102 



THE AMERICAN APIGULTURIST. 



liaiulling honey, and having been 

 satisfactorily snccessful in "con- 

 trolling tlie price" of it, I will iit 

 once proceed to outline briefly my 

 ideas of how to do it, and how oth- 

 ers may do likewise. The plan is 

 so very simple and practical, so it 

 seems to me, that it should be 

 readily understood by others even 

 though it be not indorsed. It is as 

 follows ; To fix the price myself and 

 sell onl3' to consumers. 



But, says one, that may do with 

 a small crop of honey, but how 

 would you manage with a large 

 crop — one that you could not pos- 

 sibly dispose of at retail, and 

 through your own individual ef- 

 forts? In that case I would fix the 

 price myself and sell to consumers 

 through retail agents, and pay the 

 agents a liberal commission for 

 handling the honey and collecting 

 the pay for it. But, says one, why 

 not sell the honey outright to re- 

 tail and wholesale dealers? Sim- 

 ply because that plan delegates to 

 others the right to fix the price on 

 honey to both dealers and consu- 

 mers. When dealers hay hone}' it 

 then becomes their pro})erty, and 

 .they then have the legal right to 

 sell to others at cost, or at any 

 other price they please. Not so by 

 m}' plan. 



Now let me illustrate ni}' plan 

 mo)-e fully, and as follows: Suj)- 

 pose I have, say 1,000 jwuuds of 

 comb honey in small sections. As 

 soon as the honey is secured, say 

 in Jul}', I would select perhaps five 

 responsible grocers having a good 

 trade, and as near my apiary as 

 possible, and supply each of them 

 with one crate of honey — about 

 twenty- five pounds at a time, and 

 no moie. This would perliai)s l)e 

 enough honey for the month of 

 July. 



In August, or as soon as sold, 

 I would supply the same grocers 

 with the same amount of iiouey, 

 and thus continue from month to 

 month, or from time to time, until 



all is sold. This would perhaps 

 cover a period of eight months, as 

 each grocer, or retail agent, should 

 sell, on an average, at least one 

 ciate of honey per month. 



A crop of 2,000 pounds could 

 thus be disposed of, and during the 

 same length of time, by and 

 through ten agents, and a still 

 larger crop by having a propor- 

 tionate number of retail agents. 

 But my experience teaches me that 

 honey should be kept on sale, and 

 in sight, every month in the year; 

 that more or less honey is wanted 

 by consumers all the while, and 

 that any grocer, worthy of the 

 name, can get rid of at least one 

 crate of honey during each month. 

 This being the case, the average 

 grocer should be able to sell not 

 less than 300 pounds per year. By 

 dividing the crop of honey in 

 pounds l)y 300, this would give 

 very nearly the number of retail 

 agents necessary to dispose of any 

 size crop the pioducer may have, 

 in case lie is willing to cover each 

 month of the year. 



Now about the pay : This may 

 be collected at the close of each 

 month, or as soon as each crate of 

 honey is sold. By this means the 

 producer runs no heav}' risk in liav- 

 ing his honey disposed of through 

 retail agents. In case of un as- 

 signment, or bankruptcy', on the 

 part of the agent, the honey on hand 

 and unsold at the time belongs 

 to the producer, and he has the 

 power to remove it at his pleasure. 



Wliat about the commission for 

 selling the honey and collecting tlie 

 pay? The retail agent should iiave 

 a libeial commission, so as to se- 

 cure his hearty cooperation. As 

 he has, however, no cash invested 

 in the honey, a liberal and satis- 

 factory couimission to both parlies 

 would perhaps be from ten to^twen- 

 ty per cent on tiie retail i)rice. 

 I can find plenty of retail agents 

 who would be satisfied with ten 

 per cent net connnission. 



