20 



THE AMERICAN APICULTURIST. 



bee space between the honey-board 

 and top of frames, should run cross- 

 wise the frames (about middle way 

 the hive), so that when the honey- 

 board is nailed on, this strip of wood 

 will bear slightly on the frames and 

 keep them from moving about. 

 Hives thus prepared may be inverted ; 

 and, if any of them contain new 

 combs, they certainly should be 

 turned bottom upwards while being 

 transported, especially if the combs 

 are heavy with honey or brood. 



If the bees are to go by rail the 

 hives should be placed directly on 

 the car bottom, and the combs should 

 run lengthwise the car, and no dam- 

 age will be done to them while the 

 train is "backing and filling" at way 

 stations. The doors of a car that 

 has several hundreds of colonies of 

 bees in it should not be closed and 

 sealed as is usually done on all rail- 

 roads. A person should accompany 

 the bees not only to furnish water, 

 but also to look after them and to 

 keep the door of the car open at 

 the side opposite the sun. Most 

 freight cars are painted red, or some 

 color which "draws" the rays of the 

 sun, and heat up like an oven ; and 

 should one of those warm days occur 

 as they do sometimes in April, it 

 would be hard on the bees. 



EDITORIAL. 



The Home Market, or Sale of 

 Honey. — There seems to be a healthy 

 agitation going on at present in res- 

 pect to the sale of honey. 



The "American Bee Journal" has 

 just advanced a plan, though it is 

 not new by any means, for the sale 

 of all of the honey that can be pro- 

 duced. The patent on this plan, 

 we think should be awarded to an- 

 other person however ; for if one turns 

 to page 460, Vol. 14, of "Gleanings," 

 this plan is outlined by Mr. J. H. 



Martin of Hartford, N. Y. ; the same 

 writer has also given similar views 

 in various numbers of the Apicultu- 



RIST. 



We are, however, glad to see sev- 

 eral minds at work upon this problem. 

 Great good will certainly be the out- 

 come from it. 



The unequal distribution is evi- 

 dent to the observing man and if the 

 producer would sell his honey in 

 country villages and to his neighbors, 

 at the price the commission man 

 pays him, there would be but little 

 left to ship to the city markets, and 

 we think there would not be honey 

 enough to go around. 



There is not a country market 

 where honey is kept on sale all the 

 year round. If honey were kept 

 prominently before people as certain 

 lines of pickles or chow-chow, there 

 would be much more sold. 



The beekeeping pursuit is away 

 behind everything else in its method 

 of advertising ; even our county fairs, 

 the place above all others for calling 

 people's attention to our product, is 

 in a great measure neglected. If it 

 pays to advertise every other thing 

 Under the sun, it pays to advertise 

 honey. It pays to circulate leaflets. 

 If those already printed by different 

 publishers don't suit the locality, 

 print one that does ; distribute fancy 

 cards with your business and you 

 will sell honey directly under the 

 nose of the beekeeper who doesn't 

 advertise. 



There is at present a great com- 

 plaint about low prices, but five cents 

 per pound for extracted and ten 

 cents for comb honey ought not to 

 scare the enterprising producer. It 

 will cause it to be put into the hands 

 of thousands who never tasted honey 

 before. It will, furthermore, have a 

 tendency to make it a staple article. 

 A few years ago, petroleum was 

 discovered, and millions of gallons 

 were allowed to run to waste, be- 

 cause there was no market for it, 

 but it was soon discovered that many 



