620 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE 



located right out in the free open, and one 

 would naturally suppose this yard would 

 have perished; but the colonies wintered 

 nearly the best of all. The only protection 

 this yard had was some buildings about 

 forty rods away on the west side, afid a 

 small copse sixty rods to the north. There 

 was nothing around these hives to catch the 

 snow, and the ground had not more than 

 six or eight inches of snow on it at any 

 time. Then as soon as it warmed up the 

 snow melted and the ground was bare. Not 

 so at the other two yards. There was ice 

 around the hives and nearly over the entire 

 yard till quite late, and every little sunshine 

 that brought the bees out caused them to 

 drop in the puddles of water, and the colo- 

 nies kept growing weaker. 



We have a fourth yard, wliich was locat- 

 ed in a hollow or sort of cove. This yard 

 usually winters without the loss of a single 

 colony, and on our last visit last spring 

 nearly every colony covered ten frames. It 

 seems, however, that fate decided that these 

 bees should not gather honey for their own- 

 er; for, a day after our last visit, the sun 

 came out warm, and the snow was turned 

 to water. The bees were located near a 

 river with an ice- jam a few miles below, 

 and a milldam a few miles above, and when 

 the ice went over the dam it backed water 

 two feet deep into the beeyard. No Avater 

 ^vas ever knoAvn to come up anywhere nea]- 

 the yard, and we have come to the conelu- 

 ■sion that rivers, like many other things, can 

 not be trusted. 



The hives we winter in are of the tene- 

 ment pattern, and also the old-style Root 

 ■chaff liive. The tenement hive winters the 

 ■bees the best, but it is not so handy to work 

 with. The bees remain in the tenement 

 hives winter and summer, with one large 

 •chaff cushion stamped doAvn tight. The 

 four colonies are then in winter quarters, 

 and they require no further attention till 

 warm weather in the spring. These tene- 

 ment hives are a fine thing for outyards, 

 ►especially when stock is turned in the or- 

 chards or yard, as they are proof against 

 being knocked over; but it takes two to 

 four men or a derrick to load them on a 

 wagon for moving. 



Bellevue, Ohio, Sept. 2. 



[This problem of windbreaks to shield 

 an apiary during winter is a perplexing 

 one. But we think we have determined that 

 a solid high board fence is not as good as 

 an open fence, nor yet as good as low 

 shrubbery by which the force of the wind 

 may be broken — or enough so that it will 

 not strike the hives with a blast. A solid 

 iboard fence causes the wind to glance up- 



ward. It then dives down, hitting some 

 hives with jDeculiar force. 



We were pretty well satisfied last winter, 

 and especially in the spring, that hives hav- 

 ing entrances facing a stretch of country 

 without a windbreak, where the wind could 

 gather momentum, suffered much more than 

 other hives in a more screened position. In- 

 deed, many of the former died outright. 

 Hives with exposed entrances almost invari- 

 ably were in bad condition, — Ed.] 



THE ESSENTIALS OF TRUE SALESMANSHIP 



BY R. A, NUSBAUM 



Can we not get something started in the 

 press that will cause the "mob" to buy 

 honey for the same reason that they buy 

 "grapenuts," "food shot from guns," "mead- 

 ow gold butter," etc. f Of course that would 

 cost more money than most of us would 

 care to spend; but I believe it would pay 

 as well as any thing else. 



Some of us have sold large quantities of 

 honey by making a personal call at the 

 home. In a very few minutes we have 

 made a good sale to Mrs. Jones, who just 

 a few moments before had never an idea 

 of purchasing any of God's choicest gift to 

 man. 



Honey can be sold just as easily as veg- 

 etables, books, flavors, etc. In order to do 

 this successfully one must have a carefully 

 prepared speechj or what a book agent calls 

 his "canvass." This talk must be so ar- 

 ranged that it will lead the prospective cus- 

 tomer through four distinct mental process- 

 es: First, he must get the attention of his 

 prospective customer; second, he must de- 

 velop an interest in the article sold; third, 

 he must create a desire on the part of his 

 prospective customer to possess this par- 

 ticular article; fourth, he must induce ac- 

 tion — the order or sale. In the first place, 

 these four steps are absolutely necessary 

 in making any and every sale. 



I venture to say that many beekeepers 

 try to sell part of their crop every year 

 without knowing the very fundamental 

 rules of the salesmanship game. There 

 should be a "canvass" built on attention, 

 interest, desire, and action — the four cor- 

 ners of the foundation upon which all suc- 

 cessful salesmanship is built. I think it 

 should not be more than eight or twelve 

 minutes long. A well-worded and balanced 

 canvass should be worth hundreds of dol- 

 lars to any one who has to do with the sale 

 of honev. 



Cleveland, O., Sept. 8. 



