THE AMERICAN APICULTURIST. 



43 



range the entrance and trap that the 

 bees will be compelled to pass through 

 the perforated metal. 



2. The entrance to the Bristol hive 

 is no larger than is generally used in 

 the Laiigstroth and several other hives. 

 It is made large for ventilation and to 

 give the bees plenty of room to pass 

 out and in. If a colony is weak in 

 numbers, robbing may be induced and 

 encouraged by a large entrauce, but 

 the careful beekeeper would not allow 

 such a colony to be thus exijosed for a 

 great while, especially if the bees were 

 not at work gathering honey. All that 

 is necessary in order to prevent rob- 

 bing is to contract the entrance to 

 about one or two inches. We consider 

 a large entrance an advantage both in 

 summer and winter. 



EDITORIAL. 

 Honey Market Reports We 



are hardly ready to comply with Dr. 

 Tinker's request which he makes in 

 another cokimn of the "Api." It 

 strikes us that it is the shipper of 

 honey who is responsible for the low 

 prices and not the middle man. If 

 honey or other goods are sent to the 

 commission men to sell at the best 

 price obtainable, what does the pro- 

 ducer expect in return? Does he 

 intend for the commission man to 

 hold his goods (which is certainly the 

 proper way) until a good price can be 

 realized? In most cases honey is 

 sent to any one who will take it to 

 handle, to be sold for the best price 

 that is offered and the bee man is 

 easily frightened you know. Why not 

 ship the honey and say : sell this 

 honey when such a price can be ob- 

 tained for it." I am aware that a 

 few bee men can control the honey 

 market. Now, suppose twenty honey 

 producers raise twenty tons of 

 honey and it is sent to market to be 

 sold, say at 20 cents. Well, now sup- 

 pose one man raises twenty tons 

 alone and he sends his honey to the 

 same market and says "sell at 18 

 cents." Who controls the market, 

 the twenty men who produce the 



twenty tons or the one man wlio 

 raises the same amount? This is 

 not an imaginary case. I think this 

 same thing has occurred in Boston 

 and the little trick made us the loser 

 to the amount of several hundred 

 dollars. Well, now let us suggest a 

 plan that may solve the difficulty. 

 Supposing three or more persons (or 

 as many say as there are cities from 

 which honey quotations are made) 

 are chosen to fix the price at which 

 honey shall be sold each year. The 

 persons chosen should reside near 

 the large cities, and at the pi'oper 

 time let them visit the market for the 

 purpose of looking the situation over. 

 If much old honey is still held by 

 the dealers, that will of course have 

 something to do about fixing the 

 price for new honey. When the 

 price is settled upon, they report to 

 the various bee journals the sum per 

 pound which honey must be sold for 

 and then have it understood that 

 this is the price. If possible, some 

 person might be found in each large 

 city who would undertake to handle 

 all the honey raised within a radius 

 of several hundred miles. If such a 

 plan could be brought about it would 

 be an admirable one. Except in the 

 matter of shutting out the market 

 reports, we are heartily in sympathy 

 with everything expressed in Dr. 

 Tinker's article. 



There is plenty of time before an- 

 other season to discuss this subject 

 thoroughly and to fix upon some 

 plan that will do justice to all. Come, 

 friends, give us your ideas in as short 

 articles as possible. 



*' Simmins' Won - swarming 

 method" is noted in another col- 

 umn by Mr. Sam'l Cushman. If 

 we rightly understand the method as 

 presented by Mr. Cushman, swarming 

 is prevented by often removing some 

 of the combs near the entrance of the 

 hive and compelling the bees to fill 



