332 Beekeeping 



DEVELOPMENT OF THE HOME MARKET 



Too many beekeepers ship their honey as soon as it is 

 marketable to the chief honey markets. While there is 

 demand in the wholesale markets under normal market 

 conditions for all the honey that is shipped in, there are many 

 beekeepers who could dispose of their own crops and even 

 buy considerable honey from other beekeepers to sell in the 

 local markets. Of course, the retail price should be con- 

 siderably more than the wholesale price, and if the beekeeper 

 does not have other work that brings him more than the 

 retail profit he may well turn his attention to the develop- 

 ment of his home market. He will probably find that his 

 home town consumes little honey until he undertakes to 

 advertise his products, but the experience of those who have 

 tried it is that the per capita consumption of honey is easily 

 increased to many times what it was formerly. Individual 

 cases of success could easily be enumerated. If the bee- 

 keeper is in a small town it is probably known to many of 

 the inhabitants that he keeps bees and in a larger town or 

 city he can easily let this be known without much cost for 

 advertising. The consumer will have confidence in the 

 purity of the honey if it is bought directly from the producer, 

 and if the beekeeper will go from house to house letting the 

 housewives sample his honey, he will not only sell hundreds 

 of pounds at a better price than the wholesale price but will 

 provide a good food as a substitute for the cheap jams and 

 syrups so much used. 



To stimulate trade and create public comment, no better 

 advertisement can be obtained than an observatory hive 

 filled with bees. When such a hive is placed in a store 

 window, the sidewalk is often blocked with the curious. 

 Interest can be increased by giving an exhibition of handling 

 bees or of extracting honey ; the crowd will grow and people 

 who have not tasted honey for years will remember that 

 they are fond of it and will buy some. A peculiarity of honey 

 is that it is usually easier to sell the second bottle or section 



