1887 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE. 



lo 



ox(iuisitu fragrance anrt taste, with heavy rich 

 liody, weigliing- about Iw lbs. to the {iaiioii, iiuike it a 

 favorite among- epicures, and is sought lor in our 

 home markets above all others." 



During- the past 17 years bee-keeping- has been 

 my principal business, ha\ing' now ;!0() colonies. 



Karina, III. T. P. Andrews. 



We are sorry that friend A. did not take 

 time to explain a little more. That honey- 

 house with the wire cloth over the window 

 fronting the audience— we want to know 

 what is inside of it. Also that big wlieel- 

 barrow with two hives loaded on it. and 

 with very great big whopping wheels that 

 look like palm-leaf hats. IIo'w do you like 

 the arrangement, friend A.? llow far apart 

 are the hives? and don't the bees get in the 

 wrong hives more or less, when you have 

 them' so close togetlier. and such long rows? 

 I think you can tell us a little more about it 

 in our next issue. 



MARKETING EXTRACTED HONEY. 



Something About the Right Man Eor Selling 

 Honey. 



EXCELLENT SUGGESTIONS FROM E. FRANCE. 



^\ AlSIN(i large quantities of extracted honey is 



Of one thing; but when it comes to sell, and get 



'Ek paying- prices for the hone}', I confess we are 



\ not master of the situation. Still, we manage 



to get rid of all the honey we raise, although 



we have HO barrels yet of this year's crop on hand. 



Until the year 18S4 our home market took all we 

 had, except a little sold to a fCAV neighboring- towns. 

 In 1884 we secured 31,27(5 lbs. of honey. The ques- 

 tion was, whether we could sell all that honey. To 

 make the matter still worse, three other honey- 

 producers had sprung up, with an aggregate 

 amount of 1.5,000 lbs. of honey to sell, and they were 

 all looking to our home market to dispose of their 

 crops. This would take a big slice off from my 

 home trade. AN'e were, in consequence, compelled 

 to look up some other market. Wo put an adver- 

 tisement in Gleanings, which brought an order 

 from Messrs. Thurber, Whyland & Co., of New York. 

 We sold them 21 barrels, and obtained cash for it, 

 at SVi cents. We got several other customers, some 

 of whom are still buying of us, to sell again. 

 sharks, and what to do avith them. 



We also had an (n-der for 12 barrels, from f!. W. 

 House, of Manlius, N. Y. We sent him the honey, 

 and he cheated us oiU of our pay. liut we got rid 

 of the honey all the same. My the way, I have 

 learned we are not the only ones whom he cheated 

 out of their honey. Still, he has no propertj — poor 

 fellow! I am very sorry for him. He is worse off 

 than most of the parties who sold him their honey, 

 and I should think that, by this time, he has learn- 

 ed that gambling and bad whisky are a bad combi- 

 nation. Now, the upshot of this is, when one of 

 our number gets caught we ought to " squeal " loud 

 enough so that every honey-producer in the coun- 

 try can hear it. Then the rest of us will lookout 

 and not get caught. 



I bought a lOOit-mile ticket on theBt. Paul railroad, 

 and took a trip out through Iowa, stopping over at 

 almost e\ery village. T sold honey to grocerymeu, 

 hotel-keepers, and others, to use and sell again. In 

 that way we managed to w<n-k off the crop, besides 



starting a trade with several pai-tics who are still 

 dealing with us. 



In 1885we had something o\er;!0,(K)U lbs. of honei ; 

 l)ut with the trade that we had worked up the year 

 before, we worked it off without much trouble. 



This year, 188t), we secured 42,489 lbs. of honf-i-, 

 with prices fully one cent lower than last year. 

 But we have the honey, and have to take the mar- 

 ket, so 1 purchased another lOUOmile ticket; took 

 another trip west through Wisconsin out into Min- 

 nesota, stoi)iiing along- as before, and selling in al- 

 most all the towns 1 visited. I went out to St. Paul 

 and Minneapolis, and on as far as St. Cloud, Minn., 

 then returned over another road. I was gone about 

 four weeks. I sold a good deal of honey, but still we 

 have 30 barrels yet to sell, and there is quite a long 

 time yet before another crop will be harvested. I 

 think we can work it off by that time. 



selling honey, and how to do it; the rh;ht 

 man to sell. 



We have sold a large quantity of honey to grocery- 

 men and store-keepers, to sell again; but we find 

 that the grocery men are not the best men to sell 

 honey— that is, extracted honey— in kegs and bar- 

 rels. Thej' won't push the sale of it. There are 

 very few of them who will keep it in sight, or make 

 much effort to sell. If their customei's call for it 

 they will sell. We find that, if some good honest 

 person, one who is respected by his own town-folks, 

 and who can take time to make a special business 

 of selling- honey, will go to every house, show the 

 honej', either by sample or sell it as he goes, and 

 work up a trade, supply everybody who will buj', he 

 is the man to sell honey. INIany small bee-keepers 

 who don't raise enough to supi)ly their own home 

 market are good men to sell honey, as their town- 

 folks will look to them for honey. There are a 

 great many towns which do not, as a rule, use hon- 

 ey to any extent, but would use thousands of 

 pounds every year if we could find the right kind of 

 a man living in the town to sell the honey. I be- 

 lieve nearly every town or village of any impor- 

 tance has the right man or person to make a good 

 salesman, and one covild build up a good ti-adein 

 honey, make money for themselves, and help to 

 work off' our big crops. Ikit the trouble is to find 

 the one to do the selling; and when they are found, 

 they are not store-keepers, as a rule, although the 

 store-keeper is better than no one. 



1 have a little story to tell, to illustrate this point: 

 I have been in the habit for some years of going 

 once a year around a circuit that took two or three 

 days, and would strike Ave or six fine villages, to 

 sell honey, selling mostly to store-keepers at whole- 

 sale rates, and they retail at a profit. The flrst 

 year they would make some effort to sell, and 

 would sell considerable. The next year their sales 

 would be less, and less every year. About half way 

 round my circuit was the town of S., of about 2.t00 

 population. The first year my man thci-e (a store- 

 keeper) sold 8(HI lbs., and sold less every year, until 

 last year he sold only loo lbs. Now. I made up my 

 mind that I could do better. My wife wanted to 

 take a ride out through the country, and so we 

 loaded up 1000 lbs. of honey in our big spring cover- 

 ed wagon, and started out to go around the circuit, 

 and do our own retailing. The first day we worked 

 two small towns and sohl 70(1 lbs., and drove to the 

 town of S. We got there just at dark, too late to do 

 any peddling, so we put up for the night at a hotel. 



