are prepared for the mar- 

 ket have the advantage of being prepared 

 in the style which will best present their 

 peculiar desirable good qualities to the pur- 

 chaser. 



The style in which goods are put up is as 

 important to the showing off of the goods as 

 a frame is to a picture. 



And different kinds of goods need differ- 

 ent styles of putting up just as much as dif- 

 ferent pictures need different styles of 

 frames. 



Preparing all kinds of goods for the mar- 

 ket is found to pay, and this in the face of 

 sharp competition ; in fact, competition 

 compels it, for other things being equal, the 

 thing which is the most attractive sells the 

 quickest. 



Honey raisers have treated with perfect 

 indifference this well-established condition 

 of trade, and with the inevitable result of 

 being left far behind in the market. In 

 fact, they are not even noticed by many of 

 the people who should be their customers. 

 This state of things is their own fault, for 

 instead of studying the wants of the mar- 

 ket, and making a business of supplying 

 them, they have steadily adhered to their 

 old methods of producing and marketing 

 their honey. 



Thus, while bee-keeping and honey rais- 

 ing has been standing still other lines of 

 similar goods have advanced and taken the 



place in the market and on the table which 

 honey should occupy. There is at present 

 much of last year's honey unsold ; commis- 

 sion houses are offering it at low figures. 

 But it should be noted that that which is 

 such a drug in the market in every case, 

 is that which is put up in the old-fas'hioned 

 way ; if it had been put up in tempting and 

 attractive shape it would have sold as read- 

 ily as that which did sell; for the demand 

 is as large as the supply for honey or any 

 other first-class article. 



Bee-keepers should influence those in the 

 business to put up their honey in market- 

 able shape. If this could be effected honey, 

 both comb and extracted, would take a 

 higher rank as an article of merchandise, 

 for the demand would be more steady and 

 assured. 



From the Fruit Recorder. 



Transferring Bees. 



L. E. BEMIS. 



The best and safest time to transfer bees 

 from the box to the movable-frame hive is 

 on a warm day when apple trees are in blos- 

 som, for at that time there is but little honey 

 in the hive and the old bees are out in the 

 field among the blossoms, but it may be 

 done at any time when drones are flying. I 

 say when drones are flying, because if we 

 do it*at a time when there are no drones, 

 and we should happen to kill the queen, 

 they cannot raise one which would be 

 of any use and the swarm would soon 

 dwindle away. It is not as bad a job as one 

 not accumstomed to handling bees would 

 imagine. 



Go to the hive from which you wish to 

 transfer the bees and puff in a little smoke, 

 just to drive them up among the combs; 

 then take the hive and turn it bottom side 

 up, and place the box of another hive on top 

 of it ; wind a cloth around the two so as to 

 keep all the bees in and also exclude all 

 light from the hive. When well secured, 

 commence drumming on the sides of the 

 hive with a stick. Drum smartly for 3 or 4 

 minutes, then rest a few minutes and drum 

 again. Follow this up at intervals for 15 or 

 20 minutes, when usually the queen with 

 most of the bees will be in the box on top of 

 the hive. It is well to have a glass in one 

 side of the box covered with a slide, so as to 

 see when the bees go up into the box. Now 

 take the box off the hive and set it on the 

 stand from which the hive was taken. 

 Leave an entrance open similar to the one 

 in the hive, and the bees which are flying 

 will return and enter. 



Now, take the hive to some convenient 

 place. It may be done near the stand, but 

 if the other bees are about it is better to go 

 into some shed or room where we will not 

 be troubled by robbers. Have a table and 

 spread several thicknesses of cloth on it to 

 lay the combs on. Take off one side of the 

 hive and cut off the cross-sticks and remove 

 the combs one at a time and lay them on the 

 cloth upon the table and cut them to fit as 

 nearly as possible to the frames. They are 

 fastened in the frame by small strips of 

 pine, 3-16x9^ in., and long enough to reach 



