692 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE 



Apiary of American hives beloiigiii. 



1\ Kithter, Pottenstein, Austria. 



PURE EXTRACTED HONEY 

 Gathered by Cass County Bees from 

 Cass County flowers, 

 expressly for 

 Stier Grocery Co., 

 Atlantic. 

 A label somewhat similar was pasted on 

 each jar. No one was placed in charge 

 of the exhibit to take orders; but the sec- 

 retary of the commercial club, who had 

 general charge of all the exhibits, re- 

 marked that this exhibit attracted more 

 attention than any thing else in his charge. 

 As a result of this advertising the sales 

 increased so much that the honey we had 

 put up and regarded as sufficient to last 

 the trade until near the holidays was sold 

 within a month. Many new customers are 

 added every month, and this season's crop 

 bids fair to be sold through one grocery 

 before Christmas. Four years ago we could 

 not sell one-fourth as much through six 

 or seven stores in the same length of tim.e. 

 Instead of having to ship honey to the 

 central markets, or having it a drug on the 

 market at unprofitable jnices as formerly, 

 the local stores now take all the honey pro- 

 duced by the several beekeepers in this 

 locality at profitable prices, and ship in 

 honey from abroad to supply the demand 

 long before the new crop comes in. I have 

 not sold comb honey for less than 15 cents 



per jDound for three years, although I will 

 not produce any hereafter. I get 121/0 

 cents jier pound for the extracted and the 

 grocer furnishes the containers. The re- 

 tail price is 30 cents each for pint and 

 50 cents for quart jars. I think that Mr. 

 Dufford has found an equal advance in the 

 demand for his comb honey, though he has 

 used somewhat difl'erent methods to in- 

 crease the sales. 



There is no doubt in my mind but that 

 the demand can easily be created for far 

 more honey than is now produced, which 

 can have but one result — higher prices and 

 readier sales. It is an easy matter to cre- 

 ate a market at one's own door if only a 

 little ingenuity be used in calling attention 

 to the product, putting it up in attractive 

 packages, and delivering a uniform qual- 

 ity. The same priiicii^les api^ly to other 

 produce. This season there was an enor- 

 mous stock of plums in western Iowa, and 

 thousands of bushels rotted on the ground. 

 We sold ours readily by packing them in 

 small baskets similar to those that the finest 

 western fruit is retailed in. At the same 

 time, fine plums in ordinary half-bushel 

 market baskets were rotting in the same 

 store not ten feet away. One great secret 

 of successful marketing lies in putting your 

 product in a package that will look at- 

 tractive to the buyer, and at the same 



