234 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE. 



Mar. 15 



All the recourse you have in such cases is 

 to sue, get a judgment, pay the costs, and — 

 get vour mo7tey if you can. 



The commission merchant has to make 

 some kind of returns that the courts will 

 accept, otherwise he may be criminally in- 

 dicted for breach of trust, and perhaps be 

 sent to the penitentiary. Very few among 

 the more or less dishonest men will risk go- 

 ing to the " pen." 



Selling to the grocers is, I think, the 

 most advisable course after all, at least in 

 the majority of cases. It will take some 

 time and some trouble at the beginning; 

 but after a sufficient number of good cus- 

 tomers is secured it will not take any more 

 work to ship to them than to the wholesale 

 dealers. Better not sell too much on credit 

 to any one man until you know positively he 

 is all right. Cash sales can not always be 

 secured. The grocer may not have the cash 

 at hand. In fact, the grocers have to sell 

 almost altogether on credit, and often wait 

 quite a while for their money. The result 

 is that they are frequently " hard up " for 

 cash. 



Often a grocer will not or can not buy; 

 but very often, in such cases, he will take 

 honey on commission, to be paid for when 

 sold. The commission varies from two to 

 three cents per pound. If his customers 

 like the honey, and he finds profit in selling 

 it, it is easy to make a better arrangement 

 a little later. 



The question may now be asked, whether 

 it is best to sell near home or in the large 

 cities. Many writers have insisted that the 

 home market should be developed. That is 

 all right where it can be done. The trou- 

 ble is that, in villages and small cities, the 

 specialist has to meet the competition of 

 farmers and other slipshod bee-keepers who 

 sell their honey for whatever they can get. 

 A great many writers have abused the gro- 

 cers for buying such honey, and at such 

 prices, and refusing to pay more for the 

 specialist's honey. But the grocers can't 

 help it. They can not pay you 18 cents for 

 your honey and resell it at 20 when their 

 customers know well that they can them- 

 selves buy directly from the farmers at 15 or 

 perhaps 12 cents. In large cities the farmer 

 is out of it for lack of tidiness in his arrange- 

 ments. 



The honey in a wholesale or commission 

 house has to be sold altogether on its ap- 

 pearance; hence the necessity of having 

 crates, cases, sections, grading, etc., all in 

 tiptop order. In selling directly to the gro- 

 cers the honey can be tasted, and sold on 

 its quality; and after the grocer and his 

 customers know your honey to be good they 

 will not mind if it is a little off color, or if 

 the sections are not very carefully scraped. 



In selling near home the freight is saved, 

 also the cost of cases, crates, packing, etc., 

 or at least a part of it. When sent a short 

 distance the honey can be put into any kind 

 of boxes; or if cases are used, they may be 

 returned. That means a saving of some- 

 thing like 1>2 or 2 cents a pound. 



If the crop is not large, and the apiarist 

 has nothing better to do, he can peddle the 

 honey, and put into his own pocket the two 

 or three cents per pound profit that the gro- 

 cer would have made. I say, if he has 

 nothing better to do. Generally speaking, 

 peddling is slow work. One chief reason is 

 that the majority of people keep but little 

 money at home. They buy at the grocer- 

 ies, dry -goods stores, etc., all they need on 

 credit, and pay at the end of the month or 

 any other convenient time. The result is, 

 they can not buy much for cash. Selling 

 such small quantities on credit is out of the 

 question, except with a few well-known 

 customers. The boarding-houses, hotels, 

 etc., will buy large quantities, but they do 

 not want to pay retail prices. 



But sometimes, in good seasons, the gro- 

 cers are so well supplied that they can not 

 buy, and peddling may have to be resorted 

 to. There is an advantage in peddling ex- 

 tracted honey. It can be tasted, and, if 

 found good, many people will buy at a price 

 not very much below that of comb honey, 

 and a larger profit made than could be on 

 comb honey. 



As to producing first-class honey and 

 retailing it to private customers above the 

 market price, I may say that I have not 

 succeeded very well. Very few people will 

 pay above the market price, and I have 

 found the sales too slow to be profitable, 

 and finally abandoned the scheme. 



Here comes the question of buying honey 

 and selling it to consumers. That is ped- 

 dling within the legal meaning of that 

 word, if the honey is carried from house to 

 house, and sold there and then to whoever 

 chooses to buy it. 



Peddling in Tennessee is subject to a 

 prohibitive license of several hundred dol- 

 lars, and equally heavy fines and impris- 

 onment are provided against the transgress- 

 ors of the law. However, the courts of the 

 United States have decided that a merchant 

 has a right to solicit orders, either directly 

 or by employing agents or commercial trav- 

 elers, and also to deliver the goods sold, 

 either himself or his employees. The re- 

 sult is, that a man can procure a merchant 

 license (it is only $8.00 per year here), go 

 around and take orders, and return later to 

 deliver the goods ordered. A farmer or 

 tiller of the ground (and that term includes 

 bee-keepers, poultry-raisers, etc. ) can sell 

 what he raises to whoever he pleases, with- 

 out license, even grape or blackberrj' 

 wine. 



Commercial travelers tell me that sub- 

 stantially the same laws exist in all the 

 States of the Union. The above may ex- 

 plain why Messrs. Moore, Niver, and oth- 

 ers always employ two men — one to take 

 orders, and the other following to deliver 

 the honey ordered. 



Knoxville, Tenn. 



[This is an excellent article, and as it 

 covers the ground so thoroughly we expect 

 to have it struck off in pamphlet form. — Ed.] 



