260 



AMERICAN BEE JOURNAL 



August 



ounce jar, 50 cents for a three-pound 



jar and 12'/2 cents per pound in lots 

 of 10 to 60 pounds, with price of con- 

 tainer additional. At first it looked 

 like it would be hard to make it go, 

 but go it did, and after the first few 

 months the trade has always taken 

 all that I have produced at these 

 prices. Customers have put us in 

 touch with buyers in many distant 

 localities, until we now ship to many 

 states. Since the general market 

 price has raised so much of late our 

 prices are rather low for retail fig- 

 ures at this time, but they seemed 

 high at the time they were estab- 

 lished. 



At first the local market was al- 

 most entirely supplied by John Duf- 

 ford, a comb honey producer who 

 puts his honey on the market in fine 

 shape, and always gets a fair price. 

 That our competition has not hurt 

 him is best evidenced by the fact that 

 all his crop was sold before Thanks- 

 giving day. The local market has 

 been getting better every year and 

 the people of Atlantic now consume 

 double the amount of honey they did 

 five years ago. 



Pellett's honey has been on sale in 

 eight grocery stores in Atlantic this 

 season and they sell large quantities 

 of it. It is not uncommon for some 

 of them to sell ten to twenty dollars' 

 worth in a month. I protect them in 

 their price so that they are able to 

 make about 20 per cent profit on the 

 sales, and that is not any too much 

 for handling it. If a man comes to 

 the house to get honey he pays ex- 

 actly the same price that he would 

 pay at the grocery store. As a re- 

 sult the grocers like to handle the 

 product and eight of them are able 

 to push it much better than I could 

 do personally. Various plans of ad- 

 vertising have been tried. The best 

 has been a display at the county fair 

 with a large sign "Ask Your Grocer 

 for Pellett's Honey." 



The "Every Day is Honey Day" 

 placards advertised in this paper 



H. B. MORRISON'S CAR USED 1-OR HONEY SALES 



have been used as well as the usual 

 display advertisements in the local 

 papers. Sales to grocers of sur- 

 rounding towns are beginning to re- 

 sult and present prospects indicate 

 that it would be possible to extend 

 the production of honey indefinitely 

 and sell it all either directly to the 

 consumer or through grocers in 

 western Iowa. We have developed a 

 local market for our own product so 

 far without difficulty. 



A Unique Way of Advertising 



A most unusual means of advertis- 

 ing is that of Archie Banks, of Del- 

 mar, Iowa. Banks makes a hobby of 

 electricity, and has installed a wire- 

 less station in his house. At the 

 roadside he has erected a large bul- 

 letin board on which he posts im- 

 portant news bulletins, weather fore- 

 casts, etc. Farmers driving to town 

 and tourists passing by, stop to read 

 the latest news. In order to call at- 

 tention of strangers to the board a 



ARCHIE BANKS' SIGN ACROSS THE ROAD Ai DELMAR, iO'WA. 



huge sign is stretched across the 

 road which reads: 



"Today's weather report by wire- 

 less on next curve. EAT HONEY. 

 For sale here. Archie Banks." 



The wireless service, of course, al- 

 ways attracts the attention of the 

 passer-by who wants to know the 

 latest news. The sign calls his at- 

 tention to the fact that honey is for 

 sale here, and since he has stopped 

 anyway to get the news he might as 

 well take along some honey. This 

 simple means brings enough cus- 

 tomers to the Banks' door to take all 

 the honey that his 140 colonies of 

 bees produce. Next season he in- 

 tends to increase to 200 colonies, as 

 his signs have developed a far larger 

 demand than he is at present able 

 to supply. 



While there are few beekeepers 

 who could install a wireless outfit for 

 the purpose of catching the wireless 

 messages from all parts of the world, 

 to interest their neighbors, the big 

 sign across the road could as well 

 call attention of passing tourists that 

 any beekeeper had honey for sale. 



Selling Honey at Farm Sales 



F. W. Hall, of Colo, Iowa, is a 

 large producer who frequently has a 

 crop of 40,000 pounds to dispose of. 

 He finds the farm sale to be a splen- 

 did place to find a market. At these 

 auctions a cold lunch of sandwiches 

 and coflfee is usually served to all 

 who come. Hall takes a bucket of 

 honey and at the lunch hour gives 

 everybody a spread for the buns. 

 Since at this hour there is little 

 counter attraction he makes it a 

 point to ofTer his five and ten-pound 

 pails of honey, and usually he is able 

 to dispose of a good load in this 

 manner. Aside from his time there 

 is little expense connected with this 

 method of selling. He hands out a 

 sample at the most favorable time. 

 The men are hungry and the free 

 lunch served is of the simplest kind, 

 so that honey is an acceptable addi- 

 tion. Give a hungry man biscuit and 

 honey and if he has a dollar in his 

 pocket the chances are good that he 



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