114 
Modem Bee-Jceeping. 
such good results, owing to the uncertainty of our weather, 
though this difficulty is lessened, in a measure, by bestowing 
careful management upon our stocks. 
There is no doubt that the management in this country is 
decidedly superior. Our Apiaries are far more tidy and neat 
than many of the large concerns abroad, which have a neglected 
and untidy look about them, their Hives not being so well 
made or so well kept, and the paint-brush being conspicuous 
by its absence. Our chief difficulty at home has always been 
the low price at which the imported Honey is sold, this being 
the commodity which we have to compete with. One feature, 
however, is greatly in our favour — it is admitted by all 
authorities that no country in the world produces such 
delicious Honey as our own. We may not be able to get 
the quantity, but we can and do secure the quality, and this 
has been, and always will be, our main support. Honey of 
high quality is the natural produce of this country, and we 
have, therefore, only to teach our Bee Keepers how to put it 
upon the market in the best and most attractive form in order 
to lift it out of the field of low-price competition ; a good article 
will always fetch its value. The great results acliieved in the 
United States and in our Colonies were in Extracted or Liquid 
Honey alone, so that we are really without any competition at 
all in the matter of Comb Honey, the production of which, 
therefore, should always take the first place. 
Only once has any attempt been made to compete with us 
in Comb Honey. This, however, was on a most notable occasion, 
and it has never been repeated. It is interesting to the readers 
of this article as having been in connection with the Royal 
Agricultural Society's Show at Kilburn in 1879. The Honey 
Exhibit at Kilburn was a startling one, the like not having been 
seen either before or since. A firm of American importers 
claimed to have landed the enormous quantity of 80 tons of 
Comb Honey in sections. Wliatever might be the actual 
weight, it was undoubtedly a very large lot, and an immense 
pile was staged at Kilburn in the Bee Department — over two 
tons, if my memory serves me aright. The advanced British Bee 
Keeper of that day was alarmed at the prospect of this kind of 
competition in the Comb Honey business. The lesson, however, 
had a good effect, and stirred up great energy in the raisers of 
Comb Honey, the result being that we speedily learnt how to 
produce the best Comb Honey in sections in the world. 
Up to this time Sections and Honey Extractors were com- 
parative rarities, and we must bear in mind thnt the two above- 
named articles, with the ]\Iovable Comb Hive and Foundation, 
