FOURTEENTH ANNUAL YEAR BOOK— PART IX. 645 



the local trade as though it were going to the great city. If we would 

 take more pains to cultivate the home market by selling only a prime 

 article and keeping it before the people we would sell more honey at 

 home and make more money out of it. Remember that honey is a luxury, 

 and it must be put on the market in such attractive shape that it will 

 be admired and bought. In other words it will sell itself. If honey 

 on the grocer's counter is mussy or in uncleaned sections few people 

 will be tempted to buy it. The eye is the key that unlocks the purse. 

 People advertise to catch the eye. We must advertise our goods by 

 keeping in sight the finest quality and handsomest product that skill 

 can produce. It is a good plan to have a bulletin board near the high- 

 way on which is displayed in large letters Honey for Sale. It will bring 

 many a customer. 



I suggest that the local price be not held at such a high figure that the 

 people will not take hold of it. An example to the point: In my own 

 town most of the resident beekeepers got together early in the fall and 

 agreed to hold comb honey at twenty cents. The consequence was it 

 didn't move, but a little later at fifteen cents it sold fast. Fancy comb 

 was selling at the time in Chicago at sixteen cents. Now, it wasn't just 

 the wise thing to do to hold at twenty when, if shipped it wouldn't have 

 netted the producer more than twelve to fourteen. Better put the home 

 price at a figure that will sell as much as possible of it and save freight 

 and commission. 



Another way to advertise honey is to show it at fairs. I believe every 

 exhibitor of honey will say that an attractive display of honey is always 

 admired and commented upon. It whets the appetite. Live bees are 

 shown just to tempt visitors to stop and ask questions. If bees didn't 

 make honey they'd be no more attraction than a nest of ants. But the 

 attention once arrested the opportunity opens to talk of the wonderful 

 work done by the bees; of the different kinds of honey and why different; 

 that bees do not mix honey from different flowers; that white clover is 

 distinct from linden, sweet clover from buckwheat and alfalfa from 

 goldenrod; that comb honey is never capped till it is ripe; and when 

 fully ripened and sealed it is a product which man with all his inventive 

 genius cannot copy or excel; that there are many uses to which honey 

 may be put beside eating it in its natural state; that cakes of various 

 kinds and cookies and doughnuts and preserves and vinegar may all be 

 made, honey taking the place of other sweets. If it is known that honey 

 is a more healthful sweet than cane or beet sugar and that a delicate 

 stomach is by its use saved from some of the arduous labors of digestion 

 perhaps the listener will be reminded to buy honey instead of some of the 

 canned stuff now so plentiful. It ought to be known that honey on the 

 table takes the place of sauce and preserves — at least it does at our home. 

 If honey is always on the table the housekeeper doesn't need to fret and 

 sweat over the stew kettle nearly so much. 



My remarks thus far are mostly concerning- comb honey. The pro- 

 ducers of extracted honey are generally those who keep a large number 

 of colonies and who understand how to handle and how to market it, 

 but if any one thinks of trying this branch of the business I want to 

 caution him against extracting and selling unripe honey. Nothing will 



