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GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE. 



Dec. 1 



it be known there is a real honey man pro- 

 ducing and selling real bees' honey in the 

 vicinity. 



But some one says he will "not descend to 

 the tactics of a book agent." You don't 

 need to. Just go around as Dan White of 

 this State does, and tell the good housewives 

 that you are "not selling honey to-day, but 

 giving it away." Of course, the frown will 

 melt into a smile, and the lady will bring a 

 sauce-dish and a spoon. Dip out a good big 

 tablespoonful, and hand out a postal card 

 with your address printed on it, and say to 

 her that, when she wants some of that hon- 

 ey, she may drop you a card, as you will be 

 c >ming around that way on the next trip to 

 make delivery. 



That reminds me that we have a leaflet 

 that tells all about Dan White's way of ped- 

 dling honey, and we send it out free to all 

 subscribers if they will inclose a one-cent 

 stamp for postage. It is the best scheme of 

 peddling honey that was ever pubHshed. 



THE ONE GREAT OBSTACLE IN THE AD- 

 VANCEMENT OF PRICES ON COMB 

 HONEY, 



There is one obstacle in the way of ad- 

 vancing prices on honey. What is it? It is 

 the common belief among consumers that 

 comb honey is manufactured. The more 

 fancy and perfect the filling of the sections, 

 the more sure the supposed connoisseur is 

 that it is not bees' honey. 



Gleanings will admit that it has harped 

 on this matter a good deal, and I suppose a 

 good many of our readers, when they see 

 the first few lines of an editorial of this 

 kind, skip it, and go to something else. The 

 trouble is, the average bee- keeper does not 

 beUeve that the general public has such an 

 erroneous idea about his business. He has 

 educated his local trade, and hence he thinks 

 all the rest of the world is like his locality. 



I wish our readers could come in contact 

 with some of the traveling men who come 

 into our office from time to time. I 

 wish some of them would go into the great 

 cities and talk with consumers; then hunt 

 up the traveling salesmen at hotels, and ask 

 them to tell them something about the hon- 

 ey business. If, after their investigation, 

 they are not astonished that there is any de- 

 mand for honey at all, then I shall be sur- 

 prised. 



In the days before the Wiley comb-honey 

 canard got a start, comb honey was bringing 

 far better prices. As the population has 

 nearly increased with the number of bee- 

 keepers, there is no reason why comb honey 

 should not bring nearly the same figure it 

 formerly did, but for the common impres- 

 sion that comb honey is manufactured, and 

 therefore prospective customers {buy some- 

 thing else. 



I suspect it would be hard to convmce our 

 readers that what I am saying is true; but 

 until we can get those same bee-keepers to 

 believe it and organized into a working force 

 like the Honey- producers League it will be 



diflScult to advance our prices or even to 

 hold our own This year especially there is 

 a great scarcity of good comb honey. While 

 the market is somewhat firmer, pricer: have 

 not advanced to a point where they would 

 otherwise have gone if the conditions were 

 different. The Honey-producers' League is 

 doing splendid work in securing corrections 

 and retractions in cook-books, encyclopedias, 

 and newspapers. But until these standard 

 works with their lies and misrepresenta- 

 tions are, years hence, consigned to the gar- 

 rets or waste-baskets, we shall have bobbing 

 up every now and then a rehash of the old 

 canard. Bee-keepers should see to it that 

 new editions of all these standard works have 

 correct information about bees and honey; 

 and then they should personally follow up 

 every newspaper that slanders their busi- 

 ness. Don't wait for the editor of the bee 

 paper to do it. We can not blot out, as they 

 tried to do in Russia, what is already print- 

 ed; but we can, if we only go at it right, 

 see that new literature with general infor- 

 mation to the public is correct so far as it 

 relates to the subject of bees and their prod- 

 ucts. Then we should have current articles 

 in magazines and papers giving the facts 

 about honey. One of the officers of the 

 League has secured a number of such write- 

 ups. The Honey-producers' League was or- 

 ganized for the very purpose of boosting 

 prices; and the majority of bee-keepers have 

 held back, waiting to see how it would turn 

 out; and a few have withheld their support, 

 believing that the officers were trying to 

 serve some selfish end. In these days, when 

 so much graft is being exposed in high 

 places, it is not much to be wondered that 

 some people should imagine that all the 

 leaders in every department of life have 

 gone wrong. But if the men who are back 

 of the Honey-producers' League were graft- 

 ers, it would not be very long before they 

 would suffer in a business way that would 

 mean absolute ruination. Until a thing is 

 started it needs business men of experience 

 to push it forward. If Editors York and 

 Hutchinson and Dr. C. C. Miller, for exam- 

 ple, can not be trusted, then we are in a bad 

 way indeed. The Honey- producers' League 

 will be needed more in a year when there 

 has been a good crop of honey than when it 

 is scarce. We have had two backward sea- 

 sons; and, according to the law of averages, 

 next year ought to be a fairly good one. 



HOW late to leave bees out before 

 putting in the cellar. 

 The editor of the Review believes it is bad 

 management to leave the bees out for two 

 or three weeks after it has become freezing 

 weather, hoping for one more last flight 

 that may not come. If the colonies are of 

 only moderate strength, I believe he is 

 right; but if they are good strong ones in a 

 cHmate that will probably give that fly day, 

 I believe I would advise taking the chances. 

 A good deal will depend on locality. In some 

 places there will be no warm flying days 



