1895 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE. 



633 



ANSWERS TO 



BY G.M.DOOLITTL L.BORODINO.N.Y. 



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JIARKETING HONEY. 



Question.— Having some comb honey off the 

 hives, and still more to take off, I wish to know 

 how best to market it as to style, and where. 



^7isu'er.— This is a question that always 

 arises in a bee-keeper's mind upon producing 

 more honey than is needed to supply the wants 

 of the family. This is also an important ques- 

 tion; for a person may succeed in producing a 

 good article of honey, and so put it up and 

 force it upon the market that it will not bring 

 the producer as much as a third or fourth class 

 article would an apiarist who has an eye to 

 this important item, "marketing honey." A 

 good price for honey depends much upon the 

 state in which it reaches market. Many will 

 take their honey to market in bulk, piling the 

 sections into a spring wagon in a haphazard 

 way, and driving to the nearest town or city, 

 offering it for sale. The grocer looks at it and 

 soliloquizes: "This honey is in poor shape for 

 me to sell; and if I put it in attractive shape it 

 will cost me a cent a pound at least; also, this 

 honey shows that the producer does not know 

 the value of his production or he would have 

 put it up in marketable shape; therefore, if I 

 buy, it will be at a less figure than I would 

 otherwise pay." So he offers three or four 

 cents a pound less than he would expect to pay 

 for the same quality of honey nicely crated and 

 offered for sale by a person knowing what such 

 honey was worth in the different markets. 



In passing through the city of Syracuse, N. 

 Y., a city of about 90,000 inhabitants at that 

 time, I stepped into several places where I saw 

 honey, and upon inquiry found that honey 

 which was brought in without crating was 

 bought for from 9 to 11 cents per pound, and 

 sold at 1.5 to 17, while they paid from 13 to 15 

 cents for honey nicely crated of the same qual- 

 ity. Thus it will be seen that it pays largely 

 to nicely crate our product: and if I had but 25 

 pounds of honey for sale 1 would crate it by all 

 means, not only because it would pay me, but 

 also because it would help other bee-keepers, 

 and establish a more uniform price for honey 

 throughout the country. 



Well, after crating our honey and getting it 

 in the most attractive shape possible, what 

 shall we do with it? Much depends upon the 

 amount of honey we have and upon our sur- 

 roundings. If not more than from 100 to 500 

 pounds are raised, as a rule it can be disposed 

 of in the nearest small towns to the best ad- 

 vantage. However, before we sell our product 

 we should know what it is worth to us if we 

 send it to some of the larirc cities. To ascer- 

 tain this we should take some paper which 



gives correct market reports, and I know of 

 none which are ahead of Gleanings in this 

 respect. Having such correct report: iiguie the 

 expense of freight and commission oat, and we 

 have what it is worth at our nearest railroad 

 station. If every 6ne having honey to sell 

 would adopt this plan, as well as crate it nicely, 

 and then hold on to their product till they 

 could get what it is really worth, we should 

 soon find our sifialler towns paying a uniform 

 price, and we be taking a long stride toward 

 making honey as staple an article of merchan- 

 dise as it can ever become. 



Now allow me to present a few thoughts 

 regarding selling outright, concentrating our 

 consignments, and also about scattering our 

 product among a number of commission men. 

 After arriving at the real value of my crop, as 

 nearly as I can by the line of figuring spoken 

 of above, I have always placed the selling price 

 (at my nearest railroad station) at one cent per 

 pound less than I thought it would bring when 

 sold on commission. My reasons for so doing 

 have been that, in case of selling outri^t, I 

 '-iiave the money at my disposal, and earn often 

 invest it^o as to make more tjiarrf'the penny 

 a pound would araouTit to before a return was 

 made from the commission man, because sell- 

 ing on commission sometimes proves to be a 

 slow process of disposing of our product. In 

 selling, I always demand cash at the railroad, 

 when sent to a person I do not know; and if I 

 spoke ray mind freely I should say do so always, 

 as right wrongs no man. I much prefer to 

 wait a few months on the commission men to 

 waiting a few years, or never getting any pay, 

 of a dishonest buyer. 



Some years ago I sold my crop to a dealer in 

 one of our large cities, and was foolish enough 

 to let it go with the promise to pay upon its 

 arrival; but "arrival" proved to mean five 

 years. Thus I learned a lesson I have tried to 

 profit by. 



But shall we concentrate or cooperate in 

 marketing our product, sending all honey going 

 to one city to one commission house, as was 

 recommended some years ago by some? My 

 experience says no. Some years ago I shipped 

 my whole crop, of about 9000 pounds, to such a 

 selected com.mission dealer in New York. A 

 little of the consignment was sold in October 

 and November at full market quotations, and 

 enough more during the winter, at a less figure, 

 to make one-third of the shipment, while the 

 remaining two-thirds was closed out in May at 

 a price far below the cost of production. Had 

 I and the hundreds of others who shipped hon- 

 ey that season to this party scattered it among 

 twenty different parties and in different cities, 

 nearly, if not all of it, would have been sold at 

 the prices obtained in October and November. 

 Thus a great gain would have been made to 

 the producer, as it costs no more to ship to ten 

 commission men than it does to one, unless we 



