1909 



GLEANINGS IN BEK CULTURE. 



191 



BEE-KEEPING AMONG 

 THE ROCKIES. 



By Wesley Foster, Boulder, Col. 



PUSHING honey. 

 An effective way to increase the sales of honey 

 is to get the grocer interested. If he likes the 

 honey he will push it. One of my customers in- 

 structed his clerks to show a jar of honey to ev- 

 ery person coming into the store, with the result 

 that several dozen jars were cleaned out in one 

 day — all the stock he had on hand. 

 ■^ 



WINTER LOSSES. 



A report comes from Fort Collins, Colo., of a 

 forty-per-cent loss in bees. This is due to the 

 large amount of honeydcw gathered there last 

 season. Smelter smoke has practically destroyed 

 several yards near Denver. 



The loss of bees in Boulder Co. will not be as 

 high as at Fort Collins, but a ten-per-cent loss is 

 a low estimate, I think. 



BEE-KEEPING WITH OTHER LINES OF BUSINESS. 



A man broadens his view and gets more out of 

 living by not confining all his energies to one 

 business There may be some lines of work 

 that require all one's thought; but bee-keeping, 

 I think, goes well with other things. The best 

 bee-keepers in the West are farmers, fruii-grow- 

 ers, business men, etc. They have other inter- 

 ests, especially land investments. The man is a 

 dead one who is not taking advantage of the rise 

 in land values which he himself helps to create. 



Personally I like to keep bees, sell honey, 

 write for Gleanings, and make my savings earn 

 something through investment in land or bees. 



UNPROFITABLE METHODS. 



An illustration appeared on p. 143/, last year, 

 of several display-cases for comb honey. These 

 cases were gotten up very neatly, but held only 

 three sections each. I do not think such methods 

 are much credit to the industry. It looks too 

 small. If a grecer can not handle a 24-lb. case 

 of comb he would better not handle any, and let 

 the man handle it who can give it a creditable 

 showing. I refuse to sell less than 12 sections to 

 any grocer; and if the matter is presented to them 

 right they will see it as we do or as we should. 

 This smallness in our business methods eliminat- 

 ed, there will be less questioning, "Does bee- 

 keeping pay.'" 



Another thing that looks bad, and prevents us 

 from going on to more important work, is tak- 

 ing back from the consumer or retailer honey- 

 glasses, jars, cases, etc. I have even had people 

 bring the sections back to me. These methods 

 are out of date, and a man who wastes his time in 

 such ways will not makea very good living at bees. 



[What our correspondent says is true, but Mr. 

 Waggoner, the originator of the case mentioned, 

 advised the use of the small size more especially 

 as a sample case for exhibition purposes, his idea 

 being that the stock could then be kept in regu- 

 lar shipping-cases, behind or under the counter. 

 —Ed ] 



SHIPPING-CASES, AGAIN. 



I gather from Mr. Crane's remarks on p. 100, 

 Feb. 15, that he assumes it an impossibility to 

 ship comb honey without breakage — at least, 

 much of it is broken before it reaches the retail- 

 er. From this he reasons that because honey will 

 be broken it is likely to be a cleaner mess in a 

 single-tier than a double tier case. I do not agree 

 with this; for with the use of a paper tray be- 

 tween tiers the leakage is kept off the lower sec- 

 tions. Further, it is the rule for honey to reach 

 the retailer in good shape in double-tier cases — 

 more so than with single-tier. Perhaps Mr. 

 Crane is of the opinion that all western honey is 

 put up in double-tier cases. This is not the case. 

 Much of it is put in single-tier, and we have a 

 chance to size up the merits from experience. 



Thank you. Dr. Miller, for saying the catalogs 

 should answer my objections or change their ad- 

 vice. They will eventually change their advice, 

 for now we have the corrugated paper which is 

 going to be used in cases this year — two pieces 

 for the double-tier case. The drip paper has 

 been used between tiers right along. 



What I meant in No. 1 objection, page 1312, 

 Nov. 1, was that the hand-hole in a single-tier 

 case is further from the body of the person car- 

 rying it than that of a double-tier case, and so the 

 single case is more difficult to carry. This will 

 not be noticed unless a good many are handled. 



My second and third objections are practically 

 admitted by Mr. Root when he says that a cu- 

 bical box is stronger than a flat one, weight be- 

 ing the same. The cubical double-tier shipping- 

 case will not twist, and it will stand much more 

 stepping on. No! folks should not step on nor 

 sit on comb-honey cases; but we do not have 

 control of all the people who handle our honey, 

 and the strongest box for the same money is the 

 one to have. 



My fourth objection to the single-tier case I 

 consider one of the strongest, for it is the little 

 points upon which a sale hinges. A grocer will 

 take the double-tier glass-front case every time — 

 the big showing of honey looks good to him. 



Speaking of the weight of a case on a glass 

 show-case, I do see a good deal of this in stores. 

 I have seen cash-registers on top of glass show- 

 cases. The grocer is careless who allows any 

 thing of this kind, however. Editor Root says 

 that, as the case approaches more nearly the 

 shape of a cube, careless freight-handlers have a 

 tendency to lay it on its back or face. This 

 does happen, but seldom, with the single-tier, 

 though it is so easy to wedge into narrow places 

 on edge, and it is done very frequently — more 

 often, I should say, than a double-tier case is laid 

 on its back or face. In the main, I consider 

 Bro. Root's remarks on this serious question in 

 my favor. We are to have the corrugated paper 

 this year for both tiers of sections, and this makes 

 it the ideal case. 



The box is more rigid. It is easier to carry. 

 It shows off more honey, and to better advan- 

 tage. Takes less space on the counter. Protects 

 from dust one-half of the case while the top half 

 is being sold. Will stand stepping on without 

 danger of breakage. [The introduction of cor- 

 rugated paper has modified this whole proposi- 

 tion. We are frank to admit the double-tier case 

 has much in its favor. — Ed.] 



