THE BEE-KEEPERS' REVIEW 



267 



we make no gain at all in learning- 

 how to sell our honey. We just bundle 

 it off to some city commission house, 

 and it goes in as honey — without any 

 attention whatever being paid to the 

 care in production. The city market 

 becomes glutted — down goes the price. 

 Oh! You all know the old story. 



HOW THE "slop" HONEY CAME OUT 



Only last year one of the near-by 

 bee-keepers brought in twenty cases of 

 'slop' honey, that is, not up to the 

 mark; poorly scraped, travel-stained, 

 crooked combs, culls mixed in with 

 the best, faced with the finest next to 

 the glass front, and all that sort of 

 thing. He requested me to 'just send 

 it along in with mine, as there wasn't 

 enough to make a separate shipment.' 

 I declined to do so, and showed him 

 how to mark it, and report shipment, 

 to a well known commission house in 

 New York. Then I hurried out an 

 equal number of cases of my most 

 fancy honey to the same house. Both 

 went on the same train, but when the 

 returns came back, he had the laugh 

 on me for his honey sold for the high- 

 est price!'''' "Just like holding out your 

 wallet and telling them to take what 

 they please, and return the rest," said 

 Barrows. 



Here I chipped in: "The big guns 

 in the bee papers say cultivate your 

 home market. ' ' 



"Cultivate your Granny," said 

 Porter Morton contemptuously. "When 

 one of our own members advertises in 

 our local papers 'twenty pounds of 

 honey for a dollar, — if you want a 

 dollar's worth drop me a postal card,' 

 I suppose you would 'cultivate' by 

 advertising twenty-five pounds for a 

 dollar." 



COGGSHALL PROPOSES THAT NIVER GO 

 OUT AS A DRUMMER. 



H ere Coggshall c ame out of a brown 

 study, and, turning to me, said: "Now 



why don't you pack up a case of sam- 

 ples and go down to the Anthracite 

 coal regions and drum the retail groc- 

 ery trade in their cities? You would 

 have no local competition, for bees can 

 not make honey out of coal slack, and 

 there is nothing else down there. They 

 must get their honey in New York and 

 Philadelphia; and it is likely to be 

 our honey sent from here right through 

 that region, clear to New York, and 

 then sent over half way back again. 

 Extra freight, cartage and commis- 

 sions have to be taken out of either the 

 producer or consumer. You can cut 

 corners enough to leave a good margin. 

 You are just the one to go, for you are 

 wed to the drummer's life, while any 

 of the rest of us would become home- 

 sick the first day. I'll bet that plan 

 is a winner." 



WHAT ABOUT EXPENSES? 



After a silence of several minutes, 

 Morton asked: "What would be the 

 railroad fare, hotel bills, Niver's sal- 

 ary, bad debts, and perhaps many 

 other expenses we don't think of now? 

 How much would it amount to per 

 pound of honey?" A few estimates 

 showed these necessary expenses to be 

 too great for the crop of honey there in 

 Morton's honey-house. 



Mr. Barrows said "It might not 

 pa}' this year, but next year it would 

 not cost so much, and I will come into 

 the venture, win or lose." 



Porter said: "Count me in, and 

 also count on George and Harvey (two 

 more Mortons) but don't pass the 

 word around very far, or you will 

 have too big a job on your hands." 



That was the way the "Miles Mor- 

 ton Honey Company" was started; and 

 it succeeded nicely the first j'ear, bet- 

 ter the second j'ear, and has never 

 failed a single year. Of the twelve 

 members, four have joined the great 

 majority in the higher life, two gave 

 up bee-keeping on account of failing 

 health; Coggshall purchased some ouf 



