is wanted. The present market price for 

 extracted honey will not pay to produce it. 



Mr. Feiir said that sometimes one would 

 sell honey l)elow tlie marlcet price, wliicli 

 would interfere with others making sales, 

 and he thought Associations might do some- 

 thing to fix a uniform price. 



After the consideration of these topics 

 with a good detiret> of interest, and attend- 

 ing to some miscellaneous matters, it was 



Resolved, That the Secretary be, and hereby is in- 

 structed to send an abstract "of the proceedings of 

 the Association at this meeting to the publishers of 

 the AMERICAN BEE JOURNAL, and the Bee-Keepers' 

 Magazitie for publication. 



The Association then adjourned to meet 

 at Rock City. III., at 10 a. m., on the first 

 Tuesday of May, 1878. 



Rock Run, 111. T. E. Tukner, Se&y. 



Marketing Honey. 



read before the MICH. CONVENTION. 



In this sul)ject I feel that I have a duty I 

 am unable to discharge. Allow me to assert 

 that the successful display of honey is a 

 trade all by itself, scarcely inferior to the 

 production of it. 



1. AVe caiiiiot expect to succeed in this 

 branch of our pursuit, unless we can main- 

 tain a certain degree of independence in the 

 markets. 



I hope each member here will strive to 

 induce consumption, and thus create a 

 demand; but, we must recollect that the 

 object of this meeting is to learn of each 

 other how to increase production. 



We must do all we can to realize good 

 prices for our surplus product, if we wish 

 to maintain a reputation for our pursuit. 



High prices for honey promoted apicul- 

 ture from its side-issue condition to its 

 present high standard. A small mnnber of 

 specialists have done more to place bee- 

 keeping whei-e it now stands than all the 

 bee-owners combined. 



It was not extractors, Italian bees, nor 

 comb foundation, but enthusiasm, stimu- 

 lated by war prices, that did it. 



I will try to put forth my ideas of inde- 

 pendence in the honey market. I know of 

 producers who sold a part, or all of their 

 crop of bright comb honey, at from 10 to 12 

 cts. per lb. Simply because it was stored 

 in ugly boxes, unattractive and unfit for 

 market. Now, this low sale not only 

 injured the one that made it, but every 

 honey producer. 



A bee-keeper, after looking at my honey 

 boxes, said to me: "You will sell all o"f 

 your honey as fast as you can hand it out, 

 at good prices." Said I, "If my neighbor 

 stores his in a nail keg, he is going to sell 

 it, if he gets but Ic. per lb., and the pur- 

 chaser is going to eat it; and when he is full 

 of this nail-keg honey he does not want 

 mine at any price; much less at a price that 

 will pay me for putting it up in attractive 

 and convenient shape." Hence, both of us 

 producers must lose, and the nail-keg man 

 the most. AVhat we most need is uniform- 

 ity and attractiveness in our packages. I 

 believe every honey producer should be 

 prepared to ship, in neat, safe, and attract- 



ive shape, directly to the consumers or 

 retail dealers. Tliemore, because honey is 

 a product that is consumed and produced in 

 nearly every place in the civilized world. — 

 Let us protect the dealer, and remember 

 that he is an unavoidable and useful mem- 

 ber in the commercial world, and that it is 

 worth more to retail our honey to con- 

 sumers, than lie charges «s for doing it. 



Proper sizes and styles of boxes and 

 cases, readily transportable, will avoid a 

 glut in the market in one locality, and 

 scarcity in another, which is the wholesale 

 dealer's success, and the producer's ruin. 



We see in the journals such statements 

 as these: "I have no trouble to sell my 

 comb honey at 25 cts., and extracted at 20 

 cts. per lb." Then another, " Can you tell 

 me where I can find a market for my 

 honey? I ask 18 cts. for comb, and 10 cts. 

 for extracted," 



All this proves that we have no rational 

 system of storing in attractive shape, and 

 shipping this product of ours. 



I tiiink the day is close at hand, when 

 the price of lioney will be more uniform 

 through this country. Our show table is 

 well supplied with tiie means to bring about 

 such a result. 



in regard to sizes of packages, we shall 

 find that our goods are subject to the same 

 laws of trade that all others are. We must 

 store comb honey in at least 2 sizes of boxes, 

 and perhaps 1 size of section frames besides. 

 Reasonably small packages will l)e found 

 most saleable, but 1 consider the 4>4x4)^ in. 

 sections, as used by A. I. Root, too small. — 

 It shows too much tare. I believe that the 

 coming price of honey will induce con- 

 sumers to buy more than a thimble full at 

 once; and, of course, we jirefer to store in as 

 large boxes as will sell well, and ship 

 safely. Our cases for comb honey should 

 be of bright, clean wood, not holding over 

 30 lbs., and as cheaply gotten up as will 

 answer the purpose, and never make any 

 calculatio^n to have them returned. By 

 freight is* the safest and cheapest way to 

 transport lioney; and if you ship by express 

 to get your cases returned, you take extra 

 risk of smashing, and pay more for a dirty, 

 and perhaps broken cases than the original 

 cost; besides, you need a set of books to 

 Iveep track of their whereabouts. 



To sum up, does any manufacturer or 

 dealei^do Imsiness on the return-case prin- 

 ciple, except where the contents are to be 

 at once removed, and the cases kept from 

 sight, and goods sent by express, because 

 perishable (like oysters in bulk) and then 

 return case free? If soaps and candles can 

 afford a box, so can our valuable product. 



I have seen a notice of this meeting in 

 nearly every newspaper I read. If half the 

 effort that we have put forth in this direc- 

 tion could be used to help us sell our 

 extracted honey, candied, and inform the 

 public that it is pure and clean, too; and 

 that nearly all syrups and molasses are not, 

 it would vi'ork a change for the good of both 

 producers and consumers, while liquid 

 honey has probably the worst of names, as 

 regards its purity. This audience knows 

 that there is a less per cent, of adulterated 

 honey in the world than of any other com- 

 modity, possible to adulterate. 



