210 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE. 



Feb. 15 



poor season, when the sniall brood chamber 

 is used?" 



"Yes. and that is not all. 1 find that, un- 

 less much care is used during winter prep- 

 aration, the colonies in the eight- frame 

 hives do not come out so strong in the spring, 

 on an average, as do those in the ten- frame 

 hive, and this item of strong colonies in the 

 fore part of the season is the main thing to 

 be looked after where the crop of white hon- 

 ey comes early in the season, as it always 

 does where white clover is the chief source 

 of supply, as I think it is in your locality; 

 and the hive which the most nearly accom- 

 plishes this object is the one the farmer, 

 or any other person keeping bees, should 

 look after." 



' ' I think I begin to see what you are aft- 

 er. You want the bees strong, or the colo- 

 nies strong in bees, when the white clover 

 opens." 



' ' Yes. Lots of bees on the stage of action 

 at the time of the white-clover honey har- 

 vest means success for their keeper; and I 

 believe that the ten-frame Langstroth hive 

 will give just this, with the least manipula- 

 tion, of any hive which I am acquainted with; 

 and that is just what the average farmer 

 bee-keeper needs most." 



' ' What is the necessary manipulation to 

 give a ten- frame hive in the spring?" 



"The early management of any hive con- 

 sists in knowing that the bees have a good 

 queen, plenty of stores, and that they are 

 tucked up warm and secure at the top of the 

 hive. Bees will build up, even if the top of 

 the hive has cracks in it; but I think you 

 will easily see that the air which passes out 

 of these cracks takes so much warmth away 

 from the cluster, and causes the bees to 

 burn just so much more fuel (honey) to keep 

 up the required heat inside the cluster, which 

 is from 92 to 98 degrees, when brood-rear- 

 ing is going on. Therefore it pays well to 

 see that the top of the hive is tight in early 

 spring." 



' ' I should say so, if it requires that amount 

 of heat to rear brood. I did not know what 

 temperature was required. ' ' 



' ' Plenty of stores are needed in any event; 

 for if the bees have to scrimp on account of 

 fairs of starvation, not nearly so many bees 

 will be reared as there would be were there 

 so much honey in the hive that the bees 

 could use it lavishly. A hive which has 

 twenty pourds of honey in it on the first day 

 of April, will, as a rule, give double the bees 

 at the commencement of the clover harvest 

 that the one will which has only five pounds 

 in it, providing the latter does not starve al 

 together. And that the ten-frame hive is 

 likely to have twenty pounds or more in it 

 on the first day of April is one of the reasons 

 that I recommend it for farmers." 



' ' Then with the good queen, twenty pounds 

 of honey, and the hive fixed warm and tight 

 at the top, the bees will be likely to care for 

 themselves till about the time the white 

 clover opens." 



"Yes." 



" Then I will go home and make my hives 



so that I may be ready when spring comes. 

 Smith has bees in ten-frame Langstroth 

 hives, and he told me he would sell me five 

 colonies in the spring for $20.00, hives and 

 all. Can I do better than to buy them?" 



" I do not think so. That is not an unrea- 

 sonable price, considering you have the hives 

 with the bees; and by getting one of his 

 empty hives as a pattern you can make all 

 you want from it, and thus your hives will 

 all be alike." 



HOW TO INCREASE THE SALE OF OUR 

 HONEY. 



Why it Pays to Advertise, and to Give away 

 Ssmples. 



BY E. W ALEXANDER. 



This is a very important subject connected 

 with our business at the present time. I 

 can think of no better way than to do as 

 nearly all the successful business men and 

 manufacturers are now doing — that is, ad- 

 vertise our product in every way we can 

 think of that would be likely to bring trade. 

 This is one thing that we as honey-produc- 

 ers have sadly neglected. If we expect to 

 be successful in producing and selling large- 

 crops of honey we must apply the same 

 methods to our business that these success- 

 ful business men do to theirs. Now as to 

 the manner of advertising, each man must 

 decide that for himself. But advertise we 

 must in some way. It is now high time that 

 we awoke to the necessity of this. 



From the little experience I have had in 

 having a small notice inserted in our bee 

 journals, and seeing its effect, I am sure 

 that through them a nice large advertise- 

 ment would be worth ten times its cost to 

 any honey- producer; and why so many of us, 

 myself includtd, should be so negligent in 

 this important part of our business is hard 

 to understand. We know we have a good 

 thing for sale — one of the best foods God 

 ever gave to man; so let us join hands ard 

 place this before the public in a profitable 

 way. Many business firms give away thou- 

 sands of dollars' worth of sample packages 

 in order to induce the public to buy their 

 goods; and I sometimes think that, if the 

 honey- producers of this country would give 

 away a small per ceni of their honey in sam- 

 ple packages for a year or two, it would go 

 a long way toward bringing honey into more 

 general use. Then when the poorer classes 

 get into the habit of using it on their bread 

 in tie place of butter we w.uld surely have 



