THE BEE-KEEPERS' REVIEW. 



245 



samer« than has Mr. J. A. Buchanan, of 

 West Virginia, who coutributes the follow- 

 ing article to Gleanint,'s: 



" I believe I stated some time ago that I 

 would have a short tnlk on tiiis subject. It 

 is one that is coutiutmlly bobbing up. Art- 

 icles of interest embracing many facts and 

 some theory have been appearing in Glean- 

 ings for some time, especially the talks by 

 Mr. K. C. Aikin. It is true that bee keepers 

 who produce alfalfa, basswood, and other 

 kinds which soon granulate will ever have 

 trouble unless a way shall be discovered to 

 prevent candying. 



" NVe have handled great quantities of 

 alfalfa honey, but have given it up on ac- 

 count of its ready disposition to candy. Mr. 

 Aikin's suggestion to put up the honey in 

 small cans of 1, 3, or 5 pound sizes, and re- 

 tail or wholesale in this way. letting it candy 

 when it may, depending on the printed in- 

 structions as a means of information and 

 education whereby the consumer may learn 

 to liquefy his own honey, will do with only a 

 very few people, as I tested this very plan 

 some years ago. 



"Some four or five years ago I visited 

 grocers in different towns and cities, on the 

 hunt for bargains in honey that had been 

 put up this way which iiad stuck on their 

 hands, and, being candied, it was not 

 wanted, but looked upon with suspicion by 

 both grocer and buyers. I found in one 

 store several hundred ;J-pound cans of 

 candied white clover honey, and bought the 

 lot at ."> cents per can, and the grocer was 

 glad to get it out of the way. This honey 

 was labeled with plain directions for restor- 

 ing to the liquid form. It is surprising how 

 few persons there are who will read instruc- 

 tions in the management or use of any 

 article. 



" Some of the worst abuse I ever got in my 

 life came from retailers and customers upon 

 tinding that the honey I had sold them had 

 candied, or 'gone back to sugar,' as they 

 put it, as well as tirmly believed. We now 

 ha'dle only such grades of honey as will not 

 candy, or are very slow to do so. 



"As to the matter of taking up all jars, 

 cans, or glasses, and replacing them with 

 freshly liquefied stock, I can think of nothing 

 more distasteful than such everlasting fool- 

 ery and waste of time: not only so, but 

 worst of all, this reliqiiefying will soon de- 

 stroy both color and flavor. I have known 

 sever 1 parties who once put their honey on 

 the market in this way. I did so myself, 

 but its loo puttering a business to keep up 

 continuously. 



" In localities where the honey crop is not 

 large, bee keepers can Hnil customers for all 

 they produce with little trouble and at satis- 

 factory prices; but the case is different 

 where there are great (luantities and no good 

 demand. In this case it ap[)ears to me it 

 would be quite as well to wholesale and let 

 it fall into the hands of those who make a 

 business of handling honey by hunting up 

 consumers. By the time this class pays 

 freights, stands all losses, hears all expenses 

 of traveling, taking order-', delivering, etc.. 



he will find these slow times that his profits 

 will all be taken at any ordinary bank, if not 

 all, to defray expenses. 



' Just let every producer do his level best 

 to sell in his home market all he produces, 

 at the best price possible to obtain, going at 

 the business with a determination to sell, 

 and I am sure there will be no very large 

 quantities find their way into the hands of 

 city commission houses. 



" I have often bought bee keepers' crops of 

 honey and stepped into the towns right 

 around them, and in a few days' work have 

 doubled my mo-iey on the purchase, while 

 they all the time claimed there was no use 

 to try any more to sell honey in 'such 

 places;' but I'll admit that not all people 

 are salesmen. 



"Although we sell large quantities of 

 honey, both comb and extracted, each sea- 

 son, we never sell honey to dealers, but al- 

 together to the consumer, giving them fresh 

 honey and so good that they will not keep it 

 long enough to candy. 



" We put up no smaller packages than one 

 dollar's worth, as it does not pay to deliver a 

 less quantity at the close margin at which 

 honey may be sold these times. 



"It has always seemed a mystery to me 

 how it comes that in nearly every case we 

 are able to purchase honey of the same qual- 

 ity from commission merchants of the large 

 cities at a less price than we can buy direct 

 from the producer. Perhaps bee keepers 

 ship to cities in the hope of getting the best 

 prices, but after waiting long and anxiously 

 for returns, they advise their dealers to close 

 out at once to the best advantage, which is 

 sure to be to any other person's advantage 

 more than to that of the owner of the honey. 



" Now let everyone who can find anything 

 like a fair hom« market to go to work and 

 supply this and keep it up, which plan will 

 be found to give, in the outcome, the best 

 and most permanent satisfaction as well as 

 profit.'' 



The editor of Gleanings comments as fol- 

 lows: 



"I believe I have already said — at all 

 events I will say it now — that Mr. Buchanan 

 has proV)ably sold more honey, in a retail 

 way, and has done more in the way of de- 

 veloping local markets, thnn has «ny other 

 bee keeper in the ITnited States. He annu- 

 ally produces large crops of honey and not 

 only sells his own but sells a good many 

 others. 



" Mr. Buchanan's experience with regard 

 to candied honey, a' d replacing the same 

 with li(]ui(l, will probably not work satisfac- 

 torily with him, but Mr. Ghalon Fowls, of 

 ( )berliu, ().. has worked this plan for years 

 and considers it i)rofitMl)le. 



" I was struck oarticidnrly with one para- 

 graph where Mr. Buchanan savs he has often 

 bought bee keepers' crops of hotiey and sold 

 it right around their homes and doubled his 

 mf)ney. while they, the bee keepers, had all 

 alouL' claimed that there was no u«e trying 

 to sell honey in their markets. Granting 

 that Mr. Buchanan is a natural salesman 

 and knows the art of selling, this does not 



