JULY 1, 1916 



means let's give it a trial, anyhow. There 

 is not a beekeeper in the country who could 

 not use a hundred stamps to advantage, and 

 I know of several in this county who could 

 use thousands. It would certainly mean a 

 tremendous boost for the honey business. 

 The money to be derived from these stamps 



would, of coarse, be used to start a national 

 advertising campaign along the line of 

 " cream of wheat " and others, and after- 

 ward some kind of plan might be devised 

 to get each producer to contribute according 

 to the amount he was benefited. What do 

 you say, honey-men ? 

 Gladwin, Mich. 



SOME OF MY ADVERTISING SCHEMES 



P.Y DR. A. P. BONNEY 



If the beekeeper with a moderate number 

 of colonies wishes to save in advertising he 

 must first get in with one or more papers 

 near his home town, and send them " news " 

 — local stuff which the editors will be glad 

 to pay for with three dollars' worth of ad- 

 vertising in preference to giving up a dollar 

 cash. In season I advertise, using short 

 snappy items. For a sample : " I am now 

 taking off some very fine white-clover honey, 

 and you would better engage yours. It will 

 not last long." This is enough for once. 

 I try to change weekly, and one or two lines 

 is enough, for everybody will read one line 

 while but few will pay attention to twenty. 



It will, of course, do no harm if, in the 

 height of the honey season, you use a good- 

 sized space for a standing advertisement, 

 say a space two columns wide and five to 

 ten inches deep, and a cut of some kind will 

 add m.aterially to the drawing power of the 

 advertisement — say a cut of a large bee or a 

 skep. Do not try to put a history of bee- 

 keeping into this space. A simple statement 

 that you have some good, clean, i:)ure honey 

 for sale will be enough unless you see fit to 

 print a price list. I hardly approve of that, 

 however, unless you deliver the honey per- 

 sonally or by mail. The average purchaser 

 of any kind of goods dearly loves to have 

 them delivered — anything from a spool of 

 thread to a diningroom set. 



All this is contingent on being able to 

 furnish news to the papers; and to do that, 

 all you will need do is to see the editor. 

 You may not have the " gift " of writing, 

 nor do you need it. 



Here are a few samples of the matter I 

 get into the papers to advertise honey. In 

 these I do not mention my own goods, for 

 I am the nearest honey-producer; and if, 

 when pepple want honey, they will not re- 

 spond to former and current advertising, my 

 time has been wasted. 



" A curious experiment. Take a loaf of 

 home-made bread. Cut from it a slice. 

 Cover one side with good fresh butter, and 

 on that put a thick layer of honey. Give it 

 to the first child that comes along. The in- 



stant assimilation of the compound by the 

 kid is the joke." 



" A queen-bee weighs a matter of ten 

 grains, and $1 is an average price for her. 

 At that rate a thousand-pound steer Avould 

 sell for $717,000." 



" A c{ueen-bee does actually nothing but 

 lay eggs, and will deposit from 1000 to 3000 

 per day. I am trying to study out some 

 plan bj' Avhich I can cross the bee and a hen. 

 Think of 3000 eggs a day for three months 

 at present prices." 



" A colony of bees often produces a sur- 

 plus of 200 pounds of honey per year, 

 which, at only ten cents a pound, means $20. 

 Honej' often sells for 20 cents a pound." 



" American honey is the best in the world, 

 and is, generally, sent to all parts of the 

 world. A matter of $25,000,000 worth is 

 produced annually — three times the salmon 

 and double the orange sales, and the output 

 is increasing rapidly." 



" When a queen-bee is less than two weeks 

 old she goes out on her wedding-trip; re- 

 turning, she never again leaves the hive 

 except to accompany (not lead) the depart- 

 ing swarm." 



Any one with a knack for writing can 

 get up an unlimited number of such para- 

 graphs, and almost any newspaper man will 

 gladly print them, as they are interesting 

 facts. There is no objection to using the 

 above for the good of the beekeeping 

 world. 



I liave kept some track of the advertising 

 I have done in four papers for the past yeav 

 for the store and the honey; and at four 

 lines to the paper per week and 5 cents per 

 line, it totals a money value of about $40. 



In addition to this I have something to 

 advertise — " Bonney Honey " on every en- 

 velope I send out, if nothing more than the 

 little red sticker, " Eat Bonney Honey." 

 From May until I am sold out in the winter 

 I use a price list, as I do a considerable 

 mail-order business. 



Some beekeepers objected to the little red 

 sticker, " Eat Honey," when I offered it to 

 the beekeeping world. The logic of events 



