204 



THE AMERICAN BEE KEEPER. 



July 



inducement for capalists to start pack- 

 ing-houses, depots, or honey head- 

 quarters in every city, so that when 

 we have honey to sell, we should have 

 a place to put it. Let me illustrate 

 this : I am supposed to be writing this 

 in Colorado ; but I am really writing 

 it in Iowa. Well, Iowa is a corn, hog 

 and cattle country. There are here 

 always corn, hogs and cattle ; and 

 since these things are always here, 

 and in al)undance, there are always 

 places to market them. Buyers ride 

 the country hunting up the products. 

 In Colorado where I live, wheat is the 

 main product, and hogs are scarce. 

 Well, Colorado has its wheat-elevators 

 everywhere, so there is always a place 

 to put wheat; but if you want to mar- 

 ket a hog you must hunt a buyer. 

 Now don't you see the point? Our 

 honey is always hunting a market, like 

 the Colorado hog. 



Since, then, we do not produce in 

 quantities that will cause the market 

 to come to us, we must take measures 

 to help it to come. We can organize 

 in some way that we may have mar- 

 ket-places that take our honey, put it 

 into suitable shape and find customers. 

 There is all the work of "introducing 

 our goods," that the small producer 

 can not do; but if it were packed in 

 regular cases and weights, so that the 

 traveling salesmen can represent the 

 goods and take orders just as they do 

 for other lines, honey might be sold 

 sa as to make a demand that we know 

 nothing about now. Thousands upon 

 thousands who never eat honey would 

 do so if it were to be had as conven- 

 iently as maple syrup. I see no rea- 

 son why honey may not be put up in 

 cheap cans as fruit is now put up. 

 Put up in this way it might go into 

 the homes of the poor people who 

 never see honey. We have been 



working the fancy trade by the use 

 of glass and other expensive packages 

 at such prices that it must be a luxury, 

 w^hile the poor people and laborers 

 have been left out. 



There is yet the question of honey 

 candying, local markets, etc., that will 

 receive attention in our next article. 



Loveland, Col. 



[This, I am free to say, is one of 

 the best articles we have received this 

 season. It discusses this very impor- 

 tant subject of marketing extracted 

 honey, not in the old stereotyped ways,, 

 but on lines that are both sensible and 

 feasible, and I hope every reader will 

 take pains to peruse it carefully. 



Before discussing some of the points 

 I would state that friend Aikin, either 

 because of error in figuring or because 

 he had got hold of an old catalogue, 

 has put the price of retail honey- 

 packages too high. The Ponder and 

 Muth jars, in lots of 100, cost a little 

 over 3 cts., instead of 4, as Mr. A. has 

 it. Then there are some other re- 

 ductions that should be made on the 

 other figures. Square cans, in ten 

 box lots, cost about i cent per lb. for 

 the honey, not including freight, and 

 the same can be shipped from Chicago, 

 St. Louis or New Orleans. Two-thirds 

 of a cent per lb. , including the freight 

 from a locality in Central Colorado, 

 would not be very far from correct. 

 But very few would have to pay such 

 freight. 



I grant that the self-sealing honey- 

 packages seem rather expensive; but 

 they are designed for a fancy city 

 trade. Some of the self-sealing de- 

 vices are patented, and that makes the 

 packages expensive. Perhaps the 

 most popular honey-package is the 

 Mason jar. The 3 lb. size (1 quart) 

 in gross lots,' costs about 1\ cts. per' 

 lb., and the consumer rarely objects 

 to the expense of this jar, because it 

 has an intrinsic value in every house- 

 hold. In the case of any other pack- 

 age, with the possible exception of 

 the jelly-tumblers, the package itself 

 is -of no particular value after the 

 honey is out of it. 



