2?2 



THE BEE-KEEPERS' REVIEW 



ship is an art, but it is an art in which, 

 while we may not all be equally efficient, 

 yet each of us could improve it a little, 

 and a little more study and effort all 

 along the line would make a great differ- 

 ence indeed. Salesmanship covers a 

 great field, and the quality of the product 

 is only one of the factors necessary to its 

 success. 



And then, bee keepers do not take 

 their business seriously enough. To 

 them, bee keeping is only an avocation; a 

 side-issue; a by-product; something on 

 the side— it doesn't amount to so very 

 much. This hurts us, and always will. 

 Until we begin to feel its and our im- 

 portance, until we give it the same at- 

 tention in all its details, including the 

 financial part of it, that other business 

 concerns give to their business, we can 

 not expect the same success that they 

 find in their work. 



GREAT THINGS MAY GOME FROM SPECIALTY. 



If ever the day comes when the 

 specialist in bee keeping is supreme, there 

 will be a better market and sale of honey. 

 And that day will come. I believe there 

 is more than merely a small competence 

 to be derived from apiculture. The 

 automobile, the telephone, the various 

 labor- and time-saving apicultural ap- 

 pliances recently invented, and yet to 

 come, will make it possible to direct bee 

 yard work from the desk or office, and 

 for a man, or a company of men, to own 

 or control 10,000 colonies, and manage 

 them more easily than he now manages 

 500. 



Think of the advertising matter that 

 every business concern, large or small, 

 distributes. Bills, posters, pamphlets, 

 circulars everywhere. Do you think 

 another business would have such a good 

 chance to put a nice printed label around 

 a box or can as we have in our honey 

 sections and cans, and not use it? Do 

 you think the housewife wouldn't read it 

 if it were on there? I don't, and I think 

 it belongs there. If the section is not 

 adapted to bearing an attractive label, 

 descriptive of the merits of its contents, 



then the section is not fit to be the re- 

 ceptacle for comb honey. This is a 

 commercial age and we must use com- 

 mercial methods or fall behind. 



I used to stamp my name on the fancy 

 and No. 1 sections, and always received 

 letters from parties who wanted to buy. 

 I did not like to compete with my own 

 honey by sending to another party in the 

 same town, and I replied by sending 

 them to the commission man to whom 

 I shipped my haney, by referring to 

 him as my agent. Their letter I sent 

 to the commission man. I think I secured 

 better prices by doing so. 



I now sell most of my honey outright 

 to a jobber, and get the cash at once. I 

 like this way, as it gives me a chance to 

 get a little vacation and rest after the 

 honey is gone, and before preparing for 

 the season. I have done some mail order 

 business. More money can be obtained 

 for the honey that way, but I am tied to 

 my post all the time. After the honey 

 season is over, and everything scraped 

 and cased, I feel pretty well used up, 

 and need a rest and a change. 



HELP FROM ADVERTISING LITERATURE. 



My home market is not a large one. 

 In a good honey year, the farmers hurt 

 my sales a little. As a rule, people buy 

 more honey when they know there is 

 plenty. Then they talk about my honey, 

 and figure out how much I am getting, 

 and their gossiping advertises my honey. 

 Hence, more sales. 



I have used the pamphlet "Honey as a 

 Health Food," with good success. Such 

 circulars, or booklets, are not appreciated 

 as they should be. Bee keepers should 

 give them a trial. They really help, at 

 least, I have found it so. 



I did not intend, when I started, to 

 write such a long letter, but, after I got 

 started, I didn't know when to quit. I 

 hope you will succeed in getting honey 

 producers as much interested as you did 

 with your editorial on "keeping more 

 bees." 



Cassville, Wis.. May 18, 1910. 



