GLEAKINGS IN BEE CULTURE 



will grow every year; and by the fifth year 

 he can sell five times the honey on the same 

 amount of money for advertising. 



The main idea in selling goods to any 

 customer is to make it as easy as jDossible 

 to buj\ Experience has shown me that 

 "c. 0. d." and order bill of lading shipments 

 with sight draft attached, pays. This allows 

 a customer to go to the depot and examine 

 the honey where he can see that the goods 

 are all right and up to the sample sent him. 

 J find that the refusals of such shipments 

 amount to less than one per cent of all 

 orders shipped. 



My exi^erienoe has been that the best size 

 packages are 2-lb., 10-lb., and 60-lb. cans. 

 The 2-lb. cans can be used by a retailer in 

 stores, etc. ; the 10-lb. can by agents who 

 sell the hone3^ from house to house, while 

 the 60-lb. cans are suitable for families who 

 consume quite a lot of honey each year. I 

 think it is a gTeat advantage to have as few 

 grades as possible. If all grades were mix- 

 ed together, thus making a white honey, it 

 does away Avith sending samples of differ- 

 ent grades, and customers always know 

 what each shipment Avill be. 



I send out samples at 10 cts. each by the 

 thousands each year, and large sample 

 packages weighing one pound at 20 cts. 

 each to customers desiring to sell the honey 

 by sample. I also have printed rules as to 

 how I grade mj^ honej^, as follows: A wa- 

 tei'-white honey; objects can be seen for 50 

 feet through a one-inch bottle, such as man. 

 etc. Printing can be read through the same 

 bottles for white grade, etc. There is a big 

 future for the sale of first-class honey, 

 which can easily be developed if properly 

 handled, and I hope to see the day when it 

 is sold in this wav. 



Nordhoff, Cal.' 



COMPETING WITH HONEY DELIVERED FOR 

 SIX CENTS A POUND 



BY LEON C. WHEELER 



The article on page 691, Nov. 1, 1912, by 

 Frank C. Pellett, reminds me of my strug- 

 gles to develop a honey market. 1 had a 

 proposition to deal with, however, which 

 was altogether different, for my competitor 

 was selling extracted honey at 5 and 6 cts. 

 a i^ound, and was delivering it at the door. 

 T too wished to produce extracted honey; 

 but I had no desire to sell it at any such 

 price as that. Comb honey was no better, 

 as it brought from 10 to 12 cts. a pound in 

 the local markets. 



The first year I had liard sledding to sell 

 any honey at all at the price I was asking, 

 which was 8 cts. a pound for extracted. My 



competitor was selling at six, the same as 

 before, and had already established a trade. 

 His method of extracting, however, was 

 against him, for he extracted his honey just 

 as fast as it was carried in, which made it 

 rather insipid, and there was danger of its 

 spoiling entirely. Nobody thought any thing 

 of that, however, as that was the kind of 

 honey they were used to. Well, I took a 

 lot of pains to get my honey well ripened, 

 and to keep the dark honey separate from 

 ■ the light, and started out that fall to try to 

 sell it. The price was too high, and I made 

 very few sales, and those Avere mostly to 

 people who wanted a lilile ;o last them 

 until they could see the other fellow and 

 buy their supply for the winter. I suppose 

 I was criticised considerably^ as being pig- 

 gish in trying to get so much for my honey. 



I didn't have a very large amount of hon- 

 ey that 3'ear to sell, and some Avay I man- 

 aged to sell it all; but the next year there 

 was quite a lot more to dispose of, and I 

 felt some fears as to the outcome. At that 

 time I kneAv nothing of trying to sell in the 

 city. My competitor, in the meantime, had 

 boosted the price to 7 cents. He had learn- 

 ed a thing or two. I took his bluff, and 

 raised mine to 9 cents. This time I was 

 agreeably surprised to find that I could sell 

 in a good many more places than before. 

 Nearly all of those who had bought of me 

 the year before were ready to order their 

 year's supply of me that season. There 

 was lots of kicking on the price; but in 

 the end they would buy my honey. They 

 would come at me about like this: "I like 

 your honeA^ much better than Mr. N.'s, but 

 it seems to me j-our price is awful high. 

 Why is it you can't sell just as cheap as he 

 can ? " 



Ma' ansAver Avould be something like this : 



" The reason you like my honey so much 

 better than Mr. N.'s is because I leave it on 

 the hiAe to ripen, and because I take pains 

 to put up onh^ a good article. This makes 

 it more expensive to produce, and I have 

 to charge more for it. If it isn't worth the 

 tAvo extra cents I don't want you to buy it.'' 



I found a fcAv Avho preferred to take the 

 cheaper honey at the smaller figure; but the 

 good honey Avon out in most cases, until 

 to-daA' I am selling in four out of eA-ery five 

 places. My prices uoav are made according 

 to the grade, Avith the average at ten cents 

 for extracted. 



There are too many small beekeepers and 

 too small a toAvn here to make any A'ery 

 great sales of honey locally, although by 

 peddling and bringing it before the people 

 there is a chance yet to increase the trade 

 considerably. 



As time Avent on I took to foUoAving the 



