

\ 





GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTUllE. 



Oct. 



f ,V> or. I«fhifik tht*y stiould say what quality and what 

 /N p^kdge britf2> the best price. I speak particularly 

 ^^ «5\f c~xtractfi(fch(7fiey. Rambler. 



W' Vf ^ ^jifnad trouble in the beginning, because 

 we.rhhunfred to everybody's man, and too largely. 

 '*^aJ^'^ e special commission men, and ship to them 

 only what they think they can readily sell at our 

 fie-uns. The great trouble with commission men 

 is, that they get overstocked before they know it. 



Dadant & Son. 

 We have had some deal with commission men, 

 and so far we have no reason to complain. We sent 

 four barrels of houey to a firm in Milwaukee. I 

 told them to take all the time they wanted to sell, 

 and do the best they could to get a good price. They 

 held it about four months, then sold at good fig- 

 ures, and paid promptly. We sell most of our 

 blackberries through commission men, and so far I 

 have had no trouble or reason to find fault with 

 them. E. France. 



We learn to know men best when doing business 

 with them. There are very respectable commis- 

 sion merchants, and* there are scoundrels among 

 them, the same as there are among any other class, 

 of men. Bee-keepers as a class, are, in my estima- 

 tion, if not superior at least on a level with any oth- 

 er class I know; yet there are scoundrels among 

 them. Don't let us run down a respectable calling, 

 because there are black sheep among all flocks. 

 Don't let bee-keepers be guided by flattering offers, 

 but let them end* avor to deal with honorable men. 



C. F. Muth. 



More satisfactory than otherwise. One firm or- 

 dered a little on trial. It sold at a great big price. 

 With the returns the statement was made that 

 they could sell large quantities of it at the same 

 figure; but when the larger lot arrived they could 

 hardly sell at all, even at a low figure, although 

 quotations were about the same all the way 

 through. Reports of light weight were made in 

 some cases, where I knew it must be a mistake. 

 When I have named a price below which they must 

 not sell, and asked them, on receipt of the goods, to 

 acknowledge the goods and name the price set, 

 they have uniformly refused to name the limit of 

 price, so they can sell as they please; and I heard 

 one of them laugh at the idea of the owner setting 

 the price, as if the merchant did not know best 

 what it ought to bring. R.Wilkin. 



a. No; b. Commission men are the same as other 

 folks— good, honest, and otherwise. I have found 

 it more satisfactory to ship to one making a special- 

 ty of honey than to one handling every kind of 

 produce, as they better know what it should sell 

 for. In one instance the past season I sent a small 

 lot to a party for trial. They were not regular deal- 

 ers in honey. They sold a part for four cents per 

 lb., which, of course, was not satisfactory. A few 

 years ago I sent a large consignment to a man in 

 New York, doing a large mixed business. After 

 waiting six months I was obliged to have him turn 

 it over to a regular honey-dealer, who disposed of 

 it in a few daj s. S. I. Freeborn. 



In some cases my transactions with commission 

 men have been unfavorable; but as a whole, quite 

 satisfactory. I believe it might be better if there 

 were some arrangement whereby the consignor 

 could know if he wished whether the commission 

 man made honest returns. I knew of one man who 



reported always the name of the person or persons 

 to whom sales were made; but it may be this could 

 not be made to work satisfactorily. Some commis- 

 sion men make a practice of erasing all marks that 

 show by whom the honey is produced, and seem to 

 fear having the producer and the retailer known to 

 each other. I think it might be better for commis- 

 sion men and all if no attempt at secrecy were 

 made. C. C. Miller. 



As a whole, it has. Three years ago I shipped hon- 

 ey to fifteen different commission firms in almost 

 as many different cities. In comparing the returns, 

 I decided that all had dealt fairly and honestly with 

 me. While commission men have sometimes sold 

 my honey too low, as I thought, I have no reason to 

 suspect dishonesty in any of my dealings with 

 them. 1 was always careful, though, never to ship 

 honey to a firm that I did not know to be in good 

 standing. We would not trust every stranger who 

 came along and wanted to buy of us on credit, and 

 we should exercise the same care in sending honey 

 or other produce, to be sold on commission. The 

 past two years I have bought considerable honey of 

 commission men, and this dealing on both sides has 

 but the more firmly convinced me of the foregoing. 



J. A. Green. 



I have had [some most satisfactory deals with 

 commission men. I know that they are not all 

 rogues. I know that many times they find it im- 

 possible to dispose of our goods at the price we 

 hold them to, and ofttimes at any price. There are 

 a good many terribly weak-minded men in the bee- 

 business. Some of them think their goods are the 

 most salable in the world, which is not the case by 

 any means. Commission men are good for the 

 country. They fill an avenue in the commercial 

 world which no other class of business men can. 

 We should not expect human nature to work as 

 well for others as it works for itself. It is not best 

 it should. If all men were as willing to serve other 

 people as to serve themselves, the wealth of the 

 world would pile up into fewer hands much faster 

 than it does. The inspiration of ownership is a 

 grand element in human nature. He will sell goods 

 quickest who owns the goods. The ownership of 

 happy homes'is a grand thing. Everyman should 

 own his home; then we shall have a country of pa- 

 triots. James Heddon. 



My experience with commission men has been 

 entirely satisfactory. They have let me entirely 

 alone, and I have let them entirely alone. My larg- 

 est shipment of honey came out thus: A family in 

 Columbus heard of my honey and wanted some. A 

 lady friend, who was a customer of mine, having 

 put the bee in their ear, I earnestly advised that 

 they buy in the Columbus market— as, if they paid 

 a little more, it would be more than balanced by 

 freedom from risk and worry. My advice was with- 

 out avail. Our mutual lady friend devisedlthe plan 

 of having a^well soldered tin trunk made, and filled 

 with sections. Then, you see, if the honey was bro- 

 ken somewhat it would be in there any way. Well, 

 in the course of time the trunk arrived. It had 

 been opened on the route. Some of the sections 

 were gone altogether, and the rest, in its broken 

 condition, was not an attractive sight, I judge. 

 While honey in glassed cases may/ be broken in 

 transportation, I suppose that, when packed so as 

 to be out of sight, it is pretty sure to be. 



E- E. Hasty. 



