8 
THE AUSTRALIAN BEEKEEPERS’ JOURNAL. 
thereby wiving a lot of trouble ; and by de- 
livering to the customers we could get an ad- 
vance on the prices now ruling ; and we must 
not overlook the still greater advantage to the 
public in that they would be supplied with a 
guaranteed article at a lower price, in many 
cases, than they pay now for a very inferior 
and doubtful article. Again, if shopkeepers 
can handle honey and make a profit, I. cannot 
see what is to prevent us doing 11ip same. 
Could we not open a store for the sale of honey, 
wholesale and retail ? We could sell a genuine 
article to the shopkeepers, and at a pi ice which 
would give a fair margiu of profit to each, and 
go have command of the market, and drive out 
much of the rubbish that now goes by the name 
of honey. 
“A week or two ago I saw two samples of 
this so-called honey. I don't believe that bees 
ever saw it, and if they did, 1 am sure they 
would uot be mean enough to gather it. In 
one case the price of this vile stuff was the 
same that we now ask for a good grade of 
honey ; in the other case, about one-half more, 
and i have no doubt the people who bought it 
for honey do not feel like eating honey again 
as long as they live. 1 think one of our chief 
objects should be to drive this sort of stuff out 
of the market, and koep it out. To accomplish 
this desired object, beekeepers must co-operate, 
then open a shop for the sale of honey, together 
with fruit or something that will not require 
much capital ; then procure the services of a 
good honest man, one who is well known in 
town— a small beekeeper who has not bees 
enough to occupy all his time, would probably 
be the best man, for he would necessarily feel 
an interest in the matter ; by these means I 
think the sale of honey would soon be doubled. 
“I cannot tell how it is that grocers and 
other shopkeepers do not seem to push the sale 
of honey. You may travel up and down some 
of our principal streets without seeing honey 
exposed for sale. That, I am sure, in part ac- 
counts for the slow sale of honey in Brisbane. 
If honey could be put up in a more attractive 
form, and brought more prominently before 
the public, T am sure parents would give their 
children more of it; and if the children had a 
voice in the matter, they would much prefer 
good honey to oily butter. 1 am sure there 
are thousands of children in Queensland who 
hardly know the taste of honey, and the sooner 
they do the better, both for their good and 
ours. In an article oil ‘Sel 1 in g Extracted Honey’ 
Mr. France shows the difference between a man 
going out to sell honey, and the one who waited 
to be asked for it; the former sold 1200 lbs. of 
honey in three weeks, his commission amount- 
ing to over £ 7 , and that in the same town 
where the other man sold only 100 lbs., and 
grumbled, because, as he said, ‘ there was no 
profit in selling honey.’ I wonder bow many 
grocers, when they are going their rounds for 
orders, ask their customers if they can send a 
bottle of honey. In the greater number of shops 
honey is uot to be seen ; if you want it you 
must ask for it, and in some cases when it is 
banded to you, you find in place of a cork a 
a, piece of brown paper tied to the neck of the 
bottle with a very doubtlul-looking rag, and 
the outside of the bottle so thickly fly -endorsed 
that you wonder what the inside can he like, 
and you come to the conclusion you don’t like 
honey and so take a tin of golden syrup instead, 
for it is so well got up it must be good. 
“ Before we beekeepers can expect succesR, 
we shall have to let the public see that we are 
in earnest and take an interest in our work. 
We must supply a good, article, got up in an 
attractive form, and we shall soon be successful 
competitors.” — The Queenslander, May 7, 1887. 
©ruv.nal Contributions. 
HIVES. 
There is no more important question to the 
Beekeeper, whether he be a veteran oi a be- 
ginner, than that of What Hives are to le used. 
Hives, at the cheapest, are an expensive por- 
tion of the necessary plant, and at the dearest, 
are far beyond the means of those who desire 
to make a profit of Beekeeping. As the chief 
object of this Journal is to encourage the in- 
dustry, and induce people in the country to 
whom a little addition to their wages or in 
come is a matter of moment, to take it up as 
means of obtaining that addition, we shall 
give our readers the best information we can 
as to the best hives, the cheapest hives, the 
worst hives and the dearest hives, irrespective 
of any consideration except that of the advan- 
tage of the Beekeeper ; we will also advise to 
the best of our knowledge. 
Of course there is comparatively little to be 
said about box hives and skeps, but as the 
cost of frame hives in Australia has hitherto 
been such as to prohibit their general adop- 
tion, especially among the class we most desire 
to help, and Beekeeping in boxes is still car- 
ried on far more extensively than in frame 
hives, a few hints on these kinds may be 
found useful in a small way. 
We rank under box hives all that are not 
made for moveable combs, and their name is 
legion if we reckon all the countries where 
beekeeping is practiced, hollcw logs, clay pipes, 
old chimney pots, bores of all forms and shapes, 
straw hires or skeps, down to our favorite colo- 
nial ones, the red Dutch gin case, kerosene bores 
or candle cases. These are all cheap, most of 
them very bad and unprofitable, but on the 
other hand ea - ily obtainable, and as a rule 
not objectionable to the bees. Now anything 
that will keep the bees from rain, wind and 
cold will do, but they will do better if it will 
also keep tliem from too much heat ; therefore 
our favorite red gin case would be generally 
good as regards size, soundness Ac., but is 
