66 



AMERICAN BEE JOURNAL 



Feb. 1, 1900. 



honey, much depends upon the location and environments 

 of the producer. With the specialist the difference is not so 

 very great, but with the man who has a few colonies (there 

 are many ;c such) in connection with other business, the 

 choice between producing comb or extracted hone}' has to 

 be made not so much on the ground of actual cost, but of 

 ability to produce one or the other, and what can be gotten 

 out of it. If I am so situated that I cannot give attention 

 at proper times to get marketable comb honey, then my in- 

 ability makes it expensive to nie ; but that matters not in 

 the general production as a business. Honey-production as 

 a bushiess will not find the difference in cost so great as in- 

 dicated by prevailing price. 



i — : To produce as a business, and to sell on the general 

 markets, the choosing which we will produce is not a ques- 

 tion of any great difference in the cost of producing, but of 

 what it will bring after produced. I prefer to produce comb 

 honey, it is much nicer and cleaner work ; but laying aside 

 my preferences, and looking at the matter in a business 

 light, it depends upon circumstances, which I choose. 



The first thing to do is to look the field over and see 

 where and how the product is to be marketed, consider 

 whether you can market by wagon or from the honey-house, 

 or if freight must be paid and how much; whether your 

 customers use honey as a luxury or as a common sweet, and 

 never forget their ability to buy, whether luxuries or neces- 

 sities only. 



My home customers are not those who use many lux- 

 uries—they buy honey as a table sweet for general family 

 use ; do not want and will not buy much honey if it costs 

 more than other good syrups. Comb honey sells in a lim- 

 ited way only, and at not to exceed 10 cents per section 

 (pound) at retail. Were I producing rami honey for my 

 local market, and to make a living out of it, it would be a 

 slim living indeed that would come out of 10-cent honey. 

 I can, however, make a living selling extracted at 6 to 7 cts. 



I figure this way : If I produce for the home market it 

 must be extracted, 'and that goes right along when the 

 price is 6 cents for the bare honey (it is more this winter) ; 

 thus the people can bring their own vessels and get it at 

 about the same cost as sugar. If I sent the same honey to 

 Chicago or Kansas City (my nearest general wholesale 

 markets), the package, freights and drayage, etc., would 

 cost me about 2 cents, and leave me about 4 cents for the 

 honey — I would get about 6 cents there, usually. 



If I am to ship out my honey instead of selling at home, 

 I should produce comb. No. 1 comb would bring me some- 

 where about 10 cents in Chicago (remember I am talking 

 about the general average one year with another, and not 

 this year), the freight and package costing me about 3 

 cents. Thus, you see to ship my crop I would get .some- 

 thing like 4 cents for extracted and 7 for comb, while to sell 

 at home I would get about 6 for extracted, and sell enough 

 to make a living out of it, whereas I would get about 10 

 cents for comb, and sell but little of it. 



There are no doubt locations where one in well-to-do 

 communities could sell quite a stock of comb honey ; but 

 there is this difficulty among the wealthy and such as buy 

 luxuries, they buy a little nice comb, fruits and a great 

 variety of things, so that because of the great variety the 

 honey gets to be a trifling amount. If the customers are 

 laborers or wage earners, and buy for every day use, one 

 such customer is worth a dozen of the more wealthy who 

 buy a little of everything. 



We must, then, look at the matter squarely as a busi- 

 ness proposition, not blindly but understandingly, then de- 

 cide what we will produce. If your field is large, and the 

 supply so limited that the demand will take all you can pro- 

 duce, go into comb honey. A wealthy community will take 

 comb most likely rather than extracted, but you will need a 

 greater number of families from which to get your custo- 

 mers. If the field is limited, and you must draw your trade 

 from the middle and lower classes, then produce extracted, 

 and make it supplant other sweets. Make customers out of 

 your neighbors, supplying them a sweet as good and cheap 

 as they have been buying elsewhere, then you have a trade 

 that is worth much to any producer, a trade that is more to 

 be depended upon than is the trade in luxuries. 



Analyze intelligently the things to contend with, then 

 go ahead, and once started on the right track keep right 

 after it. The man who has been in a field for several years 

 and carefully studied all the conditions, can discount some 

 new competitor, in so far as knowledge goes. A competitor 

 having a big advantage in the way of capital may discount 

 one of limited means, but, other things being equal, the man 

 who goes at a thing and stays right by it thru thick and 

 thin, is the one who succeeds. Larimer Co., Colo. 



The Home Market and Unflnisht Sections. 



BY JESSE M. DONAi:,DSON. 



AS I have received many valuable hints from articles 

 written on this subject, I will give an experience that I 

 had, from which I learned a lesson that may benefit , 

 others who, like m3'.self, sell their honey around home. 



My surplus is from white clover and raspberries. Buck- 

 wheat is not grown here, so my customers are not used to 

 that kind of honey. Last year a man came thru this dis- 

 trict selling buckwheat honey. It was a nice grade of comb 

 honey, put up in cartons ; he was selling it very cheap, and 

 disposed of quite a large quantity. Some of my customers 

 did not forget to call my attention to the difference in his 

 price and mine. One of them told me he would ruin my 

 trade. 



I did not pay much attention to their remarks, as my 

 crop was all sold, and I could not understand how he could 

 hurt my trade, as he was selling buckwheat honey, and 

 mine is from clover. But I soon learned my mistake, when 

 I began selling my honey the past fall. One of the first 

 houses I called at, I showed the lady a jar of extracted 

 honey, telling her the price of the same. She said, " Our 

 folks don't like strained honey. We always get ours in the 

 comb." 



Then I showed her a nice, well-filled section. After ex- 

 amining it, she said, "Well, that looks nice, and it is well 

 filled, but we bought some last year that lookt nice, and we 

 could not eat it." 



I knew it would be useless for me to have her tiy the 

 extracted honey, then explain to her that it was the same 

 quality, so I past on to the next house. One of my regular 

 customers lived there, so I made a sale. 



But I had gone down the street onlj' a short distance, 

 when I received almost the same story as I did at the first 

 house. This set me thinking. How could I overcome these 

 arguments? I thought if I could let them sample the comb 

 honey, the same as I do with extracted, all would be well. 



I was only three blocks away from home, so I went 

 back and got some of my unfinisht sections. I cut the 

 honey out of one of them, placing it on a plate. I called at 

 the same houses, and askt the ladies to sample my honey. 

 The result was ready sales. I have used this plan since 

 then, and I find it a great help, even when calling on my 

 regular customers. When you give them a taste of honey 

 (good honey) it seems to create a desire for more. 



I suppose some will say that I could have used those 

 sections for baits (just what I did do) to a much better ad- 

 vantage, so I will explain how I sort my comb honey. 



I have my regular customers, and I believe in giving 

 good measure, so I place in one pile all sections that are 

 well filled and capt — they are for saje. Those that have 

 nice, even combs, but are not well filled, I extract, and use 

 for bait sections. Any section with uneven comb, or not 

 built out full, I use on my own table. This is the kind I 

 used to bait my prospective customers. 



Speaking of bait sections, I see quite a number report 

 trouble in getting them cleaned up. I had the same trouble 

 until I hit on a plan that has always given me the desired 

 results. Instead of leaving the sections in the super, I first 

 uncap them, then I turn back one corner of the enamel 

 cloth and place an empty hive-body on the hive. Then I 

 fill the body with sections, placing them in any way so the 

 bees can have access to all. It seems to me that the bees 

 realize that sections placed on the hive this way are not 

 accessible for winter stores. Worcester Co., Mass. 



Migratopy Bee-Keeping- — Its Advantages and 

 Disadvantages Pointed Out. 



BY W. Z. HUTCHINSON. 



MY father lives in an adjoining county, where there is 

 an abundance of boneset and goldenrod. One year a 

 younger brother, who had not left home, came to my 

 place early in August and carried home with him 20 colo- 

 nies of bees. An upper story filled with empty combs was 

 placed over each colony, and the top covered with wirecloth. 

 A hay-rack was covered with hay to the depth of two feet, 

 the hives set on the hay, and held together in a bunch by 

 passing a rope around them. The journey of 25 miles was 

 made without mishap. Those 20 colonies furnisht 400 

 pounds of surplus, and, besides, they needed no feeding for 

 winter, while the bees kept at home stored no surplus, and 

 each colony required feeding about IS pounds on an aver- 



