60 ALEXANDER’S WRITINGS ON PRACTICAL BEE CULTURE 
water rather freely, and it makes the finest feed to stimulate early 
breeding that we ever tried. In this way you save every bit of the 
honey from the cappings, with but very little trouble. I think if you 
will try this another season you will never again set out your cappings 
for your bees and your neighbors’ bees to clean up, nor go to the trouble 
of making (to my mind) a very poor substitute for vinegar. I will 
admit that honey vinegar is sour enough, but I for one can not go 
that unpleasant taste. 
Still another subject I wish to speak of is this: During those cold 
stormy days of winter, when time hangs heavy on your hands, and espe- 
cially winter evenings, get out a lot of those old back numbers of bee- 
journals and look them over. You will be surprised to see how many 
good ideas you can pick up from them, especially the summer numbers 
that came when you were so hurried about your work that you hardly 
took the necessary time to read them, and still less time to remember 
and put those good points into practice. To sum it all up in a few 
words, don’t waste any, time in _worrying | about good or bad lu ck, but 
put yourself at the head of your ‘business a: nd realize” that it is is according 
“to your skill and intellect: that you “either “succeed or fail. as 
Fame 
“" “October, 1906. 
SECURING CUSTOMERS. 
According to what experience we have had in advertising our honey, 
there seems to be no trouble in disposing of a large surplus; and I am 
quite sure that a few dollars spent in this way will soon bring the 
producer and consumer or dealer together, and be a mutual benefit to 
each. 
During the past three years we have sold honey in nearly every 
State east of the Mississippi River, and in a few States west of it. We 
have had some large orders from parties in Illinois and Minnesota. 
These customers we got by placing a small notice in the bee journals. 
If we would all try as hard to sell our honey as we do to produce it we 
should soon find a good market for the most of it. I hope to hear from 
others this winter on this subject, for surely we can not do anything 
of more importance to our business than to prepare ourselves for a 
large surplus before it comes, for come it will, and then we shall wish 
we had customers ready to take our whole crop. So, lose no time, but 
make it a point to secure some customers every season. The time has 
now come when we must advertise our produce in some way, if we 
expect to make a success of our business. I am sure I can see no other 
way to work off this surplus. Our village grocer can retail quite a 
quantity of extracted honey if we will furnish a keg to commence with. 
I know one party who sells nearly 1000 lbs. a season in a village of less 
than 600 inhabitants. He pays us 6% cents, and sells for 10. His comb- 
honey sales are not as large nor as profitable as his sales of extracted 
honey. Give them a chance to make three or four cents a pound on 
