JULY 1, 1913 



457 



Bringing in a shipment of 11 tons from the railroad siding, to be graded. The cases are opened ready for 

 grading, and the government grader (in center), Mr. L. Bowman, ready for work. 



to display to the best advantage for the 

 purpose of bringing it to the notice of a 

 prospective purchaser. 



Most dealers like to talk bees to some 

 extent; but their conversation is of an in- 

 terrogative nature. Some want to know 

 what the king bee does, and what position 

 he holds in the society of beedom. I tell 

 them that the head of a colony or swarm of 

 bees is not a male but a female, and is 

 known as the queen, and that in reality 

 there is no such thing as a king bee. More- 

 over, the queen ordinarily is the mother of 

 every bee in the hive of a well-regulated 

 bee family, and is the only bee in the hive 

 capable of living more than a year, and 

 that the well-being and prosperity of a 

 colony of bees depends upon the proliflc- 

 ness and health of the queen. 



On the other band, there are some who 

 want to know if those big fat fellows which 

 one sees hanging about the entrance of a 

 hive on warm summer days are king bees, 

 and then I explain about the drones. Some- 

 times I run across a fellow who has the 

 artificial-comb-honey bogie in his head, and 

 he will go to considerable length trying to 



show that tliere is such a thing as artificial 

 comb honey. I call his attention to the 

 fact that The A. I. Root Co. has been offer- 

 ing one thousand dollars for a pound of 

 artificial comb honey that can not be de- 

 tected from natural comb honey, and that 

 this offer has been standing over twenty 

 years, and so far has had no takers; but 

 if he has the goods, or can get them, the 

 money is worth the effort. So far no one 

 has offered to produce the required pound 

 of artificial comb honey. 



I also find it advantageous to study the 

 different temperaments of the various deal- 

 ers. For instance, if I meet a man who is 

 lively and full of fun I jolly him or tell him 

 a funny story. On the other hand, if I 

 meet a slow-going steady man, I don't rush 

 him, but give him all the time he wants, 

 and make only such remarks as are neces- 

 sary for the intelligent transaction of busi- 

 ness. 



Thus I keep up the interest in my stock in 

 trade, and the sales continue to increase, 

 until to-day the demand is gi'eater than the 

 supply. 



Beardstown, 111., Feb. 24. 



