14 



THE BEE-KEEPERS' REVIEW. 



perience to some one who could not 

 produce a pound of honey to save his 

 life. 



Wakeman, Ohio, Nov. 26, 1902. 



[Like many other questions, this one 

 has two sides to it. If I were at work 

 building up a trade here in Flint for 

 honey, I should wish to have my name 

 on every package, and not that of the 

 producer. That would be a natural 

 feeling. If I spent time, and money, 

 and thought, and energy, building up 

 a market for honey, I should wish to 

 reap the reward. I should not adver- 

 tise that I was the producer of the 

 honey that I sold. I should impress 

 upon my customers the idea that I was 

 an expert judge of honey, and took 

 great pains to secure that which was 

 of excellent quality and absolutely 

 pure. I should take great pains to live 

 up to my professions, and always 

 furnish an excellent article, and thus 

 lead my customers to believe that 

 wlien they bought a bottle of honey, or 

 a section of honey, with my name on 

 it, they could rest assured that it had 

 my guarantee, and that it was all 

 right. If I should send out honey hav- 

 ing upon the packages only the names 

 of the different producers of whom I 

 bought honey, I would never succeed 

 in building up a demand for the honey 

 that I sold. One day I might be sell- 

 ing Smith's honey, the next day. 

 Brown's, and so on. 



I do not blame any one for wishing 

 to establish a reputation for the hon- 

 ey that he produces. That is entirely 

 proper, and there are many retail deal- 

 ers, and possibly some wholesalers, 

 who have no objection to the appear- 

 ance of the producer's name upon the 

 packages. If they have really nice hon- 

 ey to sell that is about all they care. 

 They are not trying to build up any 

 special tratlo in honey any more than 

 in many other commodities. It is to 

 such men that I would sell my honey 



if I wished to have my name appear 

 on the packages. I should not sell to 

 such men as Mr. York, who are striv- 

 ing to build up a special trade In hon- 

 ey. For these men there is plenty of 

 honey In the market produced by men 

 who never put their name on their 

 packages, and don't care to do so. 

 Their business is that of producing, 

 and they pay no attention whatever 

 to building up a retail trade. When 

 their crop is off the hives they send 

 it off to the commission man, or the 

 jobber, and pay no more attention to 

 the matter. Whether this is a good 

 business policy or not is an open ques- 

 tion. Probably it depends upon cir- 

 cumstances. In some Instances, 1 

 think It Is. 



By the way, there was an amusing 

 little incident happened at the Chi- 

 cago convention. Mr. Frank B. White, 

 former editor or manager of the paper 

 called Agricultural Advertising, honor- 

 ed US with a call, and, upon invitation, 

 addressed the convention. The burden 

 of his remarks, as might have been 

 expected from an advertising man, 

 was of the energetic manner in which 

 he would push the sale of honey, how 

 he would advertise it if he were a pro- 

 ducer. He would have his name and 

 address stamped upon every package 

 of honey that left his establishment. 

 Nudges and winks were passed 

 around, and every one who could 

 catch Bro. York's eye gave him a smile 

 full of meaning. Finally, some one 

 asked Mr. White what he would do If 

 the dealer should persist in scratching 

 off his name from the section. "1 

 Avonld burn it in, so he couldn't scratch 

 it off," was the reply. At this the 

 whole convention roared. Mr. White 

 looked a little confused. Evidently 

 he didn't see where the laugh came 

 in, but Bro, York did, aud, as Mr. 

 White left the platform, Mr. York said: 

 "'It is evident that I didn't tell Mr. 

 "White what to say."— -Ed Review.] 



