February, 1916. 



American IBac Journall 



soul in town. I had a letter to Mr. A. 

 J. Harris, a commission merchant, and 

 another to a lawyer whose name I have 

 forgotten. I went to the depot on the 

 day of my arrival and took from the 

 car a few cans of bulk comb honey in 

 3 pound, 6 pound, 12 pound, and 60 

 pound sizes. The next morning, bright 

 and early, I was in the market house 

 with a large cut glass punch bowl (bor- 

 rowed from the hotel) full of bright 

 white slabs of comb honey for every 

 passer-by to see. I did not know a 

 single merchant's name nor what the 

 local price of honey had been. I added 

 2 cents to theTe.xas price of the honey 

 to pay my own profit and traveling and 

 selling expenses, added the freight and 

 a liberal profit for the grocer, and 

 placed a price per pound and per gal- 

 lon upon the honey that would cover 

 them all. Whoever came by was in- 

 vited to taste and examine the honey. 

 Some wondered if it could be possibly 

 "this year's honey, as our bees are 

 hardly out of the cellar yet." Some 

 wanted to buy, but I told them I could 

 only take orders for delivery through 

 their grocers. I took dozens of orders 

 that morning and thus got a line on 

 the grocers, their names, standing with 

 the trade, etc. 



I left the market house and called on 

 Mr. Harris to act as my cicerone, and 

 offered him a commission on my busi- 

 ness there, to introduce me and handle 

 the deliveries and collections for me. 

 The first store we called on bought 25 

 cases of honey. Remember that "a 

 case of honey" means in Texas 120 

 pounds, not a glass-front box of 12 to 

 24 sections. Before I had been in Knox- 

 ville 48 hours I wired for another car. 



That night I left Knoxville and the 

 next day worked Morristown, Greene- 

 ville and Asheville, N. C. At Asheville 

 I sold one man 40 cases (120 pounds 

 each). On a sight-seeing automobile trip 

 to "Biltmore" — Vanderbilt's beautiful 

 country home — we passed a small way- 

 side country grocery, and on the way 

 back I stopped and sold them five cases. 

 These outside orders were to be 



shipped by Mr. Harris from the second 

 Knoxville car upon its arrival. 



This is the story of my first market- 

 ing experience and the way I sold my 

 first carload of honey. It is notable 

 that cars of Texas honey have been 

 regularly sent to Knoxville ever since, 

 and our delicious sweet is a popular 

 seller every spring and summer in the 

 better class of grocery stores of that 

 entire district. What was done at 

 Knoxville can be repeated anywhere. 

 Honey is food and people want food. 

 It must be prepared for market in a 

 standard form with grading rules that 

 all can understand and that harmonize 

 with the desires of the trade. When- 

 ever a merchant or a consumer orders 

 honey from year to year he ought to 

 feel assured that the packing, and man- 

 ner of preparing for market, will be the 

 same each time he orders it. 



San Antonio, Tex. 



The Importance of Keeping En~ 

 trances Free from Ice 



BY LEWIS L. WINSHIF. 



MUCH has been printed in various 

 papers and magazines in the past 

 about keeping the entrances to 

 beehives unclogged with snow or ice. 

 Along the first of January, 1915, a bliz- 

 zard struck us, covering everything to 

 a depth of from one to four feet. Not 

 just one night, but four, did the snow 

 whirl and blow striking into every nook 

 and crevice that was exposed to the 

 weather. The photograph shows to 

 what a depth the hives were covered. 

 This photograph taken the first bright 

 day after the storm is not an old In- 

 dian burying ground as some might 

 suppose, but the mounds are beehives 

 covered deep with snow, so deep in fact 

 that they are not discernable. 



I hoped that the snow would stay 

 light and fluffy, keeping the bees warm 

 and comfortable. Nearly every bee 

 paper gives snow, if light and fluffy, as 

 an ideal protection against extreme 



cold. Is it any wonder then that 

 I was filled with gratification when 

 I gazed at the row of mounds and 

 thought of the countless thousands of 

 little workers, all waiting to be awak- 

 ened by the gentle breath of spring ? I 

 knew that they had an abundance of 

 stores, and as long as the snow re- 

 mained light and fluffy my wintering 

 conditions could not be more ideal than 

 they were. But — 



" All the plans of mice and men 

 gang'aft aglee," asiBurns, the poet, said 

 in one of his poems. I use these words 

 as they express my thoughts exactly 

 an i much better than any words of 

 mine could. 



The light fluffy snow lasted about a 

 week, and at the end of that time we 

 had a thaw with some rain, which soon 

 turned to snow again, but not until a 

 thick crust of ice had formed over the 

 top of the snow effectually shutting out 

 any air for the bees. 



Cold weather followed this thaw but 



1 did not remain inactive, and as soon 

 as possible dug the entrances to my 

 hives open, thereby giving the bees 

 some fresh air and ventilation. Figure 



2 shows a hive uncovered and the en- 

 trance clogged with solid ice. This is 

 the shape all of my bees were in, hav- 

 ing at least three feet of packed snow 

 over them and from one to three inches 

 of ice on that. It certainly was not a 

 bright prospect to dig out the hives if 

 a person had many bees, but having 

 only 11 colonies they were all dug out 

 in one forenoon. If these colonies had 

 not been uncovered, no doubt the bees 

 would all have smothered. Doubtless 

 many amateur beekeepers have lost 

 their bee^ in this manner and are yet 

 ignorant of the fact. My bees, after 

 being uncovered, had some fine flights, 

 and they are certainly beneficial where 

 outdoor wintering is practiced. Where 

 the bees have no flights from early fall 

 until late in the spring, they are almost 

 certain to have dysentery, and this is 

 one reason I would advise outdoor 

 wintering, especially to the novice. 



When the snow is light and fluffy the 

 heat from the bees will melt a space in 

 front of the hives, which serves as a 

 breathing place through which fresh 

 air works its way into I he hives. But 

 how can you expect the bees to melt a 

 breathing place through solid ice ? It 

 behooves beekeepers in general to 

 keep the ice from in front of the en- 

 trances to their beehives. If this is 

 done they will have no trouble with 

 bees smothering for lack of air. 



Sprinfield, N. Y. 



HIVES COVERED WITH SNOW 



Queen Rearing 



BY HENRY BRENNER. 



AT the beginning of March we start 

 queen-rearing for our own api- 

 aries and for increase. The method 

 we use is as follows : We make a frame 

 or rim out of light wood four inches 

 wide, closely fitting the outside dimen- 

 sions of a brood-frame with the top- 

 bar projections sawed off flush with the 

 end-bars. About one inch down on 

 the inside of this rim we tack a strip all 

 the way around, for the frame to rest 

 upon when lying flat. The usual top- 

 bar wedges furnished with Hoffman 

 frames or comb guides, are excellent 



