pained more rapidlJ^ The neifilibors, on 

 se*^in<r the honey in niarl^et, will say: — 

 " That lioiiey is very fine. I got some from 

 head quarters, and I find it to be excellent." 



Conversinfi; with a member of this associ- 

 ation, a year a,<io, on this subject, bereaiark- 

 ed: " 1 will tell you what we can do with 

 our honey, if we cannot find other market 

 for it, we can load it into our wa<?ons, and 

 sell it to the farmers. The farmers have a 

 remarkable taste for honey." 1 find this to 

 be true. Many farmers come to me, "with 

 measures of ditferent sizes, to get honey for 

 their winter supply. Some say, that they 

 find that extracted honey agrees with theiu 

 so well; others think it so very nice to take 

 with warm biscuits. Every bee-keeper 

 should avail himself of the opportunity to 

 dispose of extracted honey in this way. — 

 There are many ways in which he may do 

 this. He should ever be ready to show its 

 superior qualities; give the method of 

 extracting it from the comb, and explain 

 wherein it differs from strained honey. — 

 This requires some patience. 



Sometimes customers remark: "Ah! — 

 Strained honey." I say: "No sir; not 

 strained, but extracted honey," showing 

 them the difference. I find it a good plan 

 to always have a little strained honey, so 

 that the customer may see the difference for 

 himself. 



The farmer who keeps bees will find it to 

 his advantage to trade honey for work, and 

 other necessaries on the farm. Thus, when 

 he goes to the blacksnnth shop, he should 

 see if his blacksmith does not wish extract- 

 ed lioiiey in exchange for work. lie will, 

 almost invariably; and soon the farmer will 

 find the blacksniith in his debt Instead of 

 the reverse. The same is true with a good 

 many others who depend on mechanical 

 labor for a living. If they can pay for 

 honey in work, they will feel able to furn- 

 ish their table with it, while if they had 

 to pay cash, they would feel too jioor to 

 afford it. There are a great many things 

 that a farmer can trade for, in this way, 

 that would cost him the casli, and at the 

 same time work off his extracted honey. I 

 have tried this repeatedly and find that it 

 pays well. 



Use every means to bring your lioney to 

 the notice of the people. I think it a plan 

 well worth adopting, to put a few ounces of 

 fine extracted honey in wide-necked bottles 

 and distribute it gratis in your nearest 

 market. I find it a very good plan to put it 

 in the grocery stores to be sold on commis- 

 sion, describing to the grocer its real merits. 

 In fact, give him something of a training, 

 so that he may have a fair knowledge both 

 of bees and honey. A man, to be a success- 

 ful honey dealer, should have a knowledge 

 of bee-keeping, take the Bee Journal, be 

 posted in regard to the ixiney crop, know 

 how honey is made, and if there is really 

 any chance for the bee-keeper to humbug 

 customers. 



In putting extracted honey on the market, 

 the bee-keeper should control it. To do 

 this, put a few, fine, sample bottles in the 

 windows, and on the counters of the stores, 

 where people may see and examine them. 



It is best not to crowd too much upon the 

 grocer at a time, but leave small quantities, 

 with the understanding that if any candies 

 it will be replaced by fresh bottles. I have 

 tried this in Adrian, Northville, Plymouth 

 and Detroit; and grocers say that" almost 



invariably where a customer uses one 

 bottle, he returns for the secoiul, and thus, 

 after the demand is created, it will increase; 

 and the supply should be kept uji tJuough 

 every month in the year. 1 find that our 

 home demand has been quite good in every 

 month, except April, in Avhich nuiple syrup 

 seems to takes its place. 



The demand for comb honey is greater, 

 and tience, so nuich skill is not necessary 

 in marketing it. But even in this, many 

 mistakes are made; one of the greatest 

 arising from the undue anxiety of bee- 

 keepers to make large consignments. This 

 has been the cause of the low price of 

 honey during the present season, while in 

 reality there has been a scarcity of good 

 honey. It has been shipped to "the large 

 cities, glutting the markets, while the 

 smaller towns have been meagrely supplied. 

 Last season, there was a large surplus in 

 Detroit. The wholesale and commission 

 houses were overstocked, which resulted in 

 the honey being stored in damp places 

 where it absorbed moisture and foul gasses, 

 and in that condition it has, this fall, been 

 ott'ered to the public. In the month of 

 October, I found, in Detroit, that fully half 

 of the honey offered to the public was old, 

 and invariably in bad condition. The 

 honey had leaked over the boxes, and much 

 had candied in the comb. One day, while 

 passing the central market, 1 noticed two, 

 of the four stalls selling honev, were retail- 

 ing old honey, at 22 cts. I was informed, 

 by the man selling it, that it was fine, white 

 honey, and had 1 not known better, I might 

 have believed him. So long as people are 

 thus deceived, it is not strange that there is 

 no greater demand for honey, for when a 

 customer has a piece that resembles tallow 

 more than honey, it will last him a year. 



Amongst dealers some very erroneous 

 ideas prevail that should be corrected, lu 

 Detroit they have a theory that the bee- 

 keepers feed sugar, and the bees carry it up 

 and store it in the boxes, which every bee- 

 keeper knows can not be done with profit. 

 Still, all the arguments 1 could produce 

 would not convince to the contrary. They 

 say, they know it is done; that bee-keepers 

 come down from Sanilac and Lapeer coun- 

 ties and purchase sugar by the barrel, to 

 feed their bees. I wish brother bee-keepers 

 of these counties would clear this up. I 

 think there is no work that this convention 

 can do that will be of more importance to 

 the fraternity than to devise some means 

 for preventing honey from being kept over 

 in the wholesale houses. It not only 

 lessens the deuuind and lowers the price in 

 Detroit and other large cities, but the local 

 markets are effected in proportion. 



The honey market, in every locality, can 

 be greatly increased by building up a repu- 

 tation for honey. 



When I went to Northville, two years ago, 

 one of the grocers there told me that he had 

 sold over .300 lbs. the year before, and so far 

 as I could learn, that was about the amount 

 that had been used in the town and country 

 around. But last year our home market 

 required over 1,000 lbs., and this year, over 

 1,500 tbs. 



This has been done in a town of only 1,000 

 iidiabitants. If Detroit, and every other 

 town in the state, would use honey at the 

 same rate, I thiidc there would be a demand 

 for more bee-keepers, and we might always 

 be sure of finding a ready , market, and a 



