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^STABt/s 



^ERICA^ 



^BEE:PAPe^ 



r'N AMERICA. 



Entered at the Post-OfBce at Chicago as Second-Class Mail-Matter. 



PnbUsbed ^Veekly at 91.00 a. Tear by George ll¥. York A Co., 334 Dearborn St. 



aBORQB W. YORK, Editor. 



CHICAGO, ILL,, MARCH 23, 1905, 



VoLXLV.— No,12. 



=\ 



€bttorial Hotes 

 anb Comments 



=/ 



Local Advertising of Honey. 



The bee-keeper who wants to get the best there is out of the local 

 market is blind to his own interest if he neglects local advertising. J. 

 E. Johnson sajs this in the American Bee-Keeper : 



Last year I wrote articles in our home and country papers explain- 

 ing the value of honey as a food. I then wrote a leaflet, " Facts About 

 Honey and Bees," and had it printed. I put one in every case of 

 honey, and gave copies to people who had not bought honey. I also 

 inclose theoa in letters. 



I sold one case of No. 1 honey to a prominent citizen of our town. 

 I gave a leaflet to his wife when I delivered the honey and put one in 

 the case. To that family I sold last year seven cases of comb honey 

 and one gallon of extracted. They got interested, and he bought two 

 cases to take to a brother 30 miles away. In two or three weeks I got 

 a letter from a lady who had been to visit that brother and sampled 

 that honey. She wanted two cases of that same kind of honey. And 

 so, from that one case and my leaflets, I now have three good custo- 

 mers. This first man has already this year taken five cases, and is 

 going to take four cases to his brother and lady friend. 



Shipping Comb Honey to Market. 



This is a most important subject to the comb-honey producer, if 

 he ships to the distant market. The Fred W. Muth Co., Cincinnati 

 honey-dealers, have just had an experience that is quite fully explained 

 in the accompanying correspondence. The first letter, dated March 

 10, is to us, and the second one is from the Muth Company to the 

 customer who shipped them the honey : 



Friend York : — Some time ago, while at your office, you will 

 recollect X spoke to you relative to a shipment of six carriers of comb 

 honey we received, in which a large majority of the frames were 

 broken. We do our utmost to make a friend and customer, and gave 

 this party the very l)est price we possibly could afford. It might be 

 well to call the attention of your readers to the letter we wrote him, 

 a copy of which we are inclosing herewith. 



Yours very truly, The Fred W. Muth Co., 



Per Fred W. Muth, 7'c<s. 



The following is the copy of letter referred to in the foregoing, 

 the customer's name being omitted, of course : 



Dear Sir: — We are inclosing herewith our check in payment for 

 the six carriers of comb honey as per credit statement attached. 



Shipments like this we regret to receive, for they are prone to put 

 a damper on future transactions, and still, at the same time, wf are 

 not to blame. 



This shipment arrived just when we were having the coldest 

 weather of the season, when the thermometer ranged from 10 to 15 

 degrees below zero. Furthermore, to make matters worse, there were 

 no marks on top of the carriers to warn the railroad company to 

 handle them with care, and only one of the carriers had handles. 

 Judging from the condition in which the honey arrived, the railroad 

 company bandied the carriers, presumably as though they were so 

 many trunks. From outward appearances there were apparently no 

 leakages, but upon opening the packages we beheld an awtu! fight, 

 because we had your interests foremost in our minds. 



We want the support of every shipper, but, as it is, we lost u. jaey 

 in this transaction, as we did not charge you one cent for the great 



amount of lalror required to overhaul the lot. We interested the veg- 

 etable peddlers, who made their own price, for it needed selling, and 

 we were anxious to rid ourselves of it. C3 



At first we removed the combs from the sections, and tried to dis- 

 pose of it as chunk honey, but learned that the peddlers could sell it 

 best in the frames, the last case or two of which are still on our hands 

 unsold. 



As stated before, we did not charge you for the extra labor,'for 

 we felt that the price, as it is, will be unsatisfactory to you. 



Hereafter, in shipping honey, and especially comb honey, we warn 

 you to be more careful. In the first place, please see to it that each 

 carrier has two handles, and mark these words on the tops of the car- 

 riers: "Caution, Comb Honet, Handle with Care." And if 

 you will do this, you will find that you will realize a better profit on 

 your crop. If possible ship your honey as early in the season as you 

 can, for after the trade is supplied you can not expect to get as good a 

 price as before. 



If you will heed these words of advice, you will profit thereby. 

 Yours very truly, The Fred W. Muth Co., 



Per Feed W. Muth, Pres. 



We venture to say that the shipper referred to does not take and 

 read a bee-paper, nor has he read a first-class book on bee-keeping. 

 He doubtless lost enough on that one shipment to buy all the bee- 

 books published in this country, and also enough to pay the annual 

 subscription price of all the bee-papers for 20 years. 



We have so often published directions for preparing comb honey 

 for shipment that it seems almost a waste of space to repeat them. 

 But what's the use of spending months in producing comb honey, and 

 then by improper packing for shipping lose half the value of the 

 honey ? It pays to read — to learn — how to do things right. It is 

 usually such bee-keepers that say they can't afford to spend a dollar a 

 year for a good bee-paper. Why, they really can't afford to do with- 

 out the paper that tells them how to prevent such losses. 



A little later on we will again publish full directions for prepar- 

 ing comb honey for safe shipment. 



Prices of Hives Further Considered. 



On page 99 a clipping from The Farmer was inserted and some 

 views regarding it expressed. Mr. E. A. Morgan, a well-known bee- 

 keeper of 30 years' experience, conducts the apionltural department in 

 that periodical, and in a recent letter says : 



" Bee-keepers can not buy hives for less than they can make them, 

 and where is the carpenter or cabinet-maker that can not do as accu- 

 rate work as any expensive machinery *" 



Bee-keepers, as a class, are a very intelligent sort of people, and 

 if they can make hives cheaper than they can buy them, they will be 

 likely to do so, and whenever a majority of them, or even a consider- 

 able majority, report that they are making their own hives, the be- 

 ginner will be advised accordingly in these columns. The question 

 about " the carpenter or cabinet-maker " is referred to the reader. 



Mr. Morgan further says: "The supply-dealers' combine do take 

 the statement from Washington to raise their prices on supplies, how- 

 ever much you try to cover it up. Your comparison of the wood-chop- 

 per and his ax bears no comparison, and does in no way apply in this 

 case." 



Not being in the secrets of any "combine," of course we can not 

 dispute any illogical thing attributed thereto, but can see no reason 

 why the wood-chopper and his ax do not apply. If 100 percent profit 

 on investment in one case should affect prices on articles for in- 

 vestment, why should it not in the other! 



Then Mr. Morgan says this in his letter on this subject: 



