THE BEE-KEEPERS' REVIEW 



309 



written that which any producer had 

 best take advantage of, unless — well, 1 

 will mention the "unless idea" later. 

 Mr. Muth would have you believe that all 

 producers, large or small, would have 

 more money in the long run, or at the 

 end of the selling season, if they would 

 let him handle their goods, and pay him 

 for so doing, than if they sold the goods 

 themselves. He wants you to imitate 

 those who ship to him. Imitating other 

 people don't always cut much of a figure. 

 My plan would be to get your eyes open, 

 and push ahead on your own hook, or 

 good judgement. If everybody should 

 ship all their honey to commission houses, 

 the price of honey would soon be so 

 low we would all have to quit the busi- 

 ness and look up something else for a 

 living. 



Mr. Muth also thinks if you undertake 

 to sell your own crop you will have to 

 trust it out and never get your money. 

 I will venture to say there is as much 

 money lost by shipping your honey to 

 commission men as by selling it yourself. 

 Mr. Muth would have you ignore your 

 home market entirely, glut the city 

 markets and force low prices. We would 

 advise just the reverse; protect and 

 work your home market and get good 

 prices. 



Hildreth ilv: Segelken start off on 

 altogether different grounds. They ad- 

 mit that they write from the dealer's 

 standpoint. That is all right; but I think 

 that they over reached their limit when 

 they question the integrity of bee 

 keepers. We have dealt with Hildreth & 

 Segelken considerably, both in buying 

 and selling, and have always found 

 them to be gentlemen; prompt and fair 

 in all matters. 



If I were to give my own brother ad- 

 vice on turning his crop of honey into 

 money, I would tell him to look after his 

 home market, first of all. 



TWO METHODS OF WORKING UP A HOME 

 MARKET. 



There are two separate and distinct 

 methods in working one's home trade; 



one is to sell to the grocery trade in all 

 towns or cities within reasonable distance, 

 say 50 miles, the other way is to sell 

 from house to house, which might take 

 in cities and surrounding country. 



I will start out by saying that I have 

 worked both methods for a great many 

 years, and am still working them. In a 

 few instances I have worked both 

 methods in the same cities at the same 

 time, and never have had but one grocer 

 find fault, and he was a notorious crank. 

 In my experience, the more we educate 

 people to eat honey (and that is what 

 we have to do in selling from house to 

 house) the more honey the grocer sells. 

 After we have told all the people in town 

 all the good things about honey, and 

 have induced them to taste our samples, 

 they will naturally want to have a pack- 

 age, but think Snyder's packages are 

 larger than they care for (we put the 

 honey up in 3 lb., 5 lb., 7 lb. and 12 lb. 

 packages) so they will go to the grocery 

 and get a small package to try. We 

 also put up honey in suitable packages 

 to retail for 10c, 15c, 20g and 25c, and 

 don't you see that the grocer gets this 

 trade which he would not have gotten 

 if we had not educated the people to eat 

 honey? Almost invariably, when a family 

 gets to eating honey, they keep right on 

 eating honey. 



IMPORTANCE OF DRESSING NEATLY. 



Now, then, let's talk a little about 

 selling to the retail trade. When a man 

 starts out to drum the trade (or just 

 before he starts) he should put on a 

 good, clean, well-fitting business suit, 

 and nice, clean collar and cuffs, and 

 keep well shaven. Don't put on some 

 old, dirty suit and slovenly hat, and make 

 yourself look like some back woods 

 pioneer. You can't sell goods while 

 wearing such a rig. 



When you go into a store to sell honey, 

 be gentlemanly, and ask for the proprie- 

 tor or manager, and, if he is busy, let 

 him entirely alone. Just sit down and 

 read the morning paper, which you should 

 have in your side pocket. Wait till such 



