GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE 



be considered. Gleanings has always ad- 

 vocated development of the home market; 

 but not evei7 one is in a position to do this. 

 Some Avould be losing money to attempt to 

 sell locally. One expressed the situation in 

 this way : I prefer to keep more bees, pro- 

 duce more honey, sell to the large buyer, 

 using the time required to sell my crop 

 locally in setting ready for next season. 



These are personal problems to be decid- 

 ed before the question of local advertising 

 is considered. If vour decision places you 

 in this cla.^s, eliminating local advertising, 

 we believe the real beekeeper's fraternity 

 spirit will keep you alive to every oppor- 

 tunity to scatter the doctrine, Eat Honey, 

 that,' if persisted in, will gradually erase 

 honey from the luxury column and place it 

 where it belongs— among the staples. 



Keep everlastingly at it. 



Our Advertising Number 



When we were first asked to get out a 

 special number on the subject of advertis- 

 ino" honey we wondered whether it would 

 be'^possible to secure enough good live ma- 

 terial. We are rather proud of tlie array 

 of material that we are enabled to present 

 in this number. 



Tn The Independent for November 8, 

 1915, appeared an editorial, " The Adver- 

 tiser as a Public Benefactor." Those who 

 have access to this particular copy would 

 do well to look it up and read the editorial 

 •from beginning to end. It is worth while. 

 We wish that we could take the space to 

 quote it all. We quote herewith only the 

 first and the last two paragraphs. 



A great deal is said about the value of 

 advertising to the salesman, but very little 

 about its value to the buyer. Yet it is ob- 

 vious upon reflection that such an expensive 

 piece of machinery as the modern system of 

 advertising could' not be maintained unless 

 its benefits wore mutual. It takes two to 

 make a bargain, and this new method of 

 barsraining, this new channel of communica- 

 tion between producer and consumer, must 

 be giving satisfaction to both, altho the said 

 party of the second part rarely realizes how 

 greatly to his advantage it is. The common 

 saying, "It pays to advertise," has a wider 

 i^-ieaning than it is generally credited with. 

 Advertrsing, on the whole, pays all those 

 concerned. Advertising pays the advertiser 

 in case the money is wisely expended. Ad- 

 vertising pays the periodical, we are happy 

 to say. Advertising pays the purchaser, for 

 it puts him in the proud position of being 

 sought instead of the seeker. 



The use of prepared cereal foods is a 

 veritable revohition in the dietary of the 

 nation. Say five million dollars has been 



spent in accomplishing it, could the result 

 have been attained as quickly or more cheap- 

 ly by any other means'? How long without 

 advertising would it liave taken to develop 

 and make known to everybody the automo- 

 bile and the hand camera, the player-piano 

 and the phonograph, the office utilities, the 

 toilet accessories, and all the thousand 

 "Yankee notions" that make our life so 

 pleasant and complete? 



No: advertising is not " one of the eco- 

 nomic wastes of competition," as it is some- 

 times called. It is on the whole well worth 

 what it costs to the community, and it is 

 hard to see how the world can ever get along 

 without it. Even if competition be some 

 time eliminated, advertising of some kind 

 will have to be kept up unless the race is to 

 stagnate. Progress consists in the creation 

 of new wants; happiness, in the satisfaction 

 of them. So both progress and happiness 

 are facilitated by the efforts of the adver- 

 tiser. He is not a producer; no, and neither 

 is lubricating oil a fuel for the engine, but 

 it is quite as indispensable as coal. The 

 advertiser should not be regarded as a para- 

 site upon industry, as an extravagance to be 

 some time eliminated in the interests of 

 economy of distribution. He is more likely 

 to be regarded in the future as a person of 

 greater importance than at present, for the 

 training of the public in new habits and the 

 introduction of new utilities will become 

 more necessary as science and invention be- 

 come more active. When his real value to 

 the community as an accelerator of civiliza- 

 tion becomes recognized, historians will rank 

 the discovery of advertising as an epoch- 

 making event and not less important than 

 the discovery of America. 



The reason that so many people do not 

 use honey is that they never think of it. 

 They must be made to think of it before 

 they will take the trouble to buy it. Con- 

 servative but continuous advertising in local 

 papers is one of the best forms of keeping 

 honey before the people. There are many 

 other inexpensive ways of securing public- 

 ity for honey. As several of the writers in 

 this number point out, a neat sign in front 

 of an apiary on a well-traveled road calling 

 attention to the fact that honey may be 

 purchased within gives surj^rising results. 

 Between Medina and Cleveland, on the main 

 road, lives a beekeeper who hit upon the 

 ingenious plan of locating a hive in a con- 

 spicuous position by the roadside. The hive 

 was enameled white, and on each side was 

 painted the one word " Honey " in a bril- 

 liant cherry red. The result of this silent 

 salesman was gratifying. The honey on 

 hand was sold in short order, and at a good 

 price. The picture on our cover for this 

 issue shows the hive on the bank where it 

 could be seen for nearly half a mile each 

 wav. 



