January, 1917 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE 



37 



FROM THE FIELD OF EXPERIENCE 



That honey aids digestion does not ap- 

 peal to the person with the splendid appe- 

 tite which we wish our consumers to possess. 

 Such an idea suggests tliat honey is a food 

 for the invalid. We must adopt something 

 stronger, and at the same time, if possible, 

 something actually startling and of definite 

 educational value. If we want the public 

 to sit up and take notice we must adoj^t 

 something very different from a mere state- 

 ment which they can believe or not, as 

 they wish. We must tell them, in a way 

 that can not be contradicted, something that 

 they did not know before. In doing this 

 we carry out our second principle — that is, 

 adopting something outside the ordinary 

 groove of advertising. 



In honey we have a unparalleled oppor- 

 tunity to make a good display, owing to 

 the ignorance of the public upon a sub- 

 ject of so much fascination as the bees. 



Let me suggest that no other thought so 

 appeals to humanity, not even that of 

 wealth or health, as doas the thought of 

 long life. Granting that whatever relieves 

 the bodily organs of labor also lengthens 

 one's term of existence, let us put down for 

 a starter the words, " You cannot live as 

 long as you should." Will such an ex- 

 I^ression answer? Perhaps many will say 

 that it is all right for a start. Well, it is 

 not good ! Almost every one who reads 

 such a statement will mentally remark, 

 " Oh ! that is some gag about living as old 

 as Methuselah's ghost," and away goes the 

 eff^ect of our advertisement. Suppose we 

 change it to read, " You cannot live long." 

 Here we have our first principle carried 

 out — that is, a direct appeal to the personal 

 welfare of the reader thru a most startling 

 announcement. Any one once roused out of 

 the ordinary casual reception of the usual 

 advertising matter will read further. 



What else shall we say to fulfill the two 

 other conditions? The second principle 

 really includes the first — that is, personal 

 appeal plus originality. We must develop 

 originality further, nevertheless; but let us 

 proceed truthfully, for sooner or later the 

 slightest exaggeration defeats its aim. Sup- 

 pose after saying, " You can not live long," 

 we add the explanation " as you should," 

 in very small type and then go on witli a 

 truthful and brief statement, " unlass you 

 eat less sugar and more honey." This is 

 brief, but not backed up with any kind of 

 proof. It is too brief. So we add another 

 fact that the reader never knew before and 

 can not contradict. Being a fact, the whole 



world must come to recognize it if we tell 

 them sufficiently often. '' Honey builds 

 the system up and sugar wears it out." 

 The whole thing should run like this: 



"YOU CANNOT LIVE LONG as 

 you should unless you eat less sugar and 

 more honey. Sugar wears the system out. 

 Honey builds it up." 



So gxeat has been the effect ujioii my 

 private trade in this very thinly populated 

 community that I feel warranted in jdacing 

 this advertisement before the readers of 

 Gleanings as a successful adai^tation of in- 

 formation I have gleaned. It may be fur- 

 ther improved upon, but just now I do not 

 see any way to do it; and until something 

 can be created that is still better I suggest 

 that it be adoi^ted as a sticker or stamp in 

 place of "Eat Honey." Of course it 

 takes more space; but I should like to see 

 this kind of stamp or sticker printed on 

 one or two grades of envelopes with also 

 a neat illustration of an apiary to fill up 

 the left-hand lower corner. If every honey- 

 producer used such envelopes the large 

 number used in a whole year seen by so 

 many persons would be a most effective 

 way of calling the attention of the purchas- 

 ing public to the fact that honey has a 

 really necessary place in the daily menu. 

 I believe such envelopes could be sold by 

 the large supply houses more cheaply than 

 plain envelopes could be obtained from 

 local printing-houses, provided the bee- 

 keepers recognize the value of such a medi- 

 um and use the envelopes in really large 

 numbers. 



Advertising Jones' or Smith's honey is 

 all right in one's own territory; but what 

 is required for successful results is the 

 everlasting publication of one great funda- 

 mental fact, and that can be obtained only 

 by national effort. I therefore suggest the 

 national envelope. H. Bartlett Miller. 



Kihikihi, N. Z. 



Crop All Sold, Anyway 



My extracted honey was all sold by the 

 first of November, as was nearly all of my 

 comb honey. I sell in the home market 

 only, and could have sold much more if I 

 had had it. I sell at a higher price than 

 do any of the other producers, either up 

 or down the valley. My honey goes for 

 $6.00 per 60-lb. can, even in large quanti- 

 ties. The price for small quantities is 



