60 



THE AMERICAN APICULTURIST. 



itate it successfully. Honey is 

 considered a luxury in America. 

 Luxuries for the table must appeal 

 to the eye, or the taste or both. If 

 we want our honey on the tables of 

 the rich it must win its way there 

 on its merits. It must be proved 

 in the same manner as the pud- 

 ding — in the eating. Honey that 

 is good enough to go into the din- 

 ing-rooms of the wealthy will find 

 its way into the kitchen of the la- 

 boring man — for there is nothing 

 too good for the working man in 

 this country to eat. His taste is 

 educated. He lives more royally 

 than royalty itself a hundred 3'ears 

 ago. We can no more deceive the 

 taste of the poor than the rich, and 

 the former, or at least the middle 

 class, are among the best custom- 

 ers. Now if we want to cater to 

 the taste of the consumer, we 

 must produce such an article as 

 will please, when bought. The 

 time was when honey was honey, 

 and little was known of the differ- 

 ent grades. Not so now. The 

 successful honey producer of the 

 future is to be the one who not 

 only sells nothing but a ripe arti- 

 cle, but who puts it in such attract- 

 ive packages as the buyer delights 

 to take home with him when he has 

 company to tea. 

 Forest City, Iowa. 



For the American ApicuUurist. 



By Dr. C. C. Millek. 



ONE SIZE SECTIONS — OVERSTOCKING. 



EvEKY producer should of course 

 study the wants of his own mar- 

 ket, and govern himself accord- 

 ingl3\ If two-pound sections are 

 received with more favor by his 

 customers, two-pound sections are 

 the ones for him to use, no matter 

 if one-pound biing a higher price 

 in other markets ; and so with 

 other sizes. But to a great extent 



it lies largely in the power of the 

 beekeeper to decide upon one size 

 or another of section, just as may 

 suit his convenience, without pro- 

 test from his customers . Anyone 

 who has tried having different sizes 

 of sections in his apiary at the 

 same time need not be told that 

 the nuisance is something like that 

 of having different hives and frames 

 in the same apiary. One year as 

 a matter of experiment, I tried sec- 

 tions of five different sizes or widths 

 and part of them remained unfilled 

 to annoy me for two years after- 

 ward. 



If there were no other reason for 

 uniformity there is a strong one in 

 this, that supply dealers and man- 

 ufacturers are more apt to have on 

 hand a standard article, and if the 

 bulk of beekeepers use a section 

 of a given size, manufacturers can 

 make them up in large quantities 

 at a lower price. They will feel 

 safe in working ahead of the de- 

 mand and getting a stock on liand. 

 Whatever in this direction is for 

 the interest of the manufacturer 

 results in a lighter demand on the 

 purse of the beekeeper. 



OVERSTOCKING. 



Although not much is known 

 with certaint}' about overstocking, 

 enough is known to make many a 

 one wish to know more about it. 

 When a man has more than a hun- 

 dred colonies it becomes a serious 

 question with him "Shall I gain or 

 lose to have in my apiary 150 col- 

 onies?" The number of tliose who 

 pooh-poohed at any danger of ovei*- 

 stocking is becoming nuuh smaller 

 than formerly. No man of common 

 sense, who admits that beos depend 

 upon the surrounding flora and 

 that their range of flight is limited, 

 can fail to see that, beyond a cer- 

 tain point, be that point 100 or 

 1000, the number of colonies in an 

 apiary cannot be increased without 

 danger of disaster. It is doubtful 



