"The especial adaptation of apiculture 

 to ladies in indigent circumstances." 

 " The healthfulness of this pursuit for 

 invalids incapable of performing man- 

 ual labor," etc., while not one single 

 item is devoted to bee management ; 

 not a word is said to aid the inexperi- 

 enced in this undertaking. Bee-hive 

 venders do their full share of mischief, 

 with their pretended wonderful success 

 attending the use of their peculiar fix- 

 tures. They no doubt fully believe in 

 the adage that ''men desire to be hum- 

 bugged," and they certainly leave 

 nothing undone to prevent one from 

 realizing their desires in this respect to 

 the utmost. In order to lessen failure 

 in apiculture, and that it may take the 

 rank among the ordinary pursuits of 

 life, to which lovers of bees desire it to 

 attain, it is necessary that incorrect 

 notions be corrected and proper ideas 

 be inculcated. Let conventions teach 

 apiculture to the inexperienced as well 

 as learn from the experience of others. 

 Let them teach that bee-keeping is a 

 science, that there is a reason why, in it. 

 That bee-keeping adapts itself to those 

 who adapt themselves to the bees — and 

 to those only— that something more 

 than bees and hives is necessary to be- 

 gin bee-keeping, and tell what that 

 something is. Let them teach that 

 failures are opportunities for practical 

 knowledge and future success. Only 

 theories fully tested in practice should 

 be taught, so that beginners may fully 

 comprehend that to keep bees is not 

 necessarily bee-keeping; and that honey 

 raising is more than " holding the spoon 

 to catcli the porridge," that they may 

 know at the start, there is "no excel- 

 lence without great labor." Let the 

 farmers demand of their agricultural 

 editors that they furnish them with 

 stated articles on how to care for bees, 

 by some practical apiarist, in place of 

 those sensational cullings from various 



Eapers, which the thoughtful do not 

 elieve and the thoughtless too eagerly 

 believe, often to their sorrow. A man 

 is much more likely to succeed, if in 

 his undertakings his ideas of gain fall 

 short, rather than exceed, what is possi- 

 ble to be realized. 



A knowledge of systematic bee-keep- 

 ing — to know how to produce honey in 

 neat and attractive shape and reason- 

 able in amount, is very important to 

 success. But there is something beyond 

 all this that is of greater importance 

 still, and that is a ready and paying 

 market for our products. The price 

 obtained is paramount to the quantity 

 produced. The real question for us to 

 solve is : how to sell honey ? or in other 

 words, how to increase the demand for 



honey V These stories of enormous 

 yields have much to do towards unset- 

 tling the demand. Let a man believe 

 that you want one shilling for what 

 cost you one penny, and he is 

 not likely to buy your wares at all, 

 though he might want them ever so 

 much. No one loves to be swindled, vet 

 some disinterested(?) bee-keepers won Id 

 fain have the public believe that honey 

 could be produced for one cent a pound. 

 It is said that not one person in a hun- 

 dred in these United States, ever get a 

 taste of honey during the year, much less 

 is it used on the table for food. Here 

 then, is a great gap to be rilled. How 

 shall it be done? If one half the 

 energy, skill and perseverance, which is 

 now employed in raising honey, be 

 directed to the sale and building up of 

 an unfailing demand for it, the subject 

 of permanency in this business would 

 be solved. 



Prices ruinously low, however, can- 

 not create a permanent demand. 

 Large profits or sudden rises are fitful 

 and uncertain ; while losses and decline 

 in prices are slow to recover. Better 

 not sell at a loss, expecting thereby to 

 create a future demand. Let the oidy 

 competition among bee-keepers be that 

 of raising the finest products and sell- 

 ing them at the highest prices. The 

 rivalry that is induced by underselling 

 is sure to end in disaster to ourselves as 

 well as to our rivals. One says " raise 

 honey so cheap as to undersell syrup, 

 and it will then take its place." In the 

 first place it cannot be so raised, and in 

 the second place it is doubtful whether 

 it would then take the place of syrup. 

 I do not want honey to take the place 

 of anything else but honey. But I do 

 want it to take that place to its full 

 measure. Might as well say, raise but- 

 ter and sell it cheaper than oleomar- 

 garine and it will take its place. I 

 prefer oleomargarine to keep its proper 

 place and butter grace my table even if 

 its price is somewhat greater. 



Read before the N. E. ConrentloD. 



The Best Method of Increase. 



D. D. PALMER. 



The best method of increase of 

 swarms. How far should it be extended 

 and how best prevented 1 



In increasing your colonies make 

 haste slowly ; you can buy increase 

 cheaper than you can make it; i.e., 

 your increase in pounds of honey by 

 having few or no swarms will more 

 than compensate or purchase your in- 

 crease. We find as a rule that those 

 bee-keepers who go slow in increase of 



