56 



TWELFTH ANNUAL REPORT OF THE 



copies of the treatise of bee dis- 

 eases and distribute them among the 

 German bee-keepers?" and by his per- 

 mission I got some of them printed. 



If there is any one tiling that has 

 given satisfaction to me this year, it 

 was the distribution of nearly two 

 thousand copies in German (and as 

 near as I can learn, it was the only 

 one that has been issued on bee dis- 

 eases in German). 



Mr. Tyrrell — If there is nothing of 

 more importance — I would like to ask 

 some questions of Mr. France in ref- 

 erence to the honey selling proposition. 



His recommendation to farmers to 

 keep a list of his customers and "fol- 

 low-up" system is excellent. 



I would like to ask some questions 

 as to just how he advises honey to be 

 put up — the prices to be put on it, and 

 what method of advertising he find.'S 

 the best. 



Mr. France — Let me use an illustra- 

 tion: 



One man in our state had four hun- 

 dred colonies of bees; he could pro- 

 duce as fancy an article as one could 

 ask for, Alsike, White Clover, and 

 Basswood, and the crop was certainly 

 No. 1, but to sell it puzzled him. 



I was called in the neighborhood to 

 inspect bees, and hearing of this ex- 

 tensive bee-keeper, I made it a point 

 to stay there over night. 



Being a German, his children and 

 his wife all spoke German, and for- 

 getting that they had a German - 

 Yankee with them, much, of their talk 

 was in German, and among other 

 things I learned, as they brought in 

 the mail, there was an order for quite 

 a quantity of comb honey. 



His frau immediately went to the 

 secretary and took down a book, and 

 in alphabetical order she turned to the 

 letter and she found that name. 



She had a record of that same pKarty 

 having written them for honey, and 

 they had made them a small shipment 

 and never received any pay for it — so 

 they were not going to ship there 

 again. 



There was a bee-keeper in the same 

 city and on the same street to whom 

 they had sold honey repeatedly and 

 had received cash by return mail, and 

 he inquired through that party about 

 this other one, and he got further evi- 

 dence that he wanted no more dealings 

 with this party. 



Now he hag a list running back as 



long as he has been selling honej-, and 

 he has credits against different par- 

 ties; by the way, some here in this- 

 room are on his list. 



When he hears of parties who are 

 responsible he gets their name on his 

 list of "responsibles." 



He has what he calls a black list 

 and a good list. 



You take our department stores — 

 how quickly they will issue new cata- 

 logues when new things are out. 



He follows the same system wheix 

 the season is about through, and he 

 knows about how much honey he has. 

 He is a reader of our Bee-Keepers' 

 Journals; he knows the market and! 

 what the goods ought to bring, and he 

 puts a price on the goods and sends, 

 out a little notice to his old customers,, 

 and through them, their neighbors buy 

 until now his four hundred colonies 

 of bees do not furnish him one-fourth 

 of what he sells. 



The most difficult feature is to get 

 good honey that he can send to his 

 customers. 



When I have sold out, it is hard to 

 buy so that I can duplicate or follow- 

 up my orders. 



Where is the trouble? 



Do not the bees work as well for one 

 man as for another? 



I can't believe it is all in the pasture- 

 that makes the difference. 



A man who worked for me some 

 years, keeps bees between two of my 

 out-yards, so that I know the pasture 

 is not different from my own, and it 

 bothers that man the worst way to get 

 rid of honey from forty colonies. I 

 buy his honey — but I have to inspect 

 it first. And it is produced right in 

 between my apiaries. 



Last year the crop I got from him,, 

 all but two cans went to a baker. 



We must have ripe honey, and I am 

 glad that Mr. Burnett, of Chicago, has 

 come out strong on that poinj.. Much 

 of the poor honey is unripe; it is 

 taken before it is ready. 



I have been emphasizing that one 

 thing. It may be considered boasting, 

 but I am safe in saying that honey 

 from Wisconsin today is away ahead 

 of what it was; for sixteen years I 

 have been pounding on that one thing; 

 —ripe honey. 



Mr. Tyrrell — ^Was that honey for the 

 retail trade? 



Mr. France — Direct to the consum- 

 ers, cutting out the middleman. 



