56 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE. 



Jan. 15. 



A FEW weeks ago a photo came from W. A. 

 Selser. As it represented an idea in advertis- 

 ing, I have had it reproduced in half-tone, and 

 the same appears in another column. Mr. 

 Selser failed to send us any word of explana- 

 tion, and I do not know that any is needed. 

 This sign is made up of a two-stor}- Root chaff 

 hive, put up on stilts, perhaps on a vacant lot, 

 facing a street-car line. The bee-hive, the 

 sign, and the index finger are all suggestive as 

 to where honey can be bought. The idea is 

 not bad. 



In another column our friend J. M Hani- 

 baugh tells of their experience with that dread 

 disease the croup that attacked their four-year 

 old. To day a letter has come to hand con- 

 taining the sad news that this dear little one 

 died on the 2-1 th of December, and that the 

 dread disease pneumonia did the work. I am 

 sorry, also, to record that our friend and 

 brother, Mr. P. H. Elwood, lost, the day after 

 Thanksgiving, the light of their household, a 

 bright little boy of three years. Gleanings 

 extends iis sincerest sMupathy to the grief- 

 stricken parents. 



If we knew the habj- fingers. 

 Pressec. against the window-pane. 

 Would be cold and .stiff to-morrow — 

 Never trouble us again — 

 Would the bright eyes of our darling 

 Catch the frown upon our brow? — 

 Would the prints of rosy fingeis 

 Vex us then as they do now ? 



CREATING AN APPETITE FOR HONEY — HOW 

 TO DO IT. 



On p. 854 I rel'errt d to the fact that one of 

 our government officials had gotten hold of 

 our honey-leaflet, and how he iutrodticed it to 

 the general public through one of the great 

 dailies. Again he writes as follows : 



U. S. Dep.^rtment of Agriculture, 



Weather Bureau, Columbus, O., Dec. 10. 



Gentlemen : — I have just received your Dec. 1st num- 

 ber of Gleanings, and read with much interest your 

 a- tide on " Casting Bread upon the Waters." A.s an 

 ex-newspaper man I must confess you have perceived 

 what so many others fail to appreciate— the value, in 

 advertising, of at first creating a desiie. That princi- 

 ple applies to a// advertising; and where it is properly 

 brought about the re.st is ea.sy .so far as letting people 

 know where such and such a product or article is for 

 sale. Nothing like arousing curiosity or desire — it's 

 the very vitals of economic and successful advertising. 

 I am pli ased to have been of at least a little service to 

 you and vour intere.sts. 



.Speaking peisonally of the effect of reading your 

 "leaflet on honey," will say that, while I well knew 

 honey was " a good thing," I had no idea of its variety 

 of uses, nor did 1 aipveciate fully its value as a food 

 product. I really learned something neiv, and I imme- 

 diately began to feel a yearning .sen.sation that could 

 only be satisfied with honey, and nothing but honey. 

 The.se are facts, and, if true'of my.self, the application 

 fits others. H. W. Rich.^rdson. 



Section Director. 



Our readers will not fail to " catch on " to 

 our scheme of advertising honey which Mr. 

 Richardson so readily appreciates ; and then, 

 bearing in mind his last paragraph, it will be 



seen it is to the interest of every bee-keeper in 

 the land, who desires to sell his honey, to take 

 every means possible to have this leaflet dis- 

 tributed. Why, don't you see it accomplished 

 with Mr. Richardson just exactly what we de- 

 sired it to do with every consumer ; namely, 

 stimulate a "yearning sensation" for the 

 most wholesome and the best sweet in the 

 world ? 



THAT IRREPRESSIBLE DANZENBAKER, .AND 

 SOME OF HIS IDEAS. 



We have had another visit from our irre- 

 pressible, wideawake, progressive Danzenba- 

 ker. Although he is on the shady side of life, 

 when one would nattirally expect him to be 

 conservative, he is one of the most progressive 

 bee-keepers I have ever met. He says (but I 

 as good as told him I did not believe it) that 

 he tried to get me to see the advantage of the 

 plain section and double-cleated slatted sepa- 

 rator two years ago. However that may have 

 been, it was not very hard to get him to adopt 

 them this fall when I began to talk about their 

 advantages. 



I believe in givihg credit where credit is 

 due, and I will say that Mr. Danzenbaker was 

 the first one to show us the advantage of the 

 dovetailed or lock corner ; improved con- 

 struction in hive-covers ; improved construc- 

 tion in bottom-boards ; the D. case — this let- 

 ter D. simply representing Danzenbaker ; im- 

 proved method of crating hives ; and last, but 

 not least, directly and indirectly the advan- 

 tages of fences and plain sections. 



One of the ideas that Mr. Danzenbaker has 

 been trying to pound into my head is that the 

 comljs of our ordinary 4 '4 sections are too 

 thick ; that when they are thinner the bees 

 will build them out better, and cap them over 

 more evenly ; and that, moreover, the combs 

 will be better attached to the wood. He ar- 

 gues that a comb for section honey-boxes 

 should be no thicker, or scarcely any thicker, 

 than that ordinarily used for brood-rearing. I 

 am not quite prepared myself to admit this, 

 yet I do not say that he is wrong. 



Friend D. also believes that the closed-end 

 frame is the coming brood-frame. I do not. 

 While I am satisfied they offer more favorable 

 conditions for winter, they are not as conven- 

 ient to handle, according to my notion, as 

 some form of self-spacing open-end frame. To 

 my mind, convenience is more important than 

 a probable slight advantage in wintering. 



SCATTERING THE TRUTH IN THE HONEY- 

 EE.AFl.hT ; SOME OF THE .\LI-EGED TAC- 

 TICS OF THE GLUCOSE PEOPLE. 

 Dr. Miller's honey-leaflet is still finding 

 its way into the great daily papers. The last 

 time, it appeared in the Washington Star, at 

 the solicitation of otir friend Danzenbaker. 

 Mr. D. managed to scrape up an acquaintance 

 with the city editor, and then interested him 

 in bees by presenting him some of his beauti- 

 ful Danzy sections. The result was, a good 

 big portion of the leaflet was published in the 

 Star : and although neither Mr. Danzenba- 

 ker nor any other bee-keeper was there men- 

 tioned, a demand sprang up at once, in the ^ 



