1906 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE. 



587 



combs, we have the queen confined below on 

 fourteen frames. In this case the queen 

 will seldom become crowded, and we can tier 

 up as high as we choose without fear of 

 wind, and our honey can be well ripened be- 

 fore extracting. I beUeve one of the worst 

 evils the bee-keeper has to meet is the ef- 

 fects of unripe honey on the market. 



About Aug. 1st, in this locality, replace 

 the central divisions, give another queen, 

 and you will get plenty of brood of the right 

 age for wintering. 



In this we have a unique system of con- 

 trolling swarming, yet producing more than 

 double the average amount of honey with 

 only one hive to operate. This greatly re- 

 duces the cost and enlarges the income. 



Madison, Wis. 



MARKETING HONEY. 



How to get Permanent Customers. 



BY T. p. HALLOCK. 



At the last National convention of bee- 

 keepers the subject of increasing the demand 

 and sale of honey was discussed. This topic 

 seemed to have become the foremost one of 

 the whole convention. Indeed, it is the all- 

 important problem which confronts you, Mr. 

 Beekeeper. You know what a perfect food 

 good honey is— how pure, how indispensable 

 in your home; but how about the people in 

 your home town? Do they all use honey? 

 How many families in your community do 

 not buy twelve pounds of honey a year? 

 How many not one pound? Many? Yes, I 

 dare say there are, and your community is 

 no exception. The same condition prevails 

 nearly everywhere. Now for a remedy: 



I suggest education. If people can be 

 edacated to buy crackers in a sealed paste- 

 board box because they are told that in this 

 way handling the crackers is eliminated, and 

 that this is the only clean way in which 

 crackers can be bought, why can they not 

 be taught to buy pure delicious honey instead 

 (jf jams and jellies? extracted honey instead 

 of diluted maple syrup? They can. Just 

 demonstrate to some family who has never 

 used extracted honey how much better it is 

 for buckwheat cakes than syrup, and you 

 have a convert for life. Education spreads. 

 Were this not true, savage races could never 

 be civilized. If personal solicitation were 

 necessary, the force of missionaries in the 

 foreign fields would have to be increased 

 thousands of times. One family, learning 

 of the purity and deliciousness of honey, 

 the many uses which can be made of it, will 

 tell others. Thus the education will spread. 



HOW TO EDUCATE RAPIDLY. 



The best way to reach a majority of the 

 people in a community is, of course, through 

 the press. Now, Mr. Beekeeper, you did 

 not know it would be possible for you to get 

 free advertising in your local paper, did you? 

 But you can. to a certain extent. You sit 

 down and write an article on honey as a pure 



food; teli the peoplelwhat honey contains. 

 Tell your story in a plain, simple, and un- 

 prejudiced manner; do not use your name 

 in the article; do not try to advertise your 

 apiary. Just tell the people that honey is 

 good to eat, and some of the many ways in 

 which it can be used. Write as you would 

 talk to a friend whom you wanted to convince 

 of the value of honey in the household, but 

 whom you would not ask to buy. Take this 

 article to the editor of your local paper, and 

 ask him if he will kindly pubHsh it. The 

 chances are many in your favor that he will. 

 Write something new every once in a while, 

 at least once a month, just as long and as oft- 

 en as you can get them published. Tell every 

 thing you know about honey. 



Then there is another way to educate. If 

 you have an observatory hive, take it to your 

 local school— all the nearby schools, show 

 how the bee lives, tell the pupils the story 

 of the honey-bee. You can do it. Do not 

 be bashful or afraid. That's why honey is 

 not the marketable product it should be. 

 Bee-keepers do not talk enough about honey. 

 Remember that it will take a boy or girl 

 who sees such a demonstration made— who 

 learns of the purity of honey— a lifetime to 

 forget the lesson. Remember that the boy 

 and girl of to day will be the heads of the 

 household of to-morrow. 



There is still another way which will help 

 to boom honey in your locality. Invite peo- 

 ple to visit your apiary— put an ad. in your 

 local paper, stating that at such a time you 

 will conduct through your bee-yard all who 

 choose to come; invite the school-children to 

 come and learn more about the bee in its 

 home. 



Talk of the purity of honey at all times. 

 The country is aroused on the pure focd 

 question, and you can easily set honey as the 

 standard of pure foods. Demonstrate, when- 

 ever you can, how it is impossible to make 

 artificial comb honey. Market just as much 

 of your honey as you possibly can in your 

 home town. You will profit. Figure up 

 how much honey you sold last year in your 

 own community. Then conduct a vigor- 

 ous campaign for this season, and figure 

 up again. If the sales have not doubled or 

 quadrupled it will be your fault. 



BEE-KEEPING IN IDAHO. 



Some Conveniences About the Apiary; Wiring 



Frames; How to Cut the Wires; 



the Acme Lid. 



BY E. F, ATWATER. 



Among the conveniences of a well-equip- 

 ped shop are suitable arrangements for wir- 

 ing frames, and for holding covers or bot- 

 tom-boards while being painted. The cuts 

 show fairly well our wiring gauges on which 

 the frames rest while the wire is being 

 threaded through the frames and fastened 

 to tacks at the ends. We use three wires in 

 the standard frame, with medium brood 



