THI-; BEE-KEEPERS' REVIEW 



299 



As this honey is being produced he is 

 alive to conditions about him, so that by 

 the time his crop is ready for the market 

 he has weighed all the conditions of the 

 market, and has definitely made up his 

 mind as to the price he will ask. The 

 last act of the sale is merely the accept- 

 ance of a price for the honey which has 

 been previously determined, the con- 

 clusion having been reached by a care- 

 ful summing up of the prevailing market 

 conditions. The man who actually makes 

 his sale in fifteen minutes is the man 

 who has lacked aim in production, and 

 has neglected to follow conditions; his 

 price is determined at the time: he sells 

 ignorantly, and often at a loss. If the 

 yield is large in the neighborhood of such 

 a bee keeper, he becomes timid and is 

 ready to sell still lower. It is the offer- 

 ings of these people which act as de- 

 pressing factors in the markets, 



EXTENDING THE MARKET, 



I shall treat this under two headings, 

 first, selling our own crop, and, second, 

 selling honey as a specialty. 



It is often a problem to the bee keeper 

 as to whether to retail his honey, or sell 

 it in a lot at wholesale. No rule can be 

 laid down, except to be modified by cir- 

 cumstances and conditions. Among con- 

 ditions bearing upon this decision, we 

 would place natural adaptability first. 

 The person who dislikes the work of 

 retailing his goods will rarely, if ever, 

 succeed by so doing. We are fond of 

 telling people if they put their best selves 

 into anything, success will reward them, 

 but the history of all human effort re- 

 futes the certainty of this assumption. 

 We can cultivate proficiency, improve 

 our methods, and in every way make 

 the most of ourselves, yet the fact re- 

 mains, persistent and unchanged, that no 

 person can succeed when he is unquali- 

 fied by Nature, and no person can ever 

 reach any great success unless Nature 

 has specially endowed him for his work. 

 This law, it seems to me, applies with 

 special force in salesmanship; with an 

 increasing ratio as th3 business develops. 



The recognition of this law will greatly 

 assist the bee keeper in deciding whether 

 he should become his own salesman, and 

 to what extent. There are conditions 

 where a person, even when unfitted for 

 the work, should still sell his own honey. 



Most bee keepers commence in a small 

 way with a few colonies of bees and se- 

 cure a crop which amounts to only a few 

 cans of honey. Here is a case where 

 the honey should be sold around home; 

 as there is always a call for more or 

 less in a neighborhood, either at the 

 local stores, or among honey-loving 

 neighbors, where it can be sold with but 

 little trouble. 



If you intend to keep your neighbor- 

 hood supplied you will study the tastes 

 of your customers and keep them regu- 

 larly supplied, remembering always that 

 a limited number of patrons well cared 

 for are worth more than a great number 

 carelessly handled. After awhile they 

 become so accustomed to your honey as 

 to be willing to give you two or three 

 cents per pound more than they would 

 give for any other honey. They "get 

 the habit."' Of course, this applies with 

 greater force to extracted honey. 



RAISING THE PRICE OF HONEY MAY 

 HASTEN SALES. 



While the wants of a neighborhood 

 should b3 fully supplied, they must not 

 be over supplied. It is always unwise to 

 crowd honey upon an unwilling market, 

 or to drop your price to promote your 

 sales. There are always people who 

 will try at times to persuade you to cut 

 down your price; if you concede the 

 reduction, the sale is used as an argu- 

 ment by every one else to compel a 

 lower price, and, strange to say, the 

 consumption is lessened rather than 

 increased by the drop, 1 have found 

 that a great many people are willing to 

 buy honey and pay a good price for it in 

 a firm market, or when scarce, who will 

 defer the purchase if they think they 

 can get it at any time, perhaps at a 

 lower price, 1 had a practical illustra- 

 tion of this when a neighboring bee 



