1070 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE. 



Sept. 1 



only the one line, remains yet to be successful- 

 ly demonstrated. Successful bottlers of honey 

 are aided largely by jobbing houses, such as 

 wholesale grocers, where traveling men carry a 

 large variety of samples. 



Within the last decade I have seen a number of 

 bottlers of honey apparently establish a large and 

 successful business, but there seemed to be a turn- 

 ing-point where the business died down as fast as 

 it had built up. The reason was that they at- 

 tempted to increase their profits by decreasing the 

 quality, and the public will not stand it. When 

 bottlers begin putting up honey that is unfit for 

 table use they are doing a great injury to the 

 business, and yet it seems that the temptation is 

 almost irresistible with many, and the successful 

 bottlers of honey can be counted on the fingers 

 of one hand to-day. 



Consumers are willing to try a new brand of 

 honey; and if it is good, and has merit, they will 

 call for more; if inferior, they are not likely to 

 want any more honey at all. 



Indianapolis, Ind., July 28. 



[If one does only a honey-bottling business and 

 buys all his honey, the chances are he will fail; 

 but if he isabee-iceeper and produces a large part 

 of the honey he bottles, he will have a fair chance 

 of success, providing, of course, he is something 

 of a salesman and is careful to get no bad ac- 

 counts. Our correspondent has given some very 

 helpful hints from a ripe experience. Some of 

 his sayings are bright and pithy, to say the least. 

 —Ed.] 



SELLING HONEY IN MASON JARS. 



How to Retail Honey in Cities; a Form of 



Advertising where the Results 



are Immediate. 



BY H. H. ROOT. 



On page 562, May 1, Mr. M. D. Tyler, of Se- 

 ville, Ohio, was referred to as a veteran honey- 

 salesman, and he is indeed a veteran, for his ex- 

 perience began more than half a century ago. 

 The secret ot his success is his natural ability to 

 win sales. He says, " I never saw a thing yet 

 that I couldn't sell." Any man can sell any 

 thing to a purchaser who is eager to buy; but it 

 takes a good salesman and a good talker to sell 

 an article where it is not wanted. Mr. Tyler 

 will make a man who thought he did not like 

 honey wonder how he ever got along without it. 



If a bee-keeper sells his honey to grocers, he 

 will be very shortsighted indeed if he turnsaround 

 and peddles more honey among the grocers' own 

 customers; but there are many who do their own 

 retailing in order to get a better price. After a 

 retail business is established, much less" talking" 

 is required to keep it going; but a glimpse of 

 some of Mr. Tyler's methods may help some one 

 to make a start. 



In the first place, all of the extracted honey is 

 put up in one-quart Mason jars, and sold for 50 

 cents each. This makes the selling price practi- 

 cally 15 cents a pounds, allowing 5 cents for the 

 jar. For extracted honey, that is, of course, very 

 good; but it must be remembered that the travel- 

 ing expenses must be deducted, so that the amount 

 finally received would not be so much more than 



a good average price. If a customer wishes a 

 quantity of honey he is given eleven quarts for 

 $5.00. 



In the wagon shown in the engraving Mr. Ty- 

 ler travels and carries his honey. He has recent- 

 ly purchased a new wagon that is larger than this 

 first one, though made on the same plan. The 

 carrying-box is divided into an upper and lower 

 part, the floor of the latter being movable to make 

 it more convenient to reach the jars. The upper 

 half is divided into rows to prevent breakage. 



Mr. Tyler visits all of the neighboring towns 

 and cities, but makes no effort to sell in the 

 country, for he has found that the little he could 

 dispose of in that way would not pay him for the 

 longer time taken. Neither does he try to sell 

 any honey at the houses in the towns and cities. 

 When asked why, he said, "Well, it takes the 

 women folks so long to decide whether they want 



M. D. TYLER, OF SEVILLE, OHIO, A BORN HONEY- 



SALFSMAN. 



any; and if they do buy some, they take only 

 one jar, and then send me down town to their 

 husbands for the money, so I just go to the men 

 in the first place. I like to deal with them bet- 

 ter, anyway." 



He stops at every shop and store, with the ex- 

 ception, possibly, of the groceries, and begins to 

 talk whenever he can get a crowd around him, 

 for he has found that he invariably makes sales 

 when he can get into an argument. He explains 

 how the honey is extracted, tells about the bees, 

 and gets his hearers so interested that they soon 

 begin to want some honey. When one sale is 

 made, others follow quickly. He says that he 

 talks fifteen minutes sometimes before trying to 



