THE AMERICAN APICULTURIST. 



103 



Now a few words about the re- 

 tail price : My judguieiit, based 

 upon ex|)erience, is that comb 

 honey, in small sections, siionld re- 

 tail from fifteen to twenty-live cents 

 per pound, de[)ending u[)on its 

 quality and <>eneral condition, and 

 not upon the weight or size of the 

 pacivage. Dark honey should re- 

 tail at from lifteen to eighteen 

 cents, and white honey at from 

 twenty to twenty-five cents per 

 pound, and the one-pound, one and 

 one-half pound, and two- pouncl sec- 

 tions should be sold at the same 

 price per [)ound, and let consumers 

 tal<e their choice. To me it seems 

 Avroug to ask more per pound for 

 the one-pound section than for 

 larger sizes. My observation is 

 that the consumers are willing, in 

 man}' cases, to pay as much per 

 pound for a two-pound section as 

 for the smaller sizes, and that it is 

 econoni}' for them to do so. Honey- 

 producers are to blame for encour- 

 aging the present difTerence in 

 price, and should tolerate it no 

 longer. 



As the foregoing relates entirely 

 to my plan of supplying consumers 

 with lioney by producers, and 

 through their home markets, I will 

 now say a few words about distant 

 markets and the large cities : 

 These should and must be likewise 

 supplied with honey, but none, save 

 the actual surplus, after the home 

 markets have been provided for, as 

 herein indicated, should be sent to 

 these markets. And this surplus 

 should not, as in the past, be sent 

 to the present class of commission 

 houses, but to honey- houses owned, 

 leased, or controlled by an associ- 

 ation of honey-producers. Each 

 honey-house should then sup|)ly the 

 grocers, or retail agents, throughout 

 the city of its location, in precisely 

 the same way that the producer 

 supplies his home markets, so that 

 the system shall be uniform and 

 harmonious everywhere. 



The honey-house should be strict- 



ly a wholesale supi)ly house, and 

 shoidd have, as its manager, a 

 coin[)etent and financially respon- 

 sible agent of a honey-in-odncers' 

 association. The honey-house 

 should have travelling agents, and 

 enough to supply pro[)erly the req- 

 uisite numl)er of responsible gro- 

 cers, or retail agents, in the city 

 of its location, every month in the 

 year, and likewise one or more to 

 visit other markets in the state, or 

 territory tributary thereto, to see 

 that none are neglected. This plan 

 would perhaps do away with the 

 necessity of having more than one 

 wholesale supply house in any one 

 state. It seems to me there sliould 

 be such a hone^'-house in each of 

 the following cities, to wit : 8an 

 Francisco, Denver, Kansas City, 

 Omaha, Minneapolis, St. Louis, 

 Chicago, Detroit, Indianapolis, 

 Cincinnati, New York, Philadel- 

 phia, and perhaps a few other large 

 cities. 



And now, says one, how are the 

 managers of these supply houses 

 to be paid ? Simply b}^ and through 

 a [)roper conunission on the honey 

 sold by and through their retail 

 agents. This would require two 

 commissions in order to reach 

 consumers. 



But, sa3's one, I thought j'ou 

 were opposed to commission men, 

 and that j'ou proposed to get rid 

 of them altogether. By no means ; 

 for in order to carry out my [)ro- 

 grannne successfully, commission 

 men are necessary, and besides I 

 have never advocated their de- 

 struction. All I have ever pro- 

 posed or desired to do was simply 

 to stop patronizing the se(/"-ap- 

 pointed commission men who now 

 sell our honey at wholesale, and 

 who have had in the past, and still 

 have at present, a great deal to do 

 in fixing and manipulating the 

 price of it. 



M3' position is, that the produ- 

 cers are the proper parties to fix 

 the price on honey to consumers, 



