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THE AMERICAN BEE JOURNAL. 



July 15, 



brain, that I did kill the deer, and was ready to kick like a 

 bay steer when brother said that I did not. 



Should one of those gentlemen who made the errors men- 

 tioned above, chance to pick this article up, and begin to 

 read, he would drop it like a hot rock, because it conflicts 

 with the ideas he has advanced or contracted from reading 

 books which were written by men when modern bee-keeping 

 was in its infancy, and before many of the secrets of the bee- 

 hive were revealed to the human mind. Oh, if we could only 

 be content to write what we knew to be actual facts, instead 

 of poisoning the minds of the seekers after knowledge with 

 our imaginations, we would be a blessing instead of a curse 

 to humanity. There is no pursuit about which people are so 

 ignorant as that of bee-keeping, and most people can recollect 

 things told them about anything else better than things told 

 them about bees. 



There Is an old gentleman with whom I am well ac- 

 quainted, who began studying bee-keeping. He procured 

 some of the best books on the subject. I heard him tell a lot 

 of clabber-headed fellows one day that he learned from one of 

 the books that queens were often reared from larvae three 

 days old. I told the old fellow the book he got that out of 

 was just guessing at it. He insisted that the man who wrote 

 the book knew what he was talking about. I begged the old 

 man to let me prove to him that a queen could not be reared 

 from a larva three days old. "Oh," said he, "it could be 

 done." I offered $10 for every queen he could rear from a 

 larva three da\ s old. He hpgan to experiment a little, and 

 finally he agreed ihat it could uut be done. 



Some bee-writers say that good queens cannot be reared 

 from larviu three days old. I say, and will prove to any sensi- 

 ble man, that no kind of a queen can be reared from a larva 

 scold. And I believe that G. M. Doolittle and Henry Alley 

 will bear me out in it. 



I love the bee-books and bee-papers ; I lake and read 

 them all. I love the good men who write them, but the un- 

 varnisht truth is dearer to me than them all. 



Milam Co., Tex. 



Building Up a Reputation on Honey. 



BY G. M. DOOLITTLE. 



Question. — Is it any advantage to put your name and ad- 

 dress on cases of honey which are to be shipt on commission to 

 commission men ? 



Answer. — Each year, from 1871 to 1877, I sold my 

 honey to a dealer in Syracuse, N. Y., delivering it there by 

 wagon, so that it always arrived in first-class condition. As 

 the merchant, always took all the honey I had, both extracted 

 and comb, together with all the dark honey, I considered it a 

 good thing for me, and would still think so if I could thus sell 

 my honey now; but death removed him in the early part of 

 1878 ; and altho I have several times tried to have other par- 

 ties in this city take his place, yet not one was willing to do 

 so, as regards buying and selling honey. 



However, there was one thing I did not quite like, which 

 was that he insisted on my bringing the honey to him in cases 

 having nothing on them except the gross weight, the tare, or 

 the weight of the crate, and the net weight of the honey. 

 When I asked him the reason for this he showed me stencil- 

 plates bearing his own name and address, and said : " I put 

 my name and address on every case of ratlin fine honey which 

 I buy, so as to build up a trade in honey, thus securing a name 

 second to none ; for with all Inferior honey I leave this stencil- 

 mark off, so that none but the very best bears my name, and 

 thus I am gaining a reputation year by year which is growing 

 constantly to my benetit. If I allowed you to put your name 

 on the cases It would not help me a bit ; and as long as you 

 sell to mo each year It could be of no benolit to you." 



After a year or two I saw that his line of reasoning was 

 correct; for every year gave him a larger range of customers, 

 until, at the time of his death, ho handled honey by tons to 

 where he handled it by the ten pounds when he began. After 

 his death I began shipping honey on commission, and wrote 

 my commission merchants, asking them If tliey would allow 

 me to put my name and address on each case. To this they 



objected ; but a few said they had no objection to my putting 

 my name on the sections inside the case if I wisht to do so. I 

 accordingly procured a rubber stamp, as well as a dating-ap- 

 aratus which would remain good for ten years. I could now, 

 in a moment, put my name and address on anything 1 wisht, 

 from a postal card up to a bee-hive, and give the date of so 

 putting on, if desired. 



Outside of the first object, as originally intended, I have 

 found this stamp of great benefit to me in many ways, and I 

 would advise everybody who reads this to procure such a 

 stamp and see how much in time, money, and temper it will 

 save them. 



Taking the hint given me by the honey-merchant, I put 

 my name on only all really nice honey, and let all "off-grades" 

 go without it. And right here I wish to throw in a sugges- 

 tion. We have heard much in the past from commission-men 

 and others about some sending them honey, putting all sorts 

 of inferior honey into the same case with fancy honey, putting 

 the fancy on the outside, and the inferior in the middle of the 

 case where it would not be seen till the case should be opened. 

 I never blamed commission men for being out of patience with 

 those who would work against the interests of every one con- 

 cerned, enough to do this thing ; and the suggestion I 

 would make is this : If you will procure a rubber stamp, and 

 use it as did the honey-merchant spoken of above, no one will 

 ever have a chance to say aught but words of praise for the 

 even appearance of all honey which you put in any case. 



After the sections, were all in the shipping-case, and be- 

 fore the cover was put on, it took only a moment or two of 

 time to stamp all the sections in that case, thus letting the 

 consumer know by whom such fine honey was produced, while 

 the commission merchant received all the credit with the re- 

 lailer, unless, perchance, such retailer desired to deal direct 

 with the producer. And thus it came about that I got many 

 letters from different parts of the country reading something 

 like this : 



" I purchast of Mr. So-and-So a splendid article of honey 

 bearing your address. As it gives the best of satisfaction, for 



how much could you send me cases of such honey '?" 



And so it has often come about that, after my honey was 

 all disposed of, I would have many calls for honey which I 

 could not supply, but which gave me a " leverage " for the 

 next year. So it will be seen that the plan of a shrewd mer- 

 chant has not been lost, even if he did keep me where he wisht 

 while he was living. 



Why I said in the forepart of this article that I should be 

 glad to sell as I formerly did was, that there is an advantage 

 in selling the whole crop to one person, for cash on delivery, 

 not gotten by selling the crop out in small lots, or by shipping 

 it on commission. All will think of some of these advantages, 

 without my enumerating them. However, it so happens that 

 the most of the large producers can not sell to one party each 

 year, and for this reason I give the above plan, as I believe ft 

 to be a good one, and just the one to work upon when we can 

 not sell to one party each year, and for this reason I give the 

 above plan, as I believe it to be a good one, and just the one 

 to work upon when we can not sell our whole crop to one per- 

 son, or all of it in our own home market. And by this plan 

 many are Induced to eat honey who do not generally buy, by 

 the advertising done by those who are pleased by a really nice 

 article of honey. It takes all of these little kinks as going to- 

 ward a whole to make successful bee-culture. — Gleanings. 



Several Bee-Notes and Suggestions. 



BY MRS. L. C. AXTELL. 



Bees Quiet in Spring. — It seems to me the more quiet 

 that bees can be kept in the spring the better It is for them. 



Feeding for Pollen. — We used to feed our bees bushels 

 of ground oats, rye and corn-meal ; also flour, but have come 

 to the conclusion that it is an injury to them, as they get 

 plenty of natural pollen from the maple and willow trees in 

 all weather fit for bees to fly. 



Retards the "Set." — Moving chickens even from on© 

 pen or house to another in the spring retards their wanting »o 

 sit. 



Wintering Blacks vs. Italians. — The old black bees 

 in their box-hlvos winter even better than our line pure Ital- 

 ians on the old, let-alone principle. But the Italians, If cared 



