254 



THE AMERICAN BEE KEEPER. 



September 



After a little conversation as to the 

 fruit, I told him I had brought some 

 honey to town and would like to 

 have him look at it. I took a case of 

 comb honey from the buggy and plac- 

 ed it near him where it could be in- 

 spected. The honey through the glass 

 looked tempting. I removed the cov- 

 er and took out a few boxes for his 

 inspection. He said he had never seen 

 any neater honey than that and it 

 was well put up. Three or four towns- 

 men came up and looked at the honey. 

 He asked me what I was selling it at. 

 I told him 15c per puund. He said 

 he had no fault to find with the honey 

 but when honey had to be retailed at 

 over 12 or 15c it was slow selling in 

 their town. 



I informed him that in other towns 

 I was selling at 15c and no complaint. 

 He declined to take any. I then had 

 him sample the extracted. He thought 

 it fine. I gave him the price saying 

 that no one should find fault with the 

 price he could sell this at, but ray ef- 

 forts with him were apparently in vain. 

 Right here I wish to say that, in 

 this town, those new in the extracting 

 business had, years before, taken un- 

 ripe honey from their bees and sold 

 it, which had nearly ruined the sale 

 of honey in this form, as it fermented, 

 and was not fit to sell as honey. 



I next called at grocery No. 2. 

 Finding them busy, I waited until 

 they had a little leisure. 1 noticed an 

 old case containing perhaps 25 one- 

 pound sections, all daubed with pro- 

 polis, sections and combs dark, look- 

 ing as if they had been in use many 

 years. The combs were only partially 

 filled with honey and of course not 

 capped. At a leisure moment I made 

 my business known, and I secured 



their permission to bring in a case of 

 my hoT>cy, It was viewed through 

 the glass readily. I removed the cov- 

 er and took out some of the boxes for 

 their inspection. The honey suited 

 them. My price was asked and given. 

 " We have some comb honey over 

 here," showing that first noticed by 

 me on entering their store. I asked 

 who produced it and learned that he 

 was an old friend, and a man of intel- 

 ligence quite above the average. I 

 knew him to be, as the reader knows 

 well, not made for a bee keeper. At 

 first I sold them one case of the honey. 

 I stated that I should not be in with 

 honey that season again, and would 

 think they could readily sell more, 

 but that they were to be the judges in 

 that matter. They took one more 

 case, thinking also that they could do 

 so. As they had a supply of extract- 

 ed, I made no sale, but let them sam- 

 ple my own. The price was 15 cents 

 per pound for the two cases. I left 

 with the encouragement of probable 

 future sales. 



The next grocery was visited, and 

 1 found it unsupplied with honey ; 

 so I effected a small sale of comb and 

 extracted, and shall try to supply that 

 store with honey in the future, if I 

 am so fortunate as to get a crop of 

 honey. 



A few cans of the extracted were 

 sold before leaving town, to private 

 parties, for home use. 



Where I have made sales of any 

 consequence of extracted honey at 

 the stores, I have not retailed ; but if 

 no honey could be sold at the stores, 

 I have felt free to retail it in any 

 such town either in or out of the 

 comb. The results of the day in sell- 

 ing honey were limited but the start 

 had been made in opening up what 

 may prove to be a fair market for 

 honey near home at fair prices. 

 Milledgeville, 111. 



