1906 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE. 



221 



HOW TO ADVERTISE AND SELL HONEY 

 AT COUNTY FAIRS AND OTHER PUB- 

 LIC GATHERINGS. 



Live-bee Demonstrations Inside of a Wire- 

 cloth Cage. 



BY E. R. ROOT. 



In our issues for Sept. 15 and Oct. 15 I 

 told something of our experience in selling 

 honey and making live-bee demonstrations 

 at the Medma Co. fair, and at the one in 

 Akron, a city of about 60,000 inhabitants 

 some twenty miles east of here. You will 

 remember how at the Medina grounds, by 



the crowds would pass by; and, presto! the 

 sales jumped up more than double. Big 

 crowds would surge around the cage in 

 which was the apiarist, with bare hands 

 bare arms, and bare head, handling bees' 

 scooping them up by the handfuls. When 

 we once got the attention of the people it 

 was easy to direct their attention to the 

 glass observatory hives at our honey exhib- 

 it, where they could see the bees at close 

 range Once at the honey-stand it was not 

 dimcult to make sales of honey. 



At the Akron fair we sold in three or four 

 days nearly $350 of honey in a territory 

 where we had never sold honey before, and 

 during these days we were constantly refut- 



FIG. 1. -THE CAGE USED BY THE ROOT CO. FOR SHOWING THE HANDLING OF BEES AT 



COUNTY FAIRS AND ELSEWHERE. 



reason of the live-bee demonstrations, we 

 more than doubled the sales of any previous 

 year without such demonstrations. The ex- 

 periments proved to be so successful in the 

 way of drawing a crowd that it was repeat- 

 ed at Akron. The first day or two our boys 

 were compelled to put the cage with the live 

 bees in the rear of the honey-sales stand, 

 where very few people passed. In conse- 

 quence of this, very few people saw the ex- 

 nibit, and the sales were light. You may 

 remember how we labored with an over- offi- 

 cious official until we succeeded in getting 

 the cage out in front, and exhibiting where 



ing the comb-honey lie as well as whetting 

 the appetites of the people for good honey. 

 Thousands and thousands of people saw the 

 exhibit, and hundreds went away with a 

 package of honey. The local grocers in Ak- 

 ron were compelled to put in a line of our 

 honey because of the demand we had creat- 

 ed. I have promised to give photos of the 

 demonstrations given here and at Akron, 

 and take pleasure in presenting them here! 

 Fig. 1 represents the cage elevated on a 

 large table, just as it appeared on the day 

 following the fair at Medina. It is 5J feet 

 high, 6 feet long, and 4 wide. Tbese'dimen- 



