GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE 



the grinding' wheels of the day's prosy rou- 

 tine iDause a bit while you catch the rhythm 

 and beat of the great heart of things'? or 

 because you let yourself drift out for an 

 instant into the infinite depth of wonder 



and dream and poetry and prayer? I find 

 that hard to believe, because of my faith, 

 my many faiths, in beauty and poetry and 

 science and people and God. 

 Nashville, Tenn. 



A SIMPLE METHOD OF ADVERTISING HONEY 



BY MAURICE E. MILLER 



I read with interest Walter S. Pouder's 

 article, p. 151, Feb. 15, on using stamps to 

 raise money for the purpose of advertising 

 honey. That idea works very well for the 

 Red Cross Society, because people are will- 

 ing to support a benevolent institution; but 

 I fear that, if tried in the interest of honey- 

 producers or any other self-supporting bus- 

 iness, the results would not pay for the 

 trouble. 



I have before me a form of advertising 

 which I believe would work admirably for 

 bringing attention to honey, and attention 

 s] tells sale. A certain concern mamifaetur- . 

 ing roofing makes up a double letter-head, 

 the two inside pages of which are filled with 

 catchy advertising regarding their product. 

 These are printed by the thousands, and 

 distributed in lots of a few hundred each 

 among the dealers handling their goods. 

 These dealers have their own regular form 

 of letter-head printed upon the first page, 

 and use them in their daily correspondence. 



To me this idea presents unlimited oppor- 

 tunities for advertising if used by honey- 

 producers. In the first place these double 

 letter-heads with the inside pages printed 

 with catchy information, such as the food 

 value of honey, uses of honey in cooking, 

 interesting facts in regard to the cleanliness 



of honey, etc., could be produced in large 

 quantities for a nominal sum. Judging by 

 the present price of a good grade of bond 

 paper I believe these could be produced for 

 four or five dollars per thousand, which is 

 little if any in excess of what most beekeep- 

 ers have to pay for their letter-heads in 

 small lots. This would permit them to be 

 distributed among a vast number of people, 

 but would not be the limit of possibilities 

 of this " double-purpose " letter-head. Bee- 

 keepers wisliing to advertise still more could 

 furnish these in desirable quantities to deal- 

 ers handling their goods. Dealers would be 

 glad to use them, as the only cost would be 

 the printing of their own form on the first 

 page, and a sale thru their use would mean 

 a profit to them as well as to the beekeeper. 



I believe that this idea, if tried out, would 

 prove to be the most effective method possi- 

 ble of advertising without raising an enor- 

 mous sum, such as would be necessary to 

 float a campaign of extensive magazine ad- 

 vertising. Each beekeeper who uses these 

 letter-heads and distributes them would be 

 independentlj' assisting in a co-operative 

 plan that would spread thruout the country, 

 and each would receive results in propor- 

 tion to the effort he extended. 



Addison, N. Y. 



MY WAY OF HEADING OFF SWARMING 



BY J. P. BLUNK 



The easiest, quickest, and surest way to 

 head off swarming is the plan I am now 

 using, which I think has all the earmarks 

 of the Davenport " swarm secret." Prepare 

 a hive with an empty comb to catch the 

 pollen, a comb of suitable brood from which 

 queens can be reared, and fill up the rest of 

 the space with dummies. Put this hive on 

 the stand of any strong colony that is 

 preparing to swarm, with a couple of su- 

 pers on top. Put on a good wire escape- 

 board, and on top of all set the strong 

 colony without its bottom-board. The fly- 

 ing force will all go downstairs in twenty- 

 four hours, and so few bees will be left in 

 the original hive that they will tear down 



all queen-cells which might be on the combs 

 — the queen, of course, being left in the old 

 brood-chamber on top. 



The queen will keep right on with her 

 laying. In fourteen days take the old hive 

 off, remove the queen, or leave her, as de- 

 sired. If one desires to requeen, now is the 

 time. I'ut one of the queen-cells built in 

 the lower storj' in the old hive and set it on 

 a new stand. Contract the entrance and 

 remove all cells except one from the new 

 colony. Supply frames of foundation, put 

 on more supers, and the job is done. 



If no increase is desired put the combs in 

 the prepared hive below back in the old 

 brood-nest, after removing the queen from 



