52 



THE AMERICAN APICULTURIST. 



sugar and, according to the light we 

 at present have, we must sell it in its 

 original shape depending upon the 

 novelty of the package. Our ideas 

 have reached out to a package that 

 would hold one-quarter of a pound 

 and which could be sold for five cents, 

 for if there is pleasure in an orange 

 at five cents, there would be more in 

 a package of honey at the same price. 

 In Canada they sell a five cent pack- 

 age of honey in a small tin box, but 

 in this yankee land they look too 

 much like pill boxes and we are dis- 

 gusted with the contents before we 

 open them. The idea of a package 

 in the shape of a canteen with a novel 

 arrangement to force out the candied 

 honey in the shape of a stick of can- 

 dy, where it could be handily eaten 

 off, has been suggested by the writer 

 of this essay, but the demand being 

 uncertain and the cost of special 

 machinery would be considerable, 

 perhaps something simpler may be 

 suggested. It is evident that there 

 is a tendency in'this direction and at 

 no distant day such a package will 

 be put upon the market, and it is the 

 object of this essay to call the atten- 

 tion of the ingenious beekeepers of 

 Vermont to the question. When our 

 finest comb-honey brings only ten or 

 twelve cents per pound and our best 

 extracted only four to six, it is time 

 we were looking into this matter. It 

 is of vital importance to the interest 

 of the apiarist. How shall we dissem- 

 inate our honey all over the country. 

 Here is a locality that has too much 

 honey and it goes begging at ex- 

 treme low prices ; here is another lo- 

 cality where honey is scarce and good 

 prices prevail, and thousands of coun- 

 try stores all over the country do not 

 handle honey, but they sell candy. 

 How can we get our honey into these 

 localities and these stores ? The ques- 

 tion may be too knotty for any of us 

 to answer, but if it cannot be an- 

 swered so as to make a better market 

 at more remunerative prices for our 

 products, thousands of beekeepers 



would do better to turn their attention 

 to some other business.^ 

 Hartford, N. Y. 



HOW TO COMPEL BEES TO 



ENTER AND WORK IN 



SECTIONS. 



Bv Hexky Alley. 



This subject has not received as 

 much attention as most others di- 

 rectly connected with beekeeping. 

 It is supposed that bees will enter 

 the sections when crowded out the 

 brood-chamber by heat, and for want 

 of more room in which to store the 

 newly gathered honey. These con- 

 ditions have the effect to "enthuse" 

 and stimulate the bees to emigrate, 

 or to seek more room which they can 

 utihze for their increasing demands. 

 These favorable conditions do not, in 

 all cases, induce bees to swarm or to 

 accept of surplus room and, some- 

 times, when they do enter the sec- 

 tions and fill them with bees, they 

 will store no honey, nor build any 

 comb, even though the sections are 

 filled with nice foundation. A col- 

 ony that has made arrangements to 

 swarm will not usually enter the sec- 

 tions very readily and generally will 

 do no work in them. Such a col- 

 ony will "layout" on the front of 

 the hive until they are good and 

 ready to swarm. 



The question is ; can bees be com- 

 pelled to enter and work in sections ? 

 I will give the experience of a bee- 

 keeper formerly the largest bee owner 

 in the state of Massachusetts. Some 

 twenty-five years ago, Mr. John J. 

 Gould kept a large number of bees 

 here in Wenham. He was troubled 

 to get some of his colonies to enter 

 and store honey in two-pound boxes 

 or sections, as they are now called, 

 so he adopted a method that rather 



1 An essay read before the Cliamplain Val- 

 ley Beekeepers' Associatiou, Middlebuiy, Vt., 

 January 21, ISSG. 



