1908 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE. 



1251 



is the greatest demand for the former, it means 

 more dollars in our pockets to produce that icind. 



SHALLOW vs. DEEP SUPERS. 



Another year ot extensive manipulations with 

 both deep and shallow supers convinces me still 

 more that more satisfactory results can be obtain- 

 ed by using shallow supers for extracted hon- 

 ey as well as for comt) honey. They have 

 more advantages than disadvantages. It is true 

 that more supers and frames must be nailed up 

 for a given quantity of honey secured, and the 

 first cost is a little g'eater. It may be well to 

 keep in mind, however, that, as lumber gets 

 scarcer, narrow lumber may be less expensive for 

 the shallow supers; and as the shallow frames are 

 made with a much lighter top-bar the difference 

 in the amount of material between two shallow 

 frames and one deep one is not very great. What 

 difference there is between this and the nailing- 

 up of the frames is soon offset by the fact that 

 no wiring is necessary with the shallow ones; 

 and, further, that thin super foundation is used 

 in them, thus making quite a saving at the very 

 start in this respect. Such light foundation goes 

 mucn further; and where the frames have to be 

 refilled at frequent intervals the difference in ex- 

 pense soon counts up. 



There is only one other argument generally 

 brought out by the deep-frame advocates in favor 

 of the deep kind, and that is the question of un- 

 capping. Even if I should concede their claims 

 I have found so many oiher points in favor of the 

 shallow frames that it puts the others much in 

 the shade. This is speakingofwj' manipulations 

 in my localities, of course. But since these lo- 

 calities, of which there are a dozen, vary very 

 much, I am sure the same differences would hold 

 in apiaries still further away. 



There is an ad' antage in giving the bees room 

 by tiering up with shallow supers, and the gain 

 here is again enough to pay for the extra trouble 

 and expense, as just a little more surplus that is 

 obtained in this way counts up in a whole crop. 



The main gain comes in taking off the crop. 

 What a slow job to have an empty box on a 

 wheelbarrow into which each comb is put sepa- 

 rately after brushing off the bees, irritating them 

 and starting robbing in a wholesale manner! We 

 have tried this. It was our way before ive kne-iv 

 better. Now we have this to do only when a 

 queenless colony has been set on top of a strong 

 one and the deep combs have become filled with 

 honey during the rush; and even those who have 

 assisted me at various times have carefully left 

 these TO the ver) last to be taken off. 



No brush is ever needed in our apiaries when 

 removing honey. A good smoker and a hive- 

 tool are all. The combs being shallow the bees 

 can he sent scampering down as soon as the cover 

 is raisfd. Half a dozen colonies are opened in 

 quick succession, smoke driving down most of 

 the bees, when the full supers are jerked off, set 

 on end on the ground, when the rest of the bees 

 hurry off. In half an hour a thousand pounds 

 of honey is ready to haul in. The few bees that 

 cluster on some of the supers are jounced off over 

 the wheelbarrow handles. 



So far I've beaten the deep-frame advocates; 

 but now it comes to the uncapping. The knife 



reaches over the entire width of the comb, and — 

 you know the rest! If the deep combs were la/- 

 Tvays as evenly filled as the shallow ones, fewer 

 combs would need to be handled; but the lower 

 part of the combs is too often more difficult to 

 uncap, so the difference in uncapping is not so 

 great after all. Besides, two of my S^/g combs 

 hold more honey than one L. 



General 

 Correspondence 



SELLING HONEY. 



Some Experience in Selling Honey from 

 House to House, and to Grocers; the 

 Requisites of a Good Salesman. 



BY WESLEY FOSTER. 



There have been a good many articles in the 

 bee-journals on the subject of selling honey. 

 These articles have treated the matter in two 

 ways: 1, house-to house selling; 2, introducing 

 the product to the people through grocers. Call- 

 ing from house to house brings one in closer 

 touch with the consumer, and the sales will be 

 greater in number for the territory covered; but 

 in a large city such a plan would be impossible 

 if it were desired to cover the entire territory. 

 The ideal way would be to go from house to 

 house with a sample of both comb and extracted 

 honey, and let the people taste the extracted, and 

 sell them as much as possible right there, inform- 

 ing them that they can get more of the same 

 quality, at the same price, of their grocer, if they 

 ask for it. Some of the best literature concern- 

 ing honey should be left. I used this plan when 

 I lived in a small place, and it succeeded. 



For several years I have sold to the grocers 

 only, except our near neighbors, who come to 

 our house for their honey. The difficulty with 

 selling through groceries is in getting the grocer 

 to display the honey in a prominent place and 

 push it forward on his rounds taking orders. 

 This difficulty can be overcome if the honey- 

 salesman brings the need for display, reading- 

 cards, price cards, etc., to the attention of the 

 grocer and furnishes him with the material for 

 this. The seller of the honey can afford to put 

 an observatory hive in along with the honey dis- 

 play if a good window is placed at the disposal 

 of the salesman. A display of this kind can be 

 left for a week or two, and then moved to some 

 other store. If enough business is done to war- 

 rant the expense, several outfits in use at once are 

 better. 



Bee demonstrations and exhibits at fairs are 

 popular because the details of bee-keeping are 

 now understood less than those of any other in- 

 dustry. 



I have sold honey more or less since I was 

 twelve years of age. My first selling was done 

 after my father had harvested a fair crop of comb 

 and extracted honey from basswood and white 

 clover. We were then living in Iowa. I car- 

 ried four or five sections in a peach-basket, call- 



