106 



SIXTEENTH ANNUAL REPORT OF THE 



small tumblers and sold in the stores 

 comes from outside of the county. The 

 price that the tumblers of honey are 

 sold at to the grocers is so low that 

 any of our local bee-keepers would 

 rather sell wholesale than to try to 

 put up honey in glass tumblers and 

 compete with those that are now sup- 

 plying the trade in this size package. 



At this date (Noy. 25th) there are 

 only three or four bee-keepers in 

 Outagamie county who are not sold out 

 of honey; and no doubt most of the 

 people ai;e supplied with honey for a 

 month or two. 



Of course you all know that a great 

 many people are supplied with honey 

 for a year when they have a few 

 pounds in the house. 



People in the city will very seldom 

 buy more than one or two gallons at 

 one time; while in the country five to 

 twenty gallons are not exceptional 

 cases. 



It is to be expected that during the 

 holiday season honey may not sell very 

 readily; but we can see no good rea- 

 son why honey should not sell as 

 readily during February, March and 

 April, as during September, October 

 and November. 



After knowing the conditions in 

 Outagamie County, as outlined above, 

 we have no fear of not being able to 

 dispose of our honey by holding it for 

 the winter and spring trade; at this 

 time we expect it will be easier to 

 raise the price at least a little, and 

 get greater results by advertising. 



For the past five months our trade 

 has taken an average of 1,000 pounds 

 per month; we still have nearly 4,000 

 pounds and can sell it at an advanced 

 wholesale price; get our check; spend 

 our money and forget about it until 

 another year when the crop is large; 

 the wholesale price very low and the 

 local or house trade not developed as 

 it would be by keeping all our honey 

 and spending some time and effort in 

 developing our home trade, because we 

 can depend upon our home trade an- 

 other year but we could not depend 

 upon the wholesale markets for a fair 

 price year after year; there are ex- 

 ceptions to this in a few cases with 

 large and expert bee-keepers whose 

 crop always commands a good price 

 regardless of other conditions. 



This is especially true with some 

 fancy comb honey producers. 



It seems that eventually we must 



get together and organize, nationally 

 and locally. This does not mean that 

 we will or must form a trust and dic- 

 tate the price of our honey without 

 considering the supply and demand. 



It does not mean that the minute 

 we are organized we want or could get 

 thirty or forty cents a pound for our 

 honey. 



It does not mean that those of us 

 who can make a living income from 

 bees with extracted honey at six or 

 seven cents per pound should not be 

 interested or perhaps entitled to more. 



By organized effort such as adver- 

 tising and teaching the food value of 

 honey in our schools, crop reports and 

 equal distribution of the crop; such 

 may be classed- as national problems 

 and may be taken care of to advantage 

 by a national organization. 



The price of honey, the style and 

 size of packages could be better taken 

 care of by a branch of a national or- 

 ganization. The retail price for honey 

 varies perhaps 100 per cent between 

 the large cities and out in the coun- 

 try; it does not seem practical to dic- 

 tate or ask the same price in the coun- 

 try as in the large cities where the 

 cost of selling is so much greater. 



By organizing, it seems that in a 

 given locality, for instance the size of 

 the average county, the bee-keepers 

 could agree on a price to be asked for 

 any particular season depending upon 

 the crop, etc. 



The point is not to ask a high price 

 for honey so much as for all the bee- 

 keepers to ask the same price; to get 

 them all to ask the same price should 

 not be difficult when they can be con- 

 vinced that the production of honey in 

 the United States is only a little more 

 than one-half pound per person, an- 

 nually; if this should be a low figure, 

 two or three pounds certainly would 

 be a high figure of the amount o^ 

 honey actually produced and consumed. 



After using the gallon and half 

 gallon glass jars or bottles with wood 

 and wire handles, and Mason jar 

 finish; that is, wide mouth with metal 

 screw cap; after using over one thou- 

 sand of these bottles the past year for 

 home trade, we are thoroughly con- 

 vinced that the looks of the container 

 alone will make a sale without a sales- 

 man; easier and quicker than a tin 

 package with a salesman. 



Sometimes they would actually buy 



