Mar. 24, 1904. 



THE AMERICAN BEE JOURNAL. 



223 



paid 12 cents a pound." I said, "No, you didn't, you paid i(> " 

 He wouldn't believe it. "You paid I2 cents a section for it, 

 but the sections only weigh 12 ounces, and that's 16 cents a 

 pound." The position that that grocer was in is the positio.i 

 of the average housekeeper who buys this 4I4. square section 

 and thinks it is a pound. I don't know if there is any remedy, 

 and I don't know if it is on our consciences. If we sell our 

 honey honestly, and the grocer thinks he has to deceive his 

 customers, I don't know whether that is our affair. I should 

 like to hear this discussed, whether we should cater to this 

 light-weight section trade which tends to dishonesty. 



Pres. York — What does Mr. Moore mean by a dishonest 

 profit? What would be a dishonest profit on a section of 

 honey ? 



Mr. Moore — Any profit on anything is dishonest which is 

 gotten under deception of the customer. 



Mr. Starkey — There is one thing I think we don't all 

 consider, and that is the fact that the more prudent house- 

 wife who hasn't an unlimited use of the bank account, or has 

 trained herself to the point where she means to save every 

 cent she can (and it is proper she should, because there are 

 chances when she can), when they go to buy honey or any 

 other thing when they find something for a cent cheaper they 

 prefer to buy it. It isn't because this man has a l6-ounce sec- 

 tion of honey that he prefers to sell it; he knows the cus- 

 tomers are looking for something that costs less money, and 

 they are willing to take a smaller package, or rather the bee- 

 keepers are not supplying the demand for a small-priced 

 article. Now, I know if you put up a lo-cent package of 

 honey, that would be enough to put on the table, and they 

 would sell a great deal of that where they wouldn't sell a 

 20-cent package ; yet a honey-producer cannot afford to put 

 it up that way. The honey-man cannot afford to supply the 

 demand. It costs too much to put it up and handle it. The 

 grocery man would rather make three cents on a 20-cent 

 package than 2 cents on a lo-cent package. 



A Member — That depends. 



Mr. Starkey — I believe in this case it will apply. You 

 will grant that you can sell twice as many. 



A Member — No, we won't. 



Mr. Starkey — There is a demand for something that is 

 not supplied. The grocery-man is just about as honest as 

 any other man. They are trying to deal squarely, but if they 

 find that the customers won't buy 20-ounce sections they 

 get something else The grocery man is not dishonest. 



Mr. Horstmann — There is no need of anybody being dis- 

 honest in selling comb honey. Now, I sell both extracted and 

 comb honey. People come to me and ask me the price of 

 honey. I say, "I sell the extracted at IS cents a pound, and the 

 comb honey at 20 cents a section. I tell them they weigh al- 

 most a pound : some weigh a pound and some weigh a lit- 

 tle less. We sell it by the section, we don't sell it by the 

 pound; but if you want a full pound, I will sell you a full 

 pound of extracted honey for a certain price and I sell honey 

 in bulk." They bring the jar to buy it in. Anyone can come 

 to me and buy honey, and if he wants a pound he won't get 

 a light-weight section. If he wants the latter I let him have 

 them, if I have them to dispose of. If they sell my honey 

 to somebody else and sell 12 ounces for a pound it is their 

 dishonesty, not mine. I am honest in my sales. I tell them 

 just how much I think they weigh. 



Dr. Miller — I am very glad to accept the fact, and I do 

 believe it is a fact, that that argument that a lighter section 

 will sell better is from the mere fact that it is a lighter section ; 

 and the one thing that proves it is, that when the change 

 was made from the 2-pound to the i-pound sections, there 

 was no deception in the weight in either case. The i-pound 

 section would sell in the market fo' one cent a pound more, 

 and the only reason was because it was a lighter section ; and 

 still with all that, when I tell you that a light-weight case of 

 sections will sell for 2 cents a pound more than one weigh- 

 ing a pound each, I am afraid that is because the grocers 

 expect to sell these with the unspoken understanding on the 

 part of the customer that they are getting a pound section. 



Mr. Muth — I don't believe. Dr. Miller, that I am doing 

 something that is wrong. The retail grocers as a whole are 

 honest, and very seldom do you see a sign "20 cents a pound," 

 or "18 cents a pound," when you see section honey. You 

 will find a little ticket on it — 20, 18 or 16 cents a comb, but 

 they want to buy by the pound and they want to buy light- 

 weight sections. There is no deception. The only deception 

 is when the bee-keepers stick the dealer on honey that 

 weighs more than a pound ! I am talking from the dealers' 

 point of view, and right straight. 



Mr. Niver— "One point that has not been touched. A 

 2-pound piece of honey put on the table will go on and off 

 a number of times, and the last few times it won't be eaten, 

 and it is thrown away. It isn't so bad with the pound section, 

 but a half-pound section will go every time, and they will 

 buy two ^-pound sections where they will buy only l-pound 

 section, and they will buy it a great deal oftener. That was 

 one reason why we went down to the J^-pound section, which 

 is as low as we could make profitably. If we could have 

 made J^-pounds we would have done it, but you cannot af- 

 ford to do that. We cut to 34-pound, and they were very 

 well satisfied. The 4^x4^xJ^ were almost unsalable. 



GETTING UNIFORM-WEIGHT SECTIONS. 



"How can you get sections all to weigh 12 ounces each?" 



Mr. Moore — The gentleman here has explained. 



Mr. Fairbanks — Speaking of pound sections, I have an 

 uncle in New Hampshire who puts his honey up in half- 

 pound packages, and he has no trouble disposing of them two 

 for a quarter, or I2j^. cents a piece. 



Dr. Miller — What is the size of the section? 



Mr. Fairbanks — I didn't pay much attention to that; he 

 worked those altogether, and he said that a man could hardly 

 sell a pound section there. It wouldn't sell nearly so rapidly. 

 It is a great bother and lots of work. I helped him put some 

 together, but I didn't pay much attention to it, as I thought 

 it was too much trouble. I wished since, though, that I had. 

 It is like picking hazel-nuts out of chaff; I didn't think I had 

 any time for it. Let me say, that there wouldn't be any 

 family that would have to put it on the table more than once, 

 because it would be all eaten up. 



Pres. York — The question is : "How can you get sections 

 all to weigh 12 ounces each?" 



A Member — Can't do it. 



Mr. Meredith — Cut out a little piece of the honey! 



Pres. York — We would better have the next number on 

 the program now, by Mr. Morley Pettit, of Ontario, Canada. 

 The secretary will read the paper first, and then if we have 

 time we will go on with the questions. 



Secretary Moore then read Mr. Pettit's paper, as follows: 



ESTABLISHING AND MAINTAINING A PROFITABLE 

 HOME MARKET FOR HONEY. 



The matter of markets is one of the most important 

 problems in connection with bee-keeping. It involves differ- 

 ent factors, principally buyers, sellers, prices, expenses, and 

 profits. Profits are determined by deducting from the selling 

 price the cost plus the expense of selling. Do not forget 

 the expense of selling. The ultimate buyer is the consumer, 

 and the sellers are any or all of three: retailers, wholesalers, 

 and producers. 



The producer expects a price for his product which will 

 pay interest on his investment in bees, fixtures, etc. ; will pay 

 running expenses of the business, and a good profit on the 

 time and muscle and brain work which he may devote to it. 

 The wholesaler and retailer must each also make a paying 

 profit. 



Like all other problems in connection with bee-keepmg, 

 that of establishing and maintaining a home market is a sub- 

 section of the question supreme from a business standpoint — 

 How to secure the best profits or the highest returns for the 

 investment of money, time and brains. In the matter of sell- 

 ing his product, shall the bee-keeper become wholesaler, or 

 retailer, or both, or neither? If he is neither, he may put his 

 honey up in large packages and sell to a few firms, possibly 

 only one. He has few packages to fill and handle, few sales 

 to make and few shipments. This requires small expense of 

 money and time, and time is money. Let me repeat, time is 

 money ! Always money to those who do not lack either 

 health or ambition to attain the highest business success. To 

 sell to the wholesaler direct, then, cuts down the expense 

 account. It has this advantage: It also brings a low price 

 because the other two sellers must have their respective mar- 

 gins. It sends more honey to the large cities and tends to 

 reduce the retail price there. If it leaves a shortage at home 

 there is a double loss. Does the advantage counterbalance 

 the disadvantage? Every man must answer for himself. 



If the producer becomes wholesaler he saves the latter's 

 profit to himself, provided his reputation is good and he 

 knows enough to ask the right price. He also keeps the honey 

 nearer home, avoids the glut of large city rnarkets, and 

 saves freight-rates. On the ether hand, more time must be 

 spent in canvassing for sales, putting honey up in smaller 

 packages, and collecting small accounts. 



