APRIL 1, 191ii 



265 



BEEKEEPING AMONG the ROCKIES 



Wesley Foster, Boulder, Colorado 



Tn looking at that photo of G. vided with circulars, 



ago. 

 look 

 wav 



Frank Pease's work-tent and auto 

 truck I am wondering if the sweet- 

 clover bloom furnishes Mr. Pease 

 with much of his surplus. At any 

 rate, he bought several hundred 

 pounds of seed of me some time 

 It is the progressive beekeepers who 



to improve their pasturage in every 



possible. 



THE ADVERTISING OF HONEY. 



I think that many of our beekeepers are 

 wrong in the assumption that nothing is 

 being done to extend the use of honey. The 

 fact is, a great deal is being done. Take 

 conditions in the Southwest, in the West 

 and middle West. Very few farm papers 

 there are but carry from one to half a 

 dozen honey advertisements. True, the 

 classified columns are most largely used; 

 but everybody reads the classified columns. 

 I verily believe that thousands of dollars 

 are spent annually by the beekeepers in this 

 form of advertising. Of course, it is not 

 general publicity, but it must get results or 

 it would not be persisted in. This kind of 

 advertising could be wonderfully improved 

 by aid rendered the beekeepers in wording 

 their advertisements, and something should 

 be done at standardizing the goods offered. 

 Honey is offered at from 5 to 12 cents a 

 pound; and while much of it is very vari- 

 able in quality and color it is no doubt true 

 that honey of equal value is sold at a wide 

 range of prices. 



If the beekeepers would follow the meth- 

 ods used by some of the livestock associa- 

 tions and fruit-growers, better results could 

 be secured. Suppose twelve beekeepers join 

 together and each put np $200 for a winter 

 advertising campaign. There would be 

 $2400 to spend. The twelve beekeepers be- 

 fore the campaign began would all be pre- 

 pared to put out, say, 10-lb., 30-lb., and 

 60-lb. cans of honey of the same quality 

 and at the same prices. Then a two-inch 

 advertisement with as much taste in the 

 way of illustration as could be secured in 

 this space Avith effective copy, and the 

 names and addresses of all the beekeepers 

 at the bottom; or instead of the names and 

 addresses of all the members might be the 

 name and address of the secretary to whom 

 orders and inquiries could be sent. My 

 idea of an advertisement of this kind would 

 be one with the effective appeal to the 

 people to use more honey, and also the 

 prices at which it can be secured. 



Each beekeeper would need to be pro- 



pi'ice lists, honey 

 booklets, and a record system to keep track 

 of inquiries and orders, 



The amount of money mentioned would 

 carry on a very nice winter campaign from 

 October to March, and would cover the 

 agricultural press of most districts of the 

 United States. It would pay for two-inch 

 space in from ten to fifteen weekly farm 

 papers for five months. I have found that 

 farm papers of 50,000 to 100,000 circula- 

 tion are better mediums than those with 

 200,000 up, for the amount of money ex- 

 pended for space in each class of publica- 

 tion. Beekeepers Avho advertise will find 

 what papers pay them best by a trial of a 

 few months. It is rather expensive to gain 

 the knowledge of the best mediums, but 

 there is no royal road to marketing one's 

 crop. 



Floods in California and snow-slides in 

 Colorado indicate what we may expect in 

 1916. Prospects are good, and bees are 

 wintering well. I believe that the amount 

 of honey carried over will not be large, and 

 it would do the heart of beekeepers good to 

 see the way honey is coming into its own 

 in many localities. People are eating more 

 honey — it is getting more publicity, and 

 the lower prices have induced wholesalers 

 to handle carloads Avhere, in the past, little 

 if any has been handled. In the future 

 these districts will call for honey; and 

 while the prices received this year have 

 been ruinously low, it has made it possible 

 for honey to be introduced into markets 

 that before took little if any. Honey is 

 being retailed at five cents a pound in some 

 districts, and it seems to be a fair quality 

 too^ — at any rate, it gives satisfaction. 



WHAT BEEKEEPERS COULD DO. 



Take, as an example, a county producing 

 ten cars of extracted alfalfa or sage honey 

 for export shipment. Suppose, instead of 

 the owners of this honey taking $15,000 for 

 it, or 5 cents a pound, that they set aside 

 (oi'j rather, borrow, which they will have 

 to), $5000 to put into an advertising cam- 

 paign. The honey would bring, I believe, 

 $24,000, or eight cents a pound on the aver- 

 age. It would not be well to put the entire 

 amount into newsjDaper advertising. Some 

 could be used in trade papers (grocers), 

 and in a house-to-house canvass. A few 

 salesmen could be put on the road selling 

 to grocers direct. With the advent of cheap 

 runabouts, double the territoi'y may be cov- 

 ered at no additional expense provided the 

 roads are passable. 



