436 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE 



July 15 



NO. 2.— FRIEND SHUMARD AND HIS DAUGHTER FLORENCE IN THEIR APIARY ON THE MAIN 



LAND NEAR OSPKEY. 



By the way, how can one find a happier combination in caring for bees, poultry, or any thing else, than fa- 

 ther and daughter? When I was on the island Mr. Shumard and I both tried the grafting business, but made 

 bungling work of it; but after he explained to Florence what was wanted (she was only 17 1 she fixed a lot of 

 queen-cells so that the bees accepted the larva> and filled out every one of them. She has lately been teaching 

 school, and quite successfully, I am told; but when she found that her father had never been able to get (lueens 

 enough (to supply The A. I. Root Co. i in April, May, and June she promised this year to turn in and help. — 

 A. I. R. 



whereby the public might become better ac- 

 quainted with this dehcious product; but I 

 know of no plan that has got further than 

 the suggestion. In this connection I should 

 like to name one method that has not been 

 taken up by the fraternity; and an experience 

 of 25 years in an advertising office confirms 

 my faith in it— the use of all trade papers. 

 My plan would be to have a fund raised that 

 would suffice to keep a quarter-page adver- 

 tisement in the grocery and food-trade papers 

 the year round. In this space I would "strike 

 from the shoulder" in telling the retail gro- 

 cer why he should make special effort to sell 

 more honey. An intelligent retailer can ex- 

 ert a good deal of influence with a large 

 number of heads of families, and he will ex- 

 ert this influence if it is to his. financial in- 

 terest to do so. This advertising matter 

 should be written by somebody who knows 

 how to talk to retailers. It is a different 

 proposition from reaching consumers. There 

 are, say, 125,000 retailers in the country who 

 are worth going after, and a good part of 

 them— in fact, practically all of them— can 

 be reached by trade papers. 



A fund of $6000, may be less, will pay for a 

 good space for a year. In itself this is quite 

 an amount; but would it be burdensome to 

 bee-keepers per capita? I believe they would 

 ere long see an increase in the consumption 



of honey that would fully justify the outlay, 

 and they will not willingly give up the plan. 



I wish the readers of Gleanings and other 

 bee-papers would give this proposition their 

 consideration and send in their opinions. I 

 may be wrong, but other staples owe their 

 success very largely to the grocery and kin- 

 dred papers, and there is even a better 

 chance for honey. Millers are advocating an 

 advertising campaign for flour. They are 

 seeing their trade diminishing through the 

 use of ' ' patent ' ' Battle Creek breakfast foods, 

 and feel that before long they will have to 

 defend a product that has stood the test of 

 generations. And to what is the popularity 

 of "patent" foods due? almost altogether to 

 printers' ink. 



Summing up, for six thousand dollars a 

 year, 125,000 reliable retailers can be reached 

 every week! Figure it out. You have a big 

 lot of desirable publicity for very little money 

 per bee-keeper, and his contribution is not 

 asked "all in a gob." He spreads it over 12 

 months. Is it worth thinking about? 



New York, N. Y. 



[These suggestions are worthy of the care- 

 ful consideration of honey-producers. Mr. 

 Root has for many years been engaged in 

 the advertising field in connection with vari- 

 our trade papers in New York, especially the 



