1896 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE. 



309 



honey. I was well acquainted, you see, and, as 

 I supposed, had .'worked up a splendid lot of 

 customers, c My experience at [that time would 

 compare favorably with what friend Vinal tells 

 us. I answered all those questions; would 'al- 

 mosr hold up my hand that it was pure bees' 

 honey, etc. a Of course. I told the truth all , the 

 time; but whether you believe it or not, the 

 next time I went over this territory I got into a 

 hornet's nest. D You know every village has one 

 or two loud-talking women. I unfortunately, 

 on this occasion, at the head of the street, men- 

 tioned honey to one of those very women. 

 She talked so very loud that it aroused the 

 whole neighborhood. Most of them were my 

 customers too. It did not take me very long to 

 make up my mind that new territory would be 

 the most profitable. Before I left the street I 

 heard one lady say, " He waters his honey;" 

 and another one said, " He adulterates it." I 

 tell you I almost wished I had never seen any 

 honey. You see, ray talk and trade were mostly 

 with the ladies, and may be you don't think it 

 was killing for some of them to talk as they did. 

 Our friend Vinal could not have drawn the 

 attention of some of these ladies by talking 

 about the weather, mockingbirds, or any thing. 



About this time I had invested considerable 

 in bee-supplies, hives, etc. Honey was coming 

 in by the ton, and I did want the money for it; 

 but to sell it was a stunner. Let me tell you 

 how a change came about. I was compelled to 

 carry over winter quite a lot of honey. I felt 

 somewhat discouraged, and neglected to do any 

 extracting the next season until some time in 

 August. Well, now, didn't I sweat, uncapping 

 and whirling thac extractor? Yes, sir! and 

 that honey weighed 13 pounds to the gallon. 

 My family tested it thorouglily, and decided it 

 the finest honey they had ever eaten. We ate 

 It every meal, and sometimes between meals, 

 so you see this gave me confidence, or courage, 

 to try peddling again. I put 1.50 pounds in my 

 can. I sold about 100 pounds, and gave away 

 the remainder. I made apologies to those I 

 had sold to before; explained ray mistake, and 

 wanted to give them a few pounds of honey to 

 settle with them. My plan worked well; but 1 

 noticed when I went around again after the 

 gift, even my thin-honey friends took hold very 

 cautiously. A pound or so was enough for a 

 starter. It took me several years to again 

 get the full confidence of some of them. 



I tell you I am real earnest over this matter. 

 Just think of the thousands of families who 

 seldom taste honev; look over your own terri- 

 tory, and you will be surprised how many there 

 are of this class. Don't you know this is all 

 wrong, when some of this good white-clover 

 and basswood honey, just such as I tell about, 

 will gradually fetch them into line and hold 

 them in line if you do your part? I have a 

 large number of customers who annually order 



from 50 to 100 pounds of extracted for their own 

 family use. Only last season, or 1894, I got a 

 rather limited supply of sweet honey. Yes, it 

 tasted sweet, all right, but somehow the little 

 basswood and no white-clover honey was mixed 

 with something that made it slightly off in 

 color; also did not have just the right taste; 

 but it was up to standard in weight. Now, I 

 believe a raajority of us would have called this 

 honey good enough to offer to our best custom- 

 ers. We would not expect at least any serious 

 harm; but let me tell you about it. I wanted 

 some of those greenbacks and silver dollars. I 

 had my doubts about it, but I rather reluctantly 

 loaded up and went to town. I commenced 

 right on the start to tell my customers that 

 honey this season was not quite as good as 

 usual. Those who wanted .50 pounds or more, 

 I would persuade them to cut down their usual 

 supply. In one instance a .50-pound customer 

 wanted their own way; the whole family tast- 

 ed while I talked. I finally got them down 10 

 pounds — they took 40. Now for the result. This 

 season, 1895, my honey was never better. When 

 I called at this place with the usual good-morn- 

 ing, I told them I was around with honey 

 again. The little children playing in the front 

 yard didn't even look up. 



" Well," says the good woman, "somehow we 

 don't like honey as we used to. We have kept 

 putting it on the table every day, but we have 

 quite a bit left that we got of you last season." 



I referred to what I said the season before. 



" Now." said I, " you bring out that old honey 

 and I will trade you new honey even up for it." 

 The trade was made. " Now I want you to 

 take enough more to make your usual .50 

 pounds." She hardly thought it best, but final- 

 ly let me have ray way." 



Just a few days ago the man of this house 

 called out from the other side of the street: 



•' Say, White, we are about out of honey; can 

 we get about 20 pounds more ? " 



" No, sir," said I, " we are all sold out." 



"That's* too bad We will see we get more 

 than 50 pounds next season." 



Now, then, this was not the only instance, 

 because I had to do more or less talking all the 

 way round. I noticed the children did not 

 scamper ahead to tell their ma the honey-man 

 was coming. Don't you see my customers were 

 getting tired of honey, and they themselves 

 did not know why it was? Now, the rest of 

 you can do as you please; but hereafter, if my 

 honey is not first-class in every respect my bees 

 will have a chance to eat every pound of it. 



Now, I wonder who is going to jump up and 

 call me a crank, and tell us they can evaporate 

 thin honey better than to let the bees put on 

 the finishing touches. Don't you do it; for I 

 tell you right now I won't try it. Don't do it, 

 even if you are an expert, and do a fairly good 

 job at it, for you may induce others to try it, 



