1908 



GLEANINCS IN BEK CUI/rURK. 



1069 



SELLING HONEY, AND 

 THE VALUE OF COM- 

 PETITION. 



Some Bright Sayings from 

 One Who Has been There. 



BY WALTER S. POUDER. 



A very large crop of finest qual- 

 ity of honey has been secured this 

 year, and the demand has never 

 been better. The bee-keeper is not 

 a master of his art till he has learn- 

 ed to market his crop successful- 

 ly, and I fear that quite a few 

 have overlooked the possibilities of 

 establishing a home market, for ev- 

 erybody nowadays is willing to 

 buy a pail or case of honey, espe- 

 cially if he can secure it from the 

 man behind the bees. When the 

 people once learn where a good ar- 

 ticle can be secured they will not 

 only call for the goods but they 

 will tell their friends and neighbors 

 about it One very important de- 

 tail is to have the goods always 

 on hand ready to supply those who 



FIG. 5. — HOW MR. ASPINWALL SLIPS THE BEE-SPACING STRIP 

 IN THE END WITHOUT KILLING BEES. 

 By referring to Fig. 3 one will see that the spaces between the sides of the su- 

 pers are closed by means of strips of wood nailed on to the side panels, and which 

 at the same time answer the purpose of a sort of railway track on which the supers 

 may be slid on and off. When one super is clear over, the other spaces at the ends 



are closed up with an end strip or stop. If there were any bees in the way they 

 would be pushed out. 



call; and as honey is in demand the year round it is 



never necessary to sacrifice the price to hurry off 

 the crop as soon as harvested. Many bee-keep- 

 ers have a demand for honey which exceeds their 

 supply, and are buying good honey in the open 

 market with which to supply their patrons, and 



FIG. 4. — MANNER OF PRYING THE ASPINWALL SUPERS APART. 



Mr. Aspinwall uses a hive-tool of his own invention which is very similar to 

 the Root steel tool. Tne end is bent over in the shape of a hoe, and sharpened to 

 a scraping edge. In separating the supers Mr. Aspinwall uses the tool in the man- 

 ner here shown. The open spaces in the panels make this particularly easy. 



such men are a great benefit to the fraternity be- 

 cause they aid in relieving an overstocked market. 

 The bee-keeper is the best-qualified man in all 

 the world to act as a honey-salesman, because he 

 is prepared at all times to meet any argument 

 that may be brought before him. If he is steady, 

 and adheres strictly to handling best 

 grades of honey, his business oppor- 

 tunity is almost unlimited. When 

 business begins to come his way, 

 about the first thing to worry him 

 will be the discovery of a competitor 

 in his field. This, however, should 

 not worry him at all; for the more 

 the business is agitated the greater 

 will be the demand; and any success- 

 ful business must have its competi- 

 tion and its imitators. Why, even 

 our wiener-wurst peddler on the 

 street corner, a man with a heavy 

 bass voice, discovered a competitor 

 across the street with almost no voice 

 at all, and every time the strong man 

 shouted "Wiener-wurst, red hot," 

 the weak man with the tenor voice 

 would cry out, "Same here!" 



This is a great country, and there 

 is plenty of room for all; but if your 

 competitor tries to increase his prof- 

 its by putting out inferior honey, or 

 if he spends his time in trying to 

 build up his goods by belittling 

 yours, he is simply uncoiling a rope 

 with which to hang himself. 



In looking over the past it can be 

 seen that the most successful honey- 

 salesmen are those who sell direct to 

 consumers. Selling bottled honey 

 to the grocery trade seems to be a 

 side line that has fallen into the 

 hands of supply-dealers. Whether a 

 bottler of honey can pay traveling 

 expenses and hotel bills, and handle 



