308 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE. 



Mak. 15. 



menced to ring my bell like the town crier of 

 old. I soon had a call. 



" Hi, mister ! what you got to sell?" 



" Honey." 



" How do you sell it?" 



■'Fifteen cents a pound; eight pounds for a 

 dollar." 



" Will you let me see some of it? " 



"Yes: bring a dish, please." 



I let some run out. It was tasted, smelled of, 

 etc. Then I was informed that that stuff was 

 " molasses," and I could not convince them or 

 any one else that it was honey. 



Becoming disgusted I drove home. Thinking 

 it over I made up my mind that the people 

 wanted educating, and I proposed to give them 

 an object-lesson. Getting some cards printed, 

 saying that, if it was warm and pleasant Sat- 

 urday I would give a free exhibition on the 

 public square at 2:30. The next Saturday was 

 a fine warm day, and at the appointed time I 

 drove up with a large farm-wagon, having on it 

 an observatory hive, a three-frame nucleus, one 

 large hive without bees, an extractor, oil-stove, 

 tin pails to heat water in, uncapping-knife and 

 box, ten supers with uncapped combs, water- 

 pail, and the same old barrel of molasses. 



Mounting the deck seat of the wagon, and 

 taking an old fish- horn, I gave them a fish- 

 horn and bell solo (it was not so low but that 

 the whole village could hear it). Collecting 

 my audience I gave them a talk on bees and 

 honey with a great deal of truth and informa- 

 tion, and some nonsense mixed in, showing 

 them the bees in the observatory hive, taking a 

 frame from the nucleus and then from the su- 

 pers, explaining the mode of uncapping and 

 throwing it from the combs. I got a boy in the 

 crowd to turn the crank of the extractor, let- 

 ting it run into the pail; and when it was about 

 half full I turned it into the barrel. Some of 

 the combs I ran through the extractor five or 

 six times, and it worked just as well. 



The result was, I sold my barrel of honey and 

 all I had In the combs, and could have sold 

 more if I had had it, and convinced the public 

 that extracted honey could be in barrels and 

 not be molasses. » 



When I got home and counted up my cash I 

 found I had $79.75 cts. for about 2J^ hours' work. 

 As nearly as I could judge I got about 20 cts. 

 per lb. for the honey. 



A week after, I went to a town of about 7000 

 inhabitants, about 6 miles from here. I had 

 the same show, and two barrels of honey. The 

 police saw that no one disturbed me. I sold all 

 my honey, took .1165 in cash, and never moved 

 my wagon. Another community was educated. 

 I go there now and supply the grocers, and 

 have no trouble. 



I had a heap of fun answering the gibes and 

 guys of the crowd, and all the time kept selling 

 honey, and 'educating the people to the fact 



they could get pure extracted honey. I will 

 state that I carried a lot of quart and pint jars, 

 all labeled, and drew the honey from the barrel 

 into them. I carry to that town now only jars 

 filled. I think that, next fall, I will give an 

 exhibition of the same kind in all of the sur- 

 rounding towns— that is, if I have any honey. 



P. S. — A person with kidney trouble can eat 

 all the honey he wants to, and it will not hurt 

 him, as chemical test gives grape sugar; and it 

 will not hurt him as will cane sugar. I know 

 it from experience. 



Charlton City, Mass., Feb. 34. 



[You have given us some good ideas on sell- 

 ing honey, especially in the line of breaking 

 down prejudice and creating a permanent de- 

 mand. I have no doubt much can be done in 

 the way of educating the public, and selling 

 from the wagon. Yes, I am not surprised that 

 the modus operandi, as well as the "horn- 

 blowing," should draw a crowd. The general 

 public know very little about the method of 

 taking honey: and a good man — i. e., a good 

 talker, can sell honey like hot cakes. 



Patent-medicine men have long known and 

 have availed themselves of the plan of selling 

 from the wagon; and that they introduce and 

 sell the goods we all know.— Ed.] 



PEDDLING HONEY. 



HOW^ TO SPOIL A GOOD MARKET AND HOW TO 

 BUILD IT UP again: folly OF SELLING 

 THIN UNRIPENED HONEY; A READ- 

 ABLE ARTICLE. 



By Dan White. 



That interesting article by Geo. L. Vinal, in 

 Feb. 15th Gleanings, made me feel like saying 

 something. I am something of a honeyped- 

 dler myself. George has started out in pretty 

 good shape. There is a possibility of his get- 

 ting side-tracked; and let us encourage him all 

 we can to keep right on and not make the mis- 

 take many do after we have worked up a splen- 

 did honey-trade. 



Some ten years ago I had a controversy in a 

 farm journal about extracted honey. Don't 

 you know I got such a thumping that I con- 

 cluded the best thing I could do was to keep 

 still? Yes, and I have kept still ever since. At 

 that time I simply gave my individual experi- 

 ence. My opponent not only gave his experi- 

 ence, but referred to articles in Gleanings, and 

 quoted A. I. Root and a host of other prominent 

 bee-keepers. This chap told us all to extract 

 long before the honey was ripe — the thinner the 

 better. He explained how easily it came out of 

 the combs; then he told us to put it in jugs, 

 pans, and cans; cover with gauze cloth, and 

 how nicely it would ripen up! He was loaded 

 with experience; had gone through the details. 

 I had never tried all this, so you can imagine 

 the thrashing I got. Of course, I was some- 

 what vexed, and I would not try his plans any- 

 how. Oh, yes! some years before this, come to 

 think, I did extract and peddle rather thinnish 



