GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE 



Christchurch offices of the shipping firm of Mongomery & Co., who handle 

 the honey for the N. F. B. Association of New Zealand. 



let him ask me about the kind, quality, con- 

 dition, and price, which I promptly tell 

 him; but if he is somewhat reticent I do 

 the most of the talking, exijlaining the 

 kind, quality, condition, price, and terms of 

 sale. In this way I seldom fail to land an 

 order for future delivery. 



I always sell on future delivery, for sev- 

 eral reasons. First, if I have the honej' 

 with me for immediate delivery I never can 

 make as good a sale as I can on future de- 

 livery. Second, if I have the honey with 

 me for immediate delivery, and I fail to 

 make a sale, I take too much of a risk get- 

 ting it damaged by having to haul it home 

 again. 



I remember going into a store one time 

 where the proprietor was not known to me, 

 and every one connected with the store was 

 busy. I had been in the store a few min- 

 utes when a friend and acquaintance came 

 in and began to jolly me by wanting to 

 know wliat I was doing in that part of 

 town. I told that my business that day 

 was selling honej'. 



" Oh! you keep bees, do you? " he said. 



I told him I did. Then he began to ask 

 questions about bees and honey. I answer- 

 ed his questions, and explained my way of 

 producing honey. Before I got through, 

 five or six others had come in and had join- 

 ed in the conversation. Finally the propri- 

 etor became curious to know what it was all 

 about ; so he came up and listened until he 

 found who the bee and honey man was. 

 Then he asked me if I had any honey to 

 sell. Certainly I had. Would I bring liim 



a case next time T 

 came to town? Yes, 

 I would. Thus I got 

 his order Avithout tell- 

 ing him the object of 

 my visit. 



When I go into a 

 store where I am ac- 

 quainted with the pro- 

 prietor, and it is at 

 the opening of the sea- 

 son, and I have sold 

 him lioney before, I 

 simply ask him, "How 

 is the honey busi- 

 ness?" He usually asks 

 about the kind, qual- 

 ity, and price, which 

 I tell him, and I usu- 

 ally get his order. I 

 never try to j^ersuade 

 a dealer to take a case 

 of honey against his 

 will or judgment. 



My honey is all stor- 

 ed in one-jjound sec- 

 tion boxes, and I market in glass-front sin- 

 gle-tier shipping cases. These cases I leave 

 with the dealer until he has all the honey 

 sold out, when I take them back and refill 

 them. 



In preparing my honey for market I 

 scrape the gum or propolis off as well as 

 possible, and grade it carefully according 

 to weight, color, and quality. I also make 

 it a iDoint to deliver at the appointed time. 

 My 1912 crop of honey was sold prac- 

 tically without any solicitations. In fact, a 

 large part of the orders came voluntarily 

 by telephone. And this reminds me how I 

 have taken orders bj' telephone in the past. 

 If I decide to sell honey by telephone I call 

 up a dealer who knows what I have ; and 

 when I get liim on the line I say to him, 

 '' This is Doerr, the honey-man. How about 

 bringing you a case of honey to-day ? " 



If he is out of honey, or his stock is low, 

 he will say, " Bring me in a case." If he is 

 not quite ready for it he will say so, and 

 name a time for delivery of the honey. 



I fird it a great advantage in making a 

 sale of honey to take out part of the pay 

 in trade, as already stated. I can make 

 sales based on that sort of terms when oth- 

 erwise I could not sell at all. If a man asks 

 me to take out all my pay in trade I decline 

 to sell, saying that he does not handle every- 

 thing I need, and must have cash to get 

 them at other places. This statement al- 

 most always wins him, and I get his order 

 according to my own terms. 



I also make it a point to advise a dealer 

 how best to take care of the honey and how 



