112 



Feb. 7, 1907 



American Hee Journal 



previous to my canvass, by mailing a 

 special card that I have gotten out. By 

 so doing it largeh- increases my sales, 

 as the people are expecting me. 

 ■ Only the best quality of honey should 

 be sold for table use. If we deliver a 

 pail of honey a little different in color 

 or flavor from a previous sale, call the 

 customer's attention to it when the sale 

 is made. 



When canvassing a new route, one 

 should not be too hasty. Take time to 

 get acquainted with customers, and tell 

 them something about your occupation. 

 Be polite, addressing all ladies and gen- 

 tlemen in a becoming manner. Make 

 friends, if possible, with all the persons 

 3'ou meet. Sell to them a good quality 

 of honey — yea, a better quality than they 

 can get elsewhere, deal fairly and 

 squarely, and success is yours. 



Success in life comes from finding out 

 what the world wants and then supply- 

 ing it in a style and quality a little bet- 

 ter than others have done, or are doing. 

 The world will pay for our honey a 

 good, fair price, if we only do our work 

 well enough. Geo. H. Kjrkpatkick. 



In the discussion which followed, Mr. 

 Muth advised asking a good price if 

 the goods were iirst-class, and instanced 

 a case where a man was making $4.00 

 a day (short hours) selling extracted 

 honey, of best quality, at 20 cents per 

 pound. 



Mr. Kirkpatrick stated that he sold 

 to lumber camps and the agricultural 

 class entirely. 



Mr. Holtermann thought Mr. Kirk- 

 patrick's plan excellent; he himself sold 

 at wholesale entirely, but the more re- 

 tailed by bee-keepers at home, the bet- 

 ter, provided a proper margin was left 

 the dealer. As a rule, bee-keepers did 

 not leave margin enough for the retail- 

 er. The wholesale and retail prices were 

 too close together, and the storekeeper 

 would push other goods which gave 

 him a better margin of profit. In the 

 address given, a difference between 7 

 and 10 cents was stated, probably about 

 right. In the cost, expenses on the 

 road and postage in notifying customers 

 would have to be reckoned with. 

 (Coutiaued next week.] 



Conducted by Emma M. Wilson, Marengo, 111. 



Eating Money on Meats 



Honey poured upon cooked bacon, sausage 

 and sonae other meats is really very palatable, 

 and much relished by many persons, strange 

 as the combination may sound. — American 

 Bee-Keeper. 



Which recalls that some years ago a 

 certain small boy in this locality made 

 a regular practise of eating honey on 

 his potato. 



purposes, in the making of salads and lor or- 

 dinary table uses, there is nothing that can be 

 compared to honey-vinegar. 

 New Auburn, Wis. Mrs. T. C. C. 



My First 6 Weeks Among the Bees 

 in Colorado 



Nothing Like Honey-Vinegar 



The thousands of sisters who take 

 the Delineator will be rejoiced to see 

 an item in the February number, page 

 332. It appears to be an unsolicited 

 testimonial to the value of an article 

 which in probably not so well known 

 as it should be even among bee-keep- 

 ers. Here is the item : 



The Use of Honet-Vinegar. 



It you want some fine vinegar, pure in 

 quality, and very tasty, make it yourself from 

 honey. I sampled some honey-vinegar at a 

 friend's house some time ago, and I was so 

 delighted with it that I persuaded her to give 

 me her recipe for making it. Here it is: 



Add 11^ pounds of extracted honey to a 

 gallon of water. Then keep in a warm place, 

 and in a few months you will be able to enjoy 

 your vinegar. If it is not strong enough, 

 add more honey, for I have made some vin- 

 egar with 3 pounds of the honey to the galloa 

 of water. While 'not suited for all culinary 



A stranger, in the month of June, 

 passing through the beautiful valley 

 which lies between Denver and Boul- 

 der, can not help noticing the large 

 alfalfa fields purple with blossoms, 

 the roadsides and ditch-banks bordered 

 with the fragrant sweet clover, and 

 the prairies covered with the many- 

 colored wild-flower.s. Yet does he ever 

 associate with these pleasant scenes 

 the fact that these blossoms are the 

 source of the many thousand pounds 

 of pure white honey that are shipped 

 from Denver every year ? 



If he is a close observer he will see 

 that almost every ranch in the valley 

 has its row of bee-hives located in some 

 secluded spot, and that many of these 

 ranches have large apiaries where the 

 busy little workers, during the month 

 of bloom, are industriously storing the 

 nectar which they find in great abun- 

 dance in these beautifully colored blos- 

 soms. 



My brother has .5 or 6 apiaries located 

 in different par'^s of the valley. It is 

 about my experience in one of these 

 apiaries during the swarming season 

 tliat I am to tell you. 



I had charge of a yard consisting of 

 about 80 colonies in good condition. 

 My prospects looked good, for my 

 brother promised me that if I hived SO 

 new swarms during the season he 

 would see that my financial difficulties 

 for the next year in the Normal school 

 would be at an end. Each new swarm 

 was worth fS.OO to him, and he was 

 anxious for me to save them all. 



The long rows of white hives stood 

 in one corner of a large apple orchard. 

 The wide branching trees were now 

 loaded with little^green apples, but 

 earlier in the spring they had been 

 covered with beautiful white and pink 

 blossoms, and had furnished the bees 

 with a bounteous supply of nectar to 

 nourish their young. Just as the blos- 

 soms on the trees had changed to ap- 

 ples, so the tiny white eggs in their 

 little waxen cells had changed to bees, 

 and now the busy little workers were 

 getting ready for their life-work of 

 gathering honey. 



As the young bees began to multiply 

 in the hive, the old queen must gather 

 her workers together and seek a new 

 home. It was my duty to give her an 

 informal introduction to the new hive. 



I had often seen my brother hive 

 bees, and had studied about the honey- 

 bee in Biology, so I thought I knew all 

 about it and its habits. I soon found 

 out that I had much to learn. 



The first few days I had nothing to 

 do but become acquainted with my 

 charges. It was interesting to watch 

 the little workers as they came in from 

 the fields loaded with pollen. Now and 

 then a big drone would come out and 

 buzz around, trying to make me be- 

 lieve he was very dangerous, but I 

 knew he could do nothing but scold, 

 and I soon got used to that. 



On the third day, as I sat reading 

 under the shade of an apple-tree, I 

 heard a strange buzzing sound, and 

 upon looking up saw a swarm of bees 

 issuing from a hive not 6 feet from 

 where I was sitting. I hurriedly put 

 on a bee-veil and gloves, lighted the 

 burlap in the smoker, and ran to the 

 back of the hive to watch them come 

 out. They tumbled over each other in 

 their eagerness to get out, and it 

 seemed as though every bee in the hive 

 were going to leave it. The bees cir- 

 cled in the air for a few minutes, and I 

 anxiously waited to see where they 

 would cluster. What was my surprise 

 and delight when I saw them fly 

 straight to the hive I had chosen for 

 them, and enter their new home with- 

 out any assistance from me. How 

 proud I was of my first swarm, and 

 what a splendid beekeeper I thought I 

 was getting to be. I changed my mind, 

 however, during the next few weeks, 

 for every swarm seemed to have a new 

 idea about the location of its new home. 

 Some would settle on a bunch of 

 alfalfa, and I would smoke them into 

 the hive. Others would start out and 

 lose their queen in their flight, and re- 

 turn to their old home. When I saw 

 them returning I would turn the old 

 hive around, put a new one in its place, 

 and play a little trick on them in this 

 way. I would give them a frame of 

 brood from one of the first swarms, 

 and let them rear a new queen. 



Several swarms were "foolish" 

 enough to cluster on a fence-post, and 



