132 



AMERICAN BEE JOURNAL 



April 



AMERICAN BEE JOURNAL 



=a Established by Samuel Wigner In I86t (^ 



The oldest Bee Journal in the English language. 

 Published Monthly at Hamilton, Illinois. 



Entered as second-class matter at the Postofficc at Hamilton, Illinois. 



Subscription Rates — In the United States and 

 Mexico, $1.50 per year; five years, $6. 

 Canadian postage 15 cents, and other foreign 

 countries 25 cents extra, per year. 



All subscriptions are stopped at expiration. Date 

 of expiration is printed on wrapper label. 



THE STAFF 

 C. P. Dadant Editor 



Frank C. Pkllett Associate Editor 



Mauiicz G. Dada:jt Business Manager 



(Copyright 1921 by C. P Dadant.) 



THE EDITOR'S VIEWPOINT 



Manitoba Beekeeping 



Manitoba is coming to the front in 

 beekeeping. The February number of 

 the Western Gardener, of Winnipeg, 

 contains a report of their Manitoba 

 meeting, January 13. If Manitoba 

 and the western provinces succeed 

 well in honey production, there is 

 room for fine apiaries there. Their 

 next President is G. M. Newton. The 

 Secretary is J. H. Kitley. 



The wintering problem is the stum- 

 bling block for those countries, and 

 Mr. G. F. West, of Medicine Hat, tells 

 of the Chinook winds, which some- 

 times change the temperature in one 

 day from -30 degrees to -|-S0 degrees, 

 a variation of 80 degrees. In cases of 

 this kind, cellar insulation is difficult. 



The Chinook wind, which descends 

 the eastern slopes of the Rocky 

 Mountains, is called "snow-eater." We 

 know, through a correspondent in 

 central Alberta, about the S4th degree, 

 that wintering bees is very precarious 

 there. 



Mr. Baldensperger and A. B. J. 



Perhaps the nicest compliment the 

 American Bee Journal ever received 

 was written by Mr. Baldensperger to 

 us February 5. He was then at Pau, 

 visiting with his daughter, a professor 

 in the College. We quote from his 

 letter: 



"When the January number of the 

 American Bee Journal arrived, I had 

 been charged toy my daughter to look 

 after the dinner, as she was in her 

 class. I don't pretend to compare my 

 self to King Arthur, in charge of the 

 cakes of the good woman, and which 

 he burned or allowed to burn, but you 

 put so much interesting stuff in that 

 number that I jumped from one page 

 to another; when a big smoke and 

 smell brought me to my senses — the 

 dinner was a dish of coals — all by the 

 fault of that anniversary number, 

 with the wonderful queeli. My daugh- 

 ter was sorry, but she pardoned my 

 absence of mind when she saw the 

 number." 



A Larger Journal 



For several months past we have 

 added a few pages to our regular size 

 of issue as conditions would permiit. 

 This month we have added eight 

 pages. It is our purpose to give our 

 readers just as much as possible for 



the money they pay us in subscrip- 

 tion. There has been a slight decline 

 in the cost of paper from the high 

 point of last yea.. It is still about 

 four times the old price. However, 

 as yet there is no decrease in the 

 cost of printing, binding, engravings 

 or other items that enter into the 

 making of a publication like ours. We 

 purpose to add new features as op- 

 portunity offers, and to put any sav- 

 ings from lowered cost of production 

 into the making of a better Journal. 



Advertising Honey 



Since the Honey Producers' League 

 proposes to advertise honey to in- 

 crease its sale, for the benefit of the 

 beekeepers, it is well for the honey 

 producers to consider the matter. 



Advertising is an expensive affair. 

 Yet, it very clearly pays those who do 

 it judiciously. Fortunes have been 

 made in very indifferent products, by 

 thorough advertising, and St. Jacob's 

 Oil, Sozodont, Hostetter's Bitters, ad- 

 vertised fifty years ago, are still pop- 

 ular. Things as unimportant as Wil- 

 liams' shaving cream, Canthrox, Mus- 

 terole, etc., are enriching their pro- 

 ducers because they are spending tens 

 of thousands in proper advertising. 

 "He pays the freight," "His master's 

 voice," and other advertisements, have 

 become household words, because they 

 have been repeated till the people be- 

 came accustomed to them. 



That advertising lasts a long time 

 in its effects is, perhaps, not appre- 

 ciated by the average honey producer. 

 Let me give here a persona! experi- 

 ence : 



The Dadants have sent catalogs to 

 Iieekeepers for about SO year's. In 

 1891, we began to send addressed re- 

 turn envelopes to the customers. We 

 did it in a mod'cst way, fearing the 

 expense, but they brought back the 

 returns. These first return envelopes 

 were of a small size, easily recognized. 

 Some of them still come back once in 

 a great while, with an order. These 

 have evidently been preserved by the 

 customer, who finds use for them 

 after 30 years ! Is it worth while to 

 advertise ? 



But there is an important question 

 to this advertising. It is its cost. Per- 

 haps some of those who are joining 

 the Honey Producers' League think 

 that all that will be required of them. 



in order to reap the benefits of thor- 

 ough advertising through the League 

 will be to pay a dollar a year through 

 their State Association. This is only 

 a drop in the bucket. 



I firmly believe that we can main- 

 tain the price of honey at 4c above 

 what it would sell at normally (with- 

 out advertising), if we advertise it as 

 thoroughly as the "Sunkist Oranges" 

 are now advertised. If the American 

 honey producers harvest and sell a 

 hundred million pounds, annually, 

 which is certainly below the mark, 

 they would increase their income by 

 four million dollars. Let us count it 

 at a fourth of that, or an increase In 

 selling value of one cent per pound, 

 this will still make a bonus of a mi- 

 Iron dollars a year. Can we afford 

 to spend one-tenth of a cent per pound 

 for this purpose? Figure it out for 

 yourselves, you producers who sell 

 10,000 pounds of honey annually. Your 

 share woud be a hundred dollars per 

 year. You will need to spend it, in 

 some way, either by advertising your 

 own honey locally, or by joining oth- 

 ers for this purpose. 



What I have wished to bring out is : 

 that we cannot expect success to fully 

 crown our efforts as long as we 

 grudgingly pay a $1 membership in 

 an association and ask: "How soon is 

 that $1 coming back to me with inter- 

 est at five hundred per ceret?" 



The Making of a Bee Journal 



We are always glad to get letters, 

 articles and pictures from our read- 

 ers, although it is impossible ti use 

 them all in the Journal. When an 

 article is returned it should not be 

 considered as a reflection either upon 

 the article or upon the writer. The 

 editors of any magazine worth while 

 must read a great many more articles 

 than they can possibly have room for 

 in their publication. The more ma- 

 terial the editor has to select from, 

 the bigger variety he can give his 

 readers and the more interesting his 

 publication should be. The editors of 

 some of the larger popular magazines 

 have eight hundred or more manu- 

 scripts submitted each month, while 

 they only use a dozen oi- two. 



Some articles cannot be used be- 

 cause they are too long, some be- 

 cause similar material has already 

 been accepted, some because they are 

 of local interest only, some because 

 they come at a time when the editor 

 plans material of an entirely differ- 

 ent nature, and many more simply be- 

 cause the editor cannot use more 

 material than the number of pages 

 printed each month will accommo- 

 date. It is often very hard for the 

 editor to decide just which articles to 

 print and which cannot be used. 

 When he has a limited amount of 

 space to fill and has several articles 

 of equal merit, he can only guess 

 which one will interest the greatest 

 number of readers. Since the read- 

 ers live under such a wide diversity 

 of conditions and are composed of so 

 many kinds of people, a good variety 

 must be selected. The article that one 



