66 



AMERICAN BEE JOURNAL 



February 



We have observed that bees by 

 preference store their honey over 

 and above the brood-nest. We take 

 advantage of this fact and place 

 empty dravirn comb at that place. To 

 the same extent that nature abhors a 

 vacuum, so the bees abhor empty 

 comb at that place, and strive to fill 

 it with all their splendid energy; but 

 if possessed with reason, they would 

 see the futility of trying to fill a hole 

 that was continually being prepared 

 for them by the apiarist, and continu- 

 ally emptied. 



We grope about without success to 

 find attributes in the bees that cor- 

 respond with memory, reason or vo- 

 lition in ourselves, and try to satisfy 

 ourselves by saying that all the vari- 

 ous phenorriena of the hive are purely 

 reflex, excited by various stimuli, all 

 mere verbiage to obscure the pov- 

 erty of our minds. 

 "And as imagination bodies forth 

 The forms of things unknown, the 



poet's pen 

 Turns them to shapes and gives to 



airy nothing 

 A local habitation and a name." 



— Midsummer Night's Dream. 



Washington. 



We do not believe that the packing 

 case should be condemned as posi- 

 tively as our esteemed correspond- 

 ent does in the above article. Be- 

 tween the ice-box which gets cold 

 and stays cold, and the hot-house 

 packing case, there is a middle line; 

 a packing case which simply con- 

 serves the warmth of the bees and is 

 heavy enough to keep the bees com- 

 fortable. Sawdust, to our mind, will 

 never do, as it is indeed a refrigera- 

 tor packing in very cold seasons. But 

 many of the packing cases now used 

 preserve the heat of the cluster with- 

 out furnishing undue warmth. That 

 we do not use them ourselves, be- 

 cause of their cost, should not deter 

 beginners from trying them. Winter- 

 ing bees is, more than any other part 

 of the management, a question of lo- 

 cality. — Editor. 



HONEY AS A SALES PROMOTER 



By Smith C. McGregor 



Many apiaries that yield a gener- 

 ous supply of honey are not the sole 

 business of their owners. Perhaps 

 garden truck or poultry furnishes the 

 balance of the income. In such cases, 

 the honey is often disposed of with- 

 out due consideration of its value as 

 a sales builder for the other products. 



If you are a part-time beekeeper, 

 you may think you haven't time to 

 devote to honey selling campaigns. If 

 you want to market it to better ad- 

 vantage, and seek methods of time- 

 saving in the care of the bees, why 

 not try time-saving devices? 



Time can be saved in dozens of 

 places in the apiary, and the ones 

 who do save it are usually those who 

 make a success of their honey sales. 

 Does the actual sale of honey end 

 the transaction? If it does, you are 

 missing one of the chief benefits of 

 the apiary. 



Most business men feature one line 



or article that they have explicit con- 

 fidence in. The profit on the actual 

 sale of the featured article may not 

 be worth the trouble involved; but 

 the other articles sold, because of 

 this first sale, bring in the profit. It 

 is much the same with honey. If you 

 have confidence in your product, why 

 not let people know about it, calling 

 their attention to anything else you 

 wish to sell at the same time? 



Perhaps you have sold your honey 

 without difficulty; yet other farm 

 products wasted because you could 

 not find buyers. At the same time, 

 many of your honey customers would 

 have purchased the products you lost, 

 had they known you had them. Mar- 

 ket your honey in a special container, 

 thus making it an attractive advance 

 agent for your other products. 



Take the 5-pound pail, for exam- 

 ple. This is a convenient size for the 

 small family, or for those who are 

 buying for the first time. A good, at- 

 tractive label on it reading, "This 

 Honey is Only One of Our Products. 

 If You Like It, Ask for Them," would 

 let the buyers know you sold addi- 

 tional produce, and an advertising 

 tag on the pail would list the season- 

 able bargains you ofifered. 



Quality advertising labels and tags 

 cost more than those of inferior 

 quality; but if the honey is good, 

 doesn't it deserve a good label? In- 

 deed, people are getting so they judge 

 a product by its advertising, and if 

 they are pleased with the original 

 purchase they will give preference 

 to your line when they make addi- 

 tional ones. 



It is as a trade promoter that honey- 

 brings its real profit; the 5-pound pail 

 will not add much to your bank ac- 

 count, but if it lands the farm pro- 

 duce trade of the family who bought 

 it, that is worth the time involved. 

 Housewives are not bashful about 

 telling about bargains, and honey is 

 a good subject for gossip, especially 

 if it is high grade enough to please 

 the critical. 



Do not expect the honey sales to 

 provide an immediate outlet for all 

 your other produce, for they cannot 

 bring this about at once. But if you 

 have confidence in your products, and 

 wish to build up a permanent trade, 

 it will be worth your while to give 

 more attention to the marketing of 

 the honey. If you are not in direct 

 touch with a town or city, the parcel 

 post system makes it possible for you 

 to try it from your home. You can 

 save the consumer money, and the in- 

 creased sale of your other products 

 will make it worth your while. 



New York. 



through fine, had their flight and are 

 now in the cellar. Had springs on 

 the wagon to take up the jar. 



Thos. Dildine. 



Minnesota. 



(While bees can be moved in this 

 way in cool weather, they would 

 smother in hot weather without more 

 ventilation. — Editor.) 



MOVING BEES 



Reading about moving bees in the 

 December number of the American 

 Bee Journal, I thought I would tell 

 you of my experience this fall. I 

 moved 56 colonies of bees in two 

 wagon loads, with covers nailed down 

 tight and wire screen nailed over the 

 entrance. The bees were moved nine 

 miles over rough roads, but came 



COREOPSIS AS A SOURCE OF 

 HONEY 



By Charles B. Shortlidge, M. D. 



Along the Delaware river, on its 

 islands and in the sw^-mps adjacent 

 thereto, grow two flowers of the same 

 order, Compositae annuals. 



People call them the yellow flower 

 and coreopsis. They are called core- 

 opsis because the seeds resemble a 

 bed-bug, and coreopsis is Greek for 

 bed-bug. (Coris, bed-bug; opsis, ap- 

 pearance. — Editor.) 



They belong to the same family as 

 Spanish needle, but the seeds do not 

 stick to the clothing like the former 

 and are easily brushed off. 



I give the true botanical names: 



Bidens trichosperma, much divided 

 leaf; also sometimes commonly called 

 the tickseed sunflower. This plant 

 grows in bush form about 5 feet 

 high. I grew a specimen in my yard 

 in a shady location, 8 feet high. This 

 is the main honey plant blooming 

 from August 20 to the middle of Sep- 

 tember. 



Bidens laevis, nearly entire leaf, base 

 of which grows around the stem of 

 stalk from which it grows and nar- 

 row. Also is commonly called showy 

 hue marigold. It grows about 2 

 feet high and starts to bloom about 

 the last of August. It requires a 

 damper location than the first named 

 variety and is not so wide spread. 



In Delaware county and adjacent 

 sections of Philadelphia county, near 

 the river, for a mile inland, there are 

 several hundred acres of more or less 

 swampy land, where the tall variety 

 is very plentiful. 



I was informed by good authority 

 that these plants are found along the 

 Mississippi river and in Florida. 



For the past six years I have moved 

 from 30 to 100 colonies of bees 14 

 miles to catch the flow. Three differ- 

 ent beekeepers of Lancaster ooubty 

 moved 18, 30 and 100 hives from 40 to 

 59 miles to do the same, and others 

 shorter distances. 



I have averaged 20 pounds of ex- 

 tracted honey per colony and 25 

 pounds left for the bees to winter on. 

 A complete failure of the flow has 

 never been known by beekeepers liv- 

 ing there. 



The honey is the color of melted 

 butter, light yellow, and has the 

 ■characteristic faintly spicy odor or 

 flavor of the blooming flowers. 



I am scattering the seeds in 

 swamps near by and hope some day 

 I will not have to move my bees, but 

 have flowers enough near home. 



Last season I had my bees on Tini- 

 cuni Island, in sight of the great Hog 

 Island shipyard. 



Pennsylvania. 



