THE AMERICAJN BEE JOURNAL. 



23 



not spend a minute nor a cent dis- 

 cussing it. We would give tlie right 

 to tiie prior publisher for reasons of 

 justice, practicability and morality. 

 1. An inventor does nothing for the 

 public until he publishes his inven- 

 tion ; consequently they owe him 

 nothing before that time. 2. It would 

 do away with all falsehood and per- 

 jury, claiming the invention to be old. 

 If it could not be shown in publica- 

 tions, and that it had not been aban- 

 doned, the claim would hold good ; 

 and if it could, it would not cost a 

 dollar to show it, and invalidate that 

 claim. 



There are other equally superior 

 rulings that we might have, and as 

 our class is so small, and our publi- 

 cations (which form the popular sen- 

 timent) so tew in number, I believe 

 such an honorary inventor'srights- 

 system, and also wholesome regula- 

 tions regarding the marketing of our 

 honey, and receiving what it is worth, 

 " priority of location," etc., can all be 

 fixed successfully and greatly to our 

 advantage. I am in favor of respond- 

 ing to Mr. 15aldridge's call, and desire 

 to hear the honest expressions of 

 those who are more interested in 

 justice and the welfare of our class, 

 than in simple controversy. 



Dowagiacp Mich. 



For Vie American Bee Journal. 



Tie Marketim of Honey. 



N. J. SHEPHERD. 



our customers, so that they may be 

 made good consumers. The more 

 consumers we can make the larger 

 the demand, and the readier the sale 

 the better prices we can secure. 

 When it can be avoided, the comb 

 should not be broken, unless it is cut 

 up and put into glasses so that an 

 equal amount of liquid will be sold 

 with the comb ; or the comb sold en- 

 tire. If boxes are used, have them 

 neatly made of planed lumber. 

 Shingles are often rough, and if cov- 

 ered in some places with old comb, it 

 hardly presents an attractive appear- 

 ance sufficient to induce rapid sales. 

 We are all interested in this, as it 

 aids in making sales. 

 Eldon.QMo. 



For the American Bee Joomak 



DisWinE Bees ill the Brood-Cliainlier, 



VICTOR W. CLOUGH. 



In selling almost any kind of farm 

 products there is considerable differ- 

 ence in the price received, and in a 

 great majority of cases a considerable 

 proportion of this is due to the way or 

 condition in which products are sent 

 to market. Honey is no exception, 

 and in many cases the cause of the 

 low prices received is largely due to 

 the condition in which it is sent to 



Like all other products, it must be 

 made neat and attractive in order to 

 sell to the best advantage. Boxes or 

 frames made so that the comb will 

 present a clean, neat appearance, aids 

 materially in securing a good price. 

 To send honey to market, as is often 

 done, taken out of the frames or boxes 

 and dumped into a jar or bucket, cut 

 or broken into convenient pieces, and 

 allowing a goodly portion of the best 

 to run out and settle at the bottom ; 

 then to sell the comb to one pur- 

 chaser and the liquid honey to 

 another, and that not clear of small 

 bits of comb, is certain to give dis- 

 satisfaction to the purchasers, and a 

 less quantity will supply the demand. 

 Taken generally, if properly managed, 

 the home market is the best. Of 

 course this may be easily overstocked 

 where there are quite a number en- 

 gaged in the business in the same 

 neighborhood, and of course another 

 market must be found. 



Many new purchasers are either 

 made permanent or lost entirely by 

 the first purchase, and if we expect to 

 build up a paying b\isiness every rea- 

 sonable effort must be made to please 



and simple. All the difficulties and 

 inconveniences of swarming are laid 

 aside, and this is all left to the hive 

 to perform, v/hich it faithfully accom- 

 plishes. 

 Geneseo,~o Ills. 



For tlie American Boe Journal. 



Basswood vs. Linien. 



S. T. PETTIT. 



The criticism on page 810 of the 

 Bee Journal for 1886, concerning 

 the "non-swarming system," forcibly 

 reminds me of my neighbor who says: 

 " Bees ! AVell, I should say so ; I have 

 known all about them all my life. I 

 want no bee-literature, or care to in- 

 vestigate any improved hives; the 

 old kind are good enough for me." 

 This old veteran has about 20 colonies, 

 and for his whole apiary I would not 

 give him one non-swarming hive. It 

 seems needless to explain why. He 

 is continually mourning over the poor 

 season, no profit in bees, etc. Is there 

 not a reason for all things V His bees 

 have the same latitude, same fields, 

 and exactly the same chance as mine, 

 excepting in the house, which divides 

 the difierence. There is no season 

 that ray bees fail to procure a good 

 yield of honey, and they are one of 

 the most profitable investments I 

 have. I never have any loss in win- 

 ter. But one of my neighbors, who 

 persists in overhauling the brood- 

 chamber, in one winter lost 40 

 colonies. 



I have a few colonies in common 

 hives that I manipulate for surplus 

 honey, their pi-oductions being from 

 50 to 100 pounds, and cast one and two 

 swarms each. In the last three years 

 those in the non-swarming hives have 

 never swarmed, and produced 250 

 pounds of honey. All these are ar- 

 ranged in the same orchard, the bees 

 visit the same fields, and why the 

 difference in the yields, if not in the 

 construction of the hives ? 



The critic recommends a " frequent 

 disturbing of the brood-chamber " for 

 a large surplus of honey. I wonder if 

 he advocates punching a hen's nest in 

 order to secure a greater hatch ! One 

 is as reasonable as the other. What a 

 desirable job it would be, if the apiary 

 contained a hundred or more colonies. 

 This " frequent disturbing " is work 

 which I do away with, and those who 

 have faith in it's usefulness are the 

 ones I wish to compare notes with. 



With my system I never move a 

 brood-frame or disturb my bees in any 

 wav, only to remove the full sections 

 and replace with empty ones. Here 

 is what makes bee-keeping so easy 



On page 805 of the American B ee 

 Journal for 1886, appears a short re- 

 port on the above heading, in which 

 Dr. A. B. Mason complains that I 

 take the ground in the Canadian Bee 

 Journal that Canadian basswood 

 honey is superior to the United States 

 basswood honey. The report reads 

 as follows ; 



" The Doctor thought it perfectly 

 right to make Canadian articles dis- 

 tinctively Canadian, but it should not 

 be done by casting unwarranted stig- 

 mas upon our productions. We should 

 not try to elevate ourselves by pulling 

 down others." Most certainly, I fully 

 agree with the Doctor, that we should 

 not cast •' unwarranted stigmas " up- 

 on the productions of others ; " nor 

 try to elevate ourselves by pulling 

 down others." 



I confess that I am not a little sur- 

 prised that any one, especially Dr. 

 Mason, should disagree with me in 

 this matter. I am fully persuaded 

 that if the Doctor will take the 

 trouble to get average samples of 

 basswood honey from the different 

 points of the United States, especially 

 from near the southern limit at which 

 this tree produces honey, and com- 

 pare them with Canadian linden 

 honey, that he will be the first to 

 acknowledge the superiority of Cana- 

 dian linden honey. 



Mr. Muth, than whom perhaps no 

 other man in the world handles more 

 honey, classes United States basswood 

 honey with late dark honey, and 

 prices it accordingly. Before taking 

 this ground, I took a great deal ot 

 pains to understand the matter, and 

 consequently I feel quite solid in the 

 position that I have taken. Without 

 a question, basswood honey taken in 

 the United States in our latitude, 

 when the bees gather it under favor- 

 able circumstances, that is, not gath- 

 ering at the same time inferior honey 

 from other sources, the article is of 

 the very best quality, and quite equal 

 to Canadian honey. But it should be 

 kept in mind that this strip or belt 

 bears but a small proportion to that 

 of the whole of the United States. In 

 writing the article complained of I 

 referred to the United States as a 

 whole. , ^ . , 



There was honey at the Industrial 

 and Colonial Exhibition at London, 

 England, from nearly all the British 

 Colonies, and I am proud to say that 

 samples of Canadian linden honey 

 were the clearest and brightest on ex- 

 hibition. Canadians would be very 

 sorrv indeed to have their fine, bright, 

 sparkling linden honey classed with 

 late, dark honey, and the price ruled 

 down to the price of that article. Mr. 



