American Hee Journal 



iL'iit niciri.- than he has been accnstonicil 

 to prodnce, he has just that 50 percent 

 with wliich lo work up a new market 

 and create a demand that will be of 

 value in years to come. Suppose he has 

 to carry a portion of his crop over to 

 the next year; it is almost as good as 

 money in the bank, and may yield a 

 much larger percentage. 



Mr. Mercer, of California, because of 

 unsatisfactory prices, in the year 1903, 

 held his honey until the following year, 

 and thereby realized $1,000 more for the 

 crop than would have been obtained if 

 sold as soon as produced. 



When prices of honey are abnormally 

 low, there is no speculation in holding 

 the honey a year or two, and the more 

 bee-keepers there are who are deter- 

 mined not lo sacrifice their honey be- 

 cause of a bountiful crop, and low 

 prices, the more stable will the market 

 become. 



In the last issue of the Review, edi- 

 torial notice is made of a bee-keeper 

 who had been offered 7 cents for the 

 best white clover honey that could be 

 produced, laid down in Indianapolis, 

 and that if sold at such price, it would 

 net him but a trifle above 5 cents per 

 pound. I wish to say, that apiarists, as 

 a class, are largely responsible for such 

 market conditions. The jobber is al- 

 ways anxious to purchase goods at as 

 low a price as he can obtain them, for 

 the reason that his profits are cor- 

 respondingly greater, and because of the 

 lower price at which he is able to sell, 

 he can do a greater volume of busi- 

 ness. He sends out offers for honey, 

 and quotes the current jobbing price of 

 5 to 7 cents, and in most years is able 

 to supply his wants at these figures. 

 Then, not being a philanthropist, why 

 should he .give more? 



Once in a while there is a bee-keeper 

 who does not figure the expense of cans 

 and transportation, and thinks one- 

 sidedly only of the 7 cents per pound 

 he is going to obtain. Rather than take 

 5 cents net from the jobber, the bee- 

 keeper quoted by the Review, would 

 better sell locally to consumers direct 

 for 7 or 8 cents, and thus save the 

 expense of his cans ; and what could 

 not be sold locally, might be disposed 

 of at satisfactory prices by a little well- 

 directed advertising. Personally. I do 

 not believe it ever to be necessary to 

 sell extracted honey direct to the con- 

 sumer at less than 10 cents per pound. 

 I reason that any lover of honey will 

 supply his needs to the limit at 10 to 

 15 cents per pound in bulk, inasmuch as 

 ID to 15 cents is a popular price. Lov- 

 ers of fresh butter in the cities and vil- 

 lages satisfy their wants at 25 to 30 

 cents per pound, simply because that 

 has come to be the popular price. 



If you have honey to sell, but keep 

 still about it, disposing of it will be 

 slow and tedious. There are various 

 ways of directing public notice to the 

 fact that you have honey to sell. If 

 you imagine that a bountiful crop is to 

 be a burden, remember that the local 

 fairs bring together large crowds, 

 among which are many lovers of honey, 

 who will be as glad to learn where 

 thej' can get it in its purity, as you 

 are to sell to them. Be on hand at 

 these fairs with an exhibit of bees and 



honey. Show them liow it is extracted, 

 and impress upon the willing listeners 

 that honey-production is your business, 

 • and that being a specialist, you are able 

 to produce it of a quality as fine as bees 

 can make it. Allow prospective pur- 

 chasers to sample it. 



Many of you who have exhibited at 

 fairs will bear me out in the statement, 

 that a taste of the honey to a some- 

 what doubtful inquirer will almost al- 

 ways result in a sale, if the quality is 

 what it should be. Have some attrac- 

 tive cards with your address and an 

 announcement of your business of 

 honey-production ready to hand to all 

 inquirers. Customers gained in this 

 way are likely to purchase of you year 

 after year, and after you have estab- 

 lished a trade at a fair price, you will 

 not need to lower it, even if you and 

 others have a bountiful ,crop. If you 

 think you could take naturally to the 

 temporary occupation of a show-man 

 or sleight-of-hand performer, operate 

 a colony ot bees in a cage, a la Root, 

 to attract a crowd, and have your sales- 

 man ready to sell the honey as the per- 

 formance proceeds, and while the on- 

 lookers are spell-bound. 



If you have a good crop, remember 

 that your brother bee-keepers in other 

 localities may not be so well favored. 

 All bee-keepers who have been in the 

 business for years, have a certain 

 steady demand, sometimes reaching into 

 thousands of pounds. They do not wish 

 to lose their trade, and if they allow 

 some other person to pick it up, even 

 for one season, that other person has 

 gained the customers for the future, and 

 you have lost them. 



No better advice can be given to bee- 

 keepers who intend to make apiculture 

 a business, and who have had a short 

 crop, than to purchase honey of relia- 

 ble bee-keepers to carry them over sea- 

 sons of failure. There is no better way 

 of reaching this class of customers than 

 advertising through the journals. Write 

 up a neat advertisement that will catch 

 the attention of those in need of honey, 

 and have it inserted in two or three of 

 the leading bee-papers for 3 or 4 months, 

 and your honey w'ill be sold w'ith little 

 effort. If you are unaccustomed to writ- 

 ing advertisements that will catch the 

 attention, remember that the publishers 

 are only too glad to help you, or write 

 them for you, and they have a vocabu- 

 lary well stocked with expressions, 

 words, and synonyms, that will express 

 in the superlative degree the quality of 

 the goods you have to offer. "Smooth, 

 oily finish," "thick, rich deliciousness," 

 and the like, are expressions descriptive 

 of the highest quality, and catch the eye 

 and thought very readily. There is no 

 copyright on words that will beautifully 

 describe your honey, and their us>. 

 should be freely resorted to — only re- 

 member that the statement should be in- 

 variably in accordance with the fact, 

 or their use is a positive injury to you, 

 by way of the loss of every customer 

 who purchases on the assumption that 

 your goods are really superior. There 

 is no secret in connection with the pro- 

 duction of honey of superior quality. 

 Just leave it with the bees, until thor- 

 oughly capped over, or until the end of 



tiie season, and the quality will be per- 

 fectly satisfactory. 

 A few bee-keepers have built up a 



good business in selling honey by can- 

 vassing from door to door direct to 

 families. This method is to be highly 

 conmiended, as it gives an opportunity 

 10 educate the public in reference to 

 bees and honey. Having such an ex- 

 cellent food product of his own produc- 

 tion, no bee-keeper should hesitate as to 

 the propriety of this manner of selling. 

 I am informed that a number of bee- 

 keepers of more than ordinary business 

 capacity have made, a good success of 

 this manner of selling. Never having 



' had occasion to sell in this way, it is 

 largely a matter of theory with me, but 

 I am convinced that customers thus 

 gained will purchase of you year after 

 year. A nuinber of bee-keepers have 

 obtained good results from advertising 

 in their local papers. 



There is one thought I desire to im- 

 press very strongly upon you. If /ou 

 have a bountiful crop, do not get pan- 

 icky about it, and offer to sell regard- 

 less of price. It is never necessary to 

 do so. Let bee-keepers be determined 

 to obtain a fair price, and not compete 

 against each other unfairly, and the nor- 

 mal demand will be well supplied. If 

 there is a surplus over and above, for 

 which there is no demand at a fair 

 price, carry it over to a year of scarc- 

 ity. You will thus have nearly as much 

 money as though you sacrified the whole 

 crop ; you will have been spared the 

 real misfortune to yourself of having 

 broken and ruined your market, and 

 you will still have the surplus over 

 and above what is required to fill the 

 normal demand, to supply your market 

 in years of scarcity that are sure to 

 follow. 



Suppose a bee-keeper's normal crop 

 is 10,000 pounds, and in normal years 

 the price is 8 cents per pound whole- 

 sale, his income from the honey crop 

 will be $800. Suppose he obtains a 

 bountiful crop of say 15,000 pounds, or 

 50 percent greater than the normal, from 

 the same number of bees. A slight 

 decrease in price in such a season 01 

 bountiful crop would be no injustice 

 to the bee-keeper, because the additional 

 expense and labor of producing it is 

 less in proportion than that of produc- 

 ing a normal crop. A slight decrease 

 in price might also be charged to the 

 increased supply, but don't let us ever 

 have a panic because of a bountiful 

 crop, and lose all the latent benefits that 

 nature has showered upon us. If we 

 are to drop the price from S cents in 

 the normal year to 6 cents in the boun- 

 tiful season, when there is an increased 

 crop of 50 percent, we have lost every 

 advantage that was ours, but which has 

 been too often sold for a "mess of pot- 

 tage." Therefore, I emphasize in the 

 most emphatic manner, that you try not 

 to sell to a glutted or unwilling market, 

 but carry over that which may not be 

 sold for a fair price ; and, in the mean- 

 time, keep busy in developing new mar- 

 kets and outlets for the increased pro 

 duction. A good rule is to sell where 

 there is an anxiety to purchase and 

 waste no time trying to sell where there 

 is apathy and indifference, and a bear- 

 ish tendency as to purchasing. 



