280 



THE BEE-KEEPERS' REVIEW 



market is not only an easy tack bnt a 

 pleasure, but to him who is bashful 

 and timid al:)Out meeting people to ask 

 favors of them, it is such a task as will 

 make him shrink from it, and probably 

 cause him to be unsuccessful along that 

 line. 



Selling is an art, and to be success- 

 ful one must have some ability along 

 that line, and take pleasure in it. The 

 man who hates the task and lies awake 

 nights dreading it had better let some 

 one else do the selling for him. 



CO-OPERATIVE .SELLING. 



Co-operative organizations would 

 seem best where there are sufficient 

 small bee-keepers to unitedly make it 

 an oljject for some man to handle their 

 product. There is one great ol)jection 

 to such organizations as usually con- 

 ducted, and that is the order in which 

 each month's crop shall be sold. 

 If in the order in which it 

 is delivered to the salesman, some one 

 must be the last, and another next to 

 him. This, in case where the organiza- 

 tion is state wide, often would carry the 

 last lot over the season, and probably 

 in the case of comb-honey, lose him 

 the sale of his crop at any reasonable 

 price, and even when some advance can 

 be made on his crop, he may be seri- 

 ously handicapped for money to carry 

 on his business. This would not apply 

 in cases where car lots are made up 

 and sold at one time, but when a cen- 

 tral store is maintained, and goods sold 

 in such lots as may be demanded by 

 the market. Some system in such cases 

 would seem more equitalile where all 

 honey received should be graded, and 

 sales pro-rated to all shippers at least 

 once a month. There might seem to be 

 some justice in serving the first man 

 first, but there are often good reasons 

 why one man may ship later than an- 

 other. He may tske more care in the 

 preparation of his crop for market. He 

 may be so located as to lie unable to 

 secure the necessary help at the right 



time, delays in transit, and many others. 

 Often a difference of a few miles may 

 make a crop some days later. 



A POTATO DEALER NOT A GOOD HONEY 

 DEALER. 



The regular commission dealers are 

 as honest as any other class of men. 

 But there is not much good in shipping 

 lioncy to a potato specialist. He may 

 sell a few cases, but he naturally is no 

 judge of quality, and also naturally 

 likes to favor some good potato cus- 

 tomers with a little honey cheap, so it 

 is a chance if the buyer does not set 

 the price. But in towns of any size 

 there are connnission men who make 

 more or less of a specialty of honey, 

 and if these men have not a large stock 

 on hand, fair prices, and honest treat- 

 ment is assured, and returns are likely 

 to lie as good as from any other source. 

 The writer has sold many tons this 

 way. and never had cause to complain. 

 In one or two instances small lots went 

 wrong, but this was his own fault in 

 not first finding the C(.)nditions before 

 shipping. 



Extracted honey is more difficult to 

 sell through commission firms, general- 

 ly, but there are a few firms who have 

 men posted in this line, and have a good 

 trade in it at good prices. 



In time a line of customers can be 

 secured for a considerable quantity of 

 honey, by simply asking a customer to 

 tell his friends who like honey, where 

 they can get some like his, if he finds 

 it to his liking. We have often sold 

 five hundred to a thousand pounds in 

 one neighborhood in that way, and like 

 the "endless chain" it keeps spreading 

 year by year. Then years ago we could 

 hardly sell the product of 300 colonies 

 as we were just beginning and were 

 unknown. Now 1,.500 colonies do not 

 l)egin to supply our orders for a sea- 

 son's crop, cash sales. Our customers 

 are our friends, and though we know 

 them only by name, often, and sell to 

 them l)ut once a vear, we consider them 



