Vol. XYIII. 



JUNE 15, 1890. 



No. 12. 



TERMS: 11.00 Per ANNUM. IN ADVANCE; 1 TPct+^T,l-i oTi ^/I -inn 1 Q "y Q 



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PUBLISHED SKMI-MONTHLT BY 



A. I. ROOT, MEDINA, OHIO. 



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A PLEA FOR MIDDLEMEN, ETC. 



OUK GOOD FKIEND MDTH TEI>LS US SOMETHING 

 ABOUT SELLING HONEY AT WHOLESALE. 



We have seen a number of articles in bee-jour- 

 nals in which our friends describe the manner of 

 disposing- of their honey. Home trade is advocated 

 every time. Ithasmyfull sympathy because it is the 

 least expensive, and a retail price is realized ; besides, 

 we don't need that "middleman," who is looked upon 

 with suspicion and with envy. He makes the mon- 

 ey which the producer should make (?). All of us 

 have seen and heard the expression of such senti- 

 ments. Our good friends are not aware of the ex- 

 penses of a dealer in a large city, not even of his 

 advertising bills, which are the least of his expenses. 

 When one of our friends peddles his honey from 

 house to house, and disposes of from 1000 to 10,000 

 lbs. in a season, he has certainly done a great deal, 

 and I give him due credit for his energy; but he 

 takes care of his own interests only, and he could 

 not sell another quality of honey besides his own, 

 if he would try to. Different men have different 

 dispositions, and not many could do as he did. 

 Some others have other business on hand, after the 

 honey-season is over, and are glad to sell their hon- 

 ey to an honorable dealer. He takes care of his 

 own interests also, otherwise he would not be a 

 dealer long; but with him there is no difference be- 

 tween the Canada linden honey and the American 

 basswood. It is well that this great country of 

 ours affords a living to all; with your permission, 

 Bro. Root, I shall endeavor to prove that the dealer 

 also is of some use to this world. 



The dealer can not, like some producers, peddle 

 his honey, because he buys large lots, and honey of 

 all qualities. His very existence depends on the 

 turning of his money, and he is bound to fl.nd a 



market for such qualities as come within his reach. 

 The avocation of a dealer also requires energy and 

 perseverance, and more so than many of our good 

 friends have an idea of. The sale of choice clover 

 honey has never caused us any trouble aside from 

 the desire of selling " more." But there was a time 

 when we did not know what to do with fall and 

 Southern honey. We could not dispose of it at cost, 

 and were glad to find, at last, some printing-roller 

 makers to use our dark honey. We took care of 

 buying no more than we could help. 



Next came a time when we believed that we 

 could dispose reacjily of all the honey the Southern 

 States could produce. Vanity is not our character- 

 istic, but we found that we had made a mistake 

 during a time of plenty, about five or six years ago. 

 We could not sell as fast as honey came in, by any 

 means. But It was not so much on account of the 

 larger arriva.s, but because of the slackening of 

 the demand from the custom which we had believ- 

 ed to have established. Our trade in Southern hon- 

 ey is now, perhaps, second to none in the country. 



Basswood honey is an article which we could not 

 dispose of until last winter, when our friend W. J. 

 Pickard, Kichland Center, Wis., sent us two car- 

 loads. It took quite an effort and some time to find 

 buyers. But we succeeded in selling from 80,000 to 

 100,000 lbs. of basswood honey during the winter. 

 We now hope that our supply won't give out, be- 

 cause we have established a custom for basswood 

 honey, which we are apt to keep if we can supply 

 regularly. Manufacturers are prone to make a uni- 

 form quality of goods. 



Who is not acquainted with the horrible (?) flavor 

 of the horsemint of Texas? The horsemiut honey 

 has been slandered. We had, last fall, a carload of 

 horsemint from our friend Stachelhausen, Selma, 

 Texas. For more than two months we could not 



