296 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE. 



Apr. 15. 



my best. Why should a man's hands be all 

 thumbs when his other fingers are in healthy 

 condition? I now employ my winters in other 

 ways; and, while a loser financially, perhaps, I 

 am so much a gainer in other ways that there 

 is no comparison. No peddling for me. 



Incidentally I might mention that I found 

 selling in ten pound or gallon buckets was 

 more profitable than fussing with small pack- 

 ages, and that the vessel should always go with 

 the honey. 



Real peddlers are few in number. Is it not 

 possible, not in theory, but really, to utilize 

 peddling abilities for the good of us all? In 

 Denver there are about five salesmen of honey. 

 One is enough. Mrs. Heater, in the American 

 Bee Journal, says producers should counsel to- 

 gether instead of underselling each other. 

 That is the way to talk. But only four out of 

 the twenty- four counselors talk that way. 

 What is the matter? I think I know. It is 

 vagueness. People haven't thoughtenough, or, 

 rather, have thought too vastly to start with. 

 First of all, somebody suggests a National 

 Honey Exchange in Chicago. Of course, the 

 wiseacres will shake their heads. Still, it is all 

 right, and it may come soon, for all I know; 

 but co-operation, like charity, begins at home. 

 Here we have been talking all these years 

 about developing a home market; and when 

 co-operation is suggested, the first thing we do 

 is to apply it somewhere else. If only three or 

 four honey-producers in each State get together, 

 employing one salesman for their own State, 

 the objects to be achieved are those which 

 every one sees can be achieved; and don't you 

 suppose it will spread? There is no need of 

 doing any thing wonderful to begin with. 



In this connection a suggestion in one of Mr. 

 Aikin's articles ought to be seriously consider- 

 ed. The salesman of such a company would 

 stand some show of introducing the original 

 cheap tin package of which Mr. Aikin speaks; 

 especially if such a package bore the registered 

 label of a bee-keepers' company, guaranteeing 

 its purity; and if the salesman would also be 

 competent to receive the honey in bulk, and 

 himself put it up, it would be a uniform, 

 standard article. If the package were a solder- 

 ed round can, just like a tomato-can, with di- 

 rections for liquefying, like those for treating 

 canned peas, etc., the consumer would never 

 see the honey candiwi. Moreover, the general 

 adoption of this plan would be one of the very 

 best methods of combating adulteration. These 

 suggestions were made by Mr. H. Rauchfuss, 

 at a recent meeting of the Denver Bee-keepers' 

 Association. 



One of our bee-keepers (Mr. V. Devinny) 

 said lately, " You can't convince the people, but 

 you can convince the merchant." This is an 

 Important point. I am not so sure thatindivid- 

 ual peddling, even if greatly increased, would 



come anywhere near the weighty influence of 

 the accredited salesman of a standard article 

 with grocers only. The consumption of honey 

 in Denver has increased wonderfully in the 

 last six years, simply by the efl'ort of salesmen 

 to supply the grocers; and nothing would pre- 

 vent such a salesman from also giving away 

 samples to the general public. 



Mr. Doolittle says that legislation should be 

 in favor of the producers of wealth, instead of 

 trusts, combines, and monopolies — which at 

 once suggests that the quickest way out is for 

 the producers themselves to form combines. 

 Mr. Demaree, over a year ago, spoke of unions, 

 trusts, combines, and societies as if they were 

 going to be responsible for a cataclysm, and 

 now has nothing further to suggest than indi- 

 vidual effort in the home market. Combines 

 and trusts against single-handed honesty are 

 certainly— oh! not to to be borne; but just con- 

 sider what Prof. Cook says of the Citrus Ex- 

 change: "The exchange is a powerful organi- 

 zation, and is interested in low freight rates, as 

 the commission men never could be. and is able 

 to secure, not what the traffic will bear, but 

 what is just." I'm waiting for some one to 

 prove it is wrong to fight fire with fire, in this 

 line. Are the " plutocrats" ever going to stop 

 forming combines? No. Then what are you 

 going to do rabout it? Legislate? But the 

 combines have complete control of law-making 

 —the most important part of that is lobbying 

 and influence. 



Mr. Abbott advises "pluck, energy, push, 

 keenness of perception, andl a feeling that you 

 are able to take care of yourself without any 

 help from the law or your neighbors, provided 

 you are let alone'' — a weak body with a 

 mighty voice, in my opinion. With a synonym 

 book and a little reflection, I believe I could 

 beat- that. Keenness of preception, hey? 

 Humph! Here am I, after working hard all 

 season, with my honey in attractive packages, 

 ringing the door-bell of a city house. The door 

 opens, and I go through my formula. "Is the 

 honey fresh?" (!) "Bees make honey only in 

 the .summer, and — " I start in to say stammer- 

 ingly, and bang goes the door. Not until the 

 next day do I happen to think of a form of 

 words that might have arrested that woman's 

 attention, and, ten to one, in the next contin- 

 gency, forgot to apply it. Yes, keenness of per- 

 ception is necessary; but for mercy's sake let 

 us use the material at hand in our ranks, not 

 buttonhole each individual, and sing, " Be keen 

 and you will be successful." Now, will Mr. 

 Abbott say that I do not deserve a good price 

 as well as the fellow who works no harder, and 

 710 more inteUigently, come right down to it 

 (I know what ought to be done, if I could only 

 think of it soon enough) than I do? 



How would it do to furnish tach soldier of an 

 army with a copy of Mr. Abbott's instructions, 



