188Ci 



CJLEANIKGS IN BEE CL'LTLJllE. 



701 



tiave joy, peace, and rest, which the world can not 

 j^lve noi- take awaj-. 



Thanks, sister C, tor youi- kind sympathy. It is 

 true, I am alone a g:reat deal of the time. It is now 

 near 10 p. M., and I have not seen a human being- 

 to-day, which is often the case, but I am not lonely. 

 I miss the sweet companionship of husband, daugh- 

 ter, and mother, all of whom crossed over to the 

 " ever green shore " within two and one-half years 

 of time. But the assurance that they are safe and 

 happy, free from care and sorrow, is a wonderful 

 comfort to me. A few more days, if faithful, f shall 

 join them, never to be sepai-ated. 



I am glad you like me, for indeed I do appreciate 

 it, and must say, in return, I like all the sisters, and 

 have a kindred feeling for the brethren too. 

 Strange, isn't ity 



I see you are a little disposed, like the editor, to 

 make fun of that maple-sugar feeding. He said 1 

 "fed it with a vengeance." I do not think he had any 

 idea how much I fed— just guessed at it. I will tell 

 you, and you can keep still about it. To begin with, 

 my bees were not like Pharaoh's lean cattle; they 

 did not need much fattcnina. I bought only 50 lbs. 

 in cakes; had 28 colonies of bees, so you see it did 

 not average 2 lbs. to the colony. Frost killed the 

 fruit-bloom, so there was no honey, and that "maple 

 ,si((jfa?' " carried them over to the white-clover flow, 

 and there was enough taken off, when the surplus- 

 boxes were put on, to furnish the three children all 

 the maple sugar they wanted, all summer. 



Hilliard, Ohio, Sept. 23, 188."). Jennik Ci'i.p. 



GRADING HONEY FOR MARKET. 



I)()(',S IT PAV TO HE STRICTI.V UOXKST IN SELF.- 

 rX(i ITONKVy 



\ VEKV thing you say on that subject (fiagc 602) 

 is true. 1 do not doubt that corn story. As 

 it pays to have a perfect article, it also pays 

 to have the superior and inferior by them- 

 selves, with prices to suit. This leads me to 

 tell how I market my honey successfully. Spring- 

 field, Ills., is my principal market. Methods of 

 marketing there, and here near liome, are different. 

 There, customers expect to pay what is asked them, 

 and they take fluctuation in prices as a matter of 

 course. But here, if 1 sell at a certain price one 

 year, I find it very hard to ever rise above it. For 

 that reason T have endeavored to keep the home 

 price at 1.5 cents in any quantity. In doing that I 

 am perpetually accosted with, " Why, I got honey 

 last year for 12'/2 cents." Some who always like a 

 choice article pay me my price without a word; but, 

 how shall I suit the other class? Thus: I always 

 put choice grades on exposition in Springfield. 

 Two of the best merchants there are now selling 

 for me on commission. JNIy honey generally excels, 

 and is never excelled by any lots that ever go there. 

 Consequently my honey always gets the highest 

 price. If mine will not sell, none will. I have 

 learned this by e.\perience, and I know it is so. My 

 honey is now bringing IS to 20 cents retail, which is 

 3 to 5 cents higher than other section honey is sell- 

 ing. Both these men have refused honey that thej' 

 could get on better terms, in order to handle mine. 

 Col. W. is the choicest dealer in the city. His cus- 

 tomers know that they often i)ay him higher prices 

 tlu\n they would have to pay elsewliere; but they 

 also know that they always get a flrst-class article 



fi-om him. Well, the colonel has, at times, turned 



] off several lots of honey, hoping that I would come 



along. About a month ago, when I stepped into 



his store for the first time this year, a conversation 



I followed, part of which is in substance as follows: 



" Colonel, do you want to handle some honey V" 

 1 " Why, yes, if it is nice. What is the (juality of 

 the honey? as nice as in previous years'?" 

 "Yes, sir; fully as nice." 

 i " What do you want for it? " 



" Oh! well, about 1(5 cents per pound. " 

 "Why, you are a little high, aren't you? There 

 was a man in here the otlier day, who said he would 

 ' bring in a sample of section honey that he offers at 

 I 12''2 cents." 



\ "Well, I do not want to sell mine at that yet 

 I awhile." 



" Well, I should like to handle someof your honey, 

 but thej' are selling it all around here at 15 ets." 



"Will you sell some for me on 10 per cent com- 

 mission?" 

 " Yes." 



"Then I will send in a case ne.xt Tuesday." 

 1 sent in the case of honey, and he put the price 

 at 20 ets. per lb. 1 do not know whether that man 

 brought his sample of honey or not; but when I 

 was in three weeks later, the colonel had not bought 

 any of it. 



There: do you sefe it? But, what about that cull 

 honey? Why, when everybody objects to my regu- 

 lar home price, 1 tell them about said cull honey, 

 and, " Come and look at it." If they are a little 

 slow to do so, I take it to them and say, " Here is 

 some honey as good as any; but you see it does not 

 look as nice as the other; this bo.x is crooked; that 

 , one is bulged; this one is not all sealed over; that 

 one is pretty dark; it does not market very well. 

 You may have it at 13 cents." I always sell that 

 honey to some one. The quantity of this inferior 

 article is surprisingly snuiU. Yes, all you say about 

 J grading is true. But there is another thing comes 

 I in here, which I want to talk about, although I am 

 I making this letter longer than I intended. Will you 

 please indulge me? It is this: 



BK A MAN OF VOIK WOISD— UE HONEST. 



I At our dinner-table not long ago the dealing of 

 1 certain men came up in conversation. A farmer 

 j near here sold a lot of cattle, to be delivered on a 

 I certain day. He turned them on to a freshly blos- 

 soming clover-field the day before, in order to make 

 I them weigh heavy, and in violation of contract too. 

 It would have been bad enough if no such stii)ula- 

 I tion had been made. He on other occasions had 

 been guilty of like tricks. 1 immediately exclaimed 

 I just what I felt— I would not have men think such 

 j things of me for all the fortunes I could make by it. 

 I I am not alone in this nuitter. There is one man in 

 Springfield I like to deal with largely on that ac- 

 count. Once when 1 was settling up Avith him he 

 said, " That jar of extracted honey weighed 22 lbs." 

 " You are surely wrong, Mr. Wright. It weighed 

 only 20 lbs. on my scale." 



"Well," said he, "now since you mention it, when 

 I sold it I weighed it with a dipper in. I remember 

 now of taking it out afterward. 1 did not notice 

 what I was doing at the time." 



I could easily have made 25 ets. i>y remaining si- 

 lent, and he would never have known that 1 knew 

 he was wrong; but, bless your heart I /would. My 

 conscience would not have let me forget it. That 

 is not all ; I think Mr. Wright knows he can trust me. 



