140 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE. 



Feb. 15. 



'■ Your honey looks nice and clear, but it won't 

 stay so." 



" But if it candies I'l] change with you next 

 time I come around." 



" Don't want the nasty sticky stuff around 

 anyhow; leaking and sizzling down the side, 

 and daubing up my shelves." 



" But I tell you my honey xooii't sizzle down 

 the side, and I'll prove it if you'll take only a 

 little to try the goods." 



" It will be little if any, and that won't pay to 

 bother with." 



" But I expect to convince you that my goods 

 are clean to handle, of superior quality, neat, 

 and attractive, and a good seller; and you will 

 soon have a good trade in my honey, which will 

 be profitable." 



" Well. I would try half a dozen, but you ask 

 too much." 



"None too much when you consider the qual- 

 ity, and that I warrant you against all loss." 



After more " palaver" he took half a dozen, 

 and since that has been a regular customer— in 

 fact, he won't buy of any one else, and often 

 handles thirty or forty dollars' worth in a sea- 

 son. 



Once, after leaving him a stock of honey, I 

 called on his competitor next door, only to find 

 I could not sell him any, as he had a few cans 

 on hand he had bought of some other party, 

 that were candied. 



A month later, when I called on Mr. A. I 

 found the honey had been selling well, and he 

 took some more. Calling next door on Mr. B. I 

 suggested that he would now be ready to take 

 some honey; but he said: 



"No. Mr. Fowls, you see I've got this candied 

 stuff yet, and I want to get rid of this first. " 



" Well, it doesn't seem to sell. Yott seem to 

 have just about what you had a month ago." 



"Well, no; it doesn't sell; it doesn't look 

 nice, and people don't want honey unless it 

 does look nice." 



" Perhaps the people don't know what it is. 

 I see it's not labeled." 



"Fact! the most of them think it's horserad- 

 ish." 



'• Well, I guess you'll have to melt it up, to 

 sell it." 



" Haven't got the time. I should be stiVe to 

 make a muss, get it burned, or sotnething. Let 

 me trade it for some of yours." 



"No, I couldn't do that, Mr. B. It's not as 

 good as mine; and if I should sell it again it 

 would hurt ray trade." 



"Oh! but you could dispose of it somewhere; 

 and I will try your honey, and you will be mak- 

 ing money out of me." 



" No, sir, Mr. B. When you handle my goods 

 you will make a much larger profit than I do. 

 8ee here; I think I can give you a pointer. 

 Last month when I came around I sold a stock 

 to your neighbor, Mr. A. You would not take 

 any, but said, ' Wait till I dispose of this can- 



died honey first.' Well, since then Mr. A. has 

 made $2.00 clear profit on my honey. If you 

 take my honey, you are the one that will be 

 making money. Why haven't you made any 

 thing on honey the last month? You didn't 

 have honey that would sell." 



"Ha, ha! I'll give up; bring in a couple of 

 dozen and we'll try it." 



I often do quite a little talking to get people 

 to try my honey; but after I get a customer I 

 can usually keep him. 



If a man does not buy the first time, I keep 

 coming till he does. If he happens to have a 

 stock of honey bought of some one else, I do 

 not pick a flaw in it; on the contrary, I praise 

 the good points; and if there are any bad ones, 

 the grocer will usually mention them himself 

 on seeing my sample in comparison. I never 

 run down a competitor's goods, even if they 

 are inferior, and " farmers' honey " nearly al- 

 ways is. 



I sell quite a little to boarding-houses and 

 families in my own town. I sell small packages 

 of honey the same size the grocers sell, at the 

 same price; but larger quantities I sell cheaper. 

 I called on a mechanic in his shop one day, and, 

 producing my sample, proceeded to strike him 

 for a trade. He at once refused, saying some- 

 thing to this effect: 



"No, I never use it; have not bought any 

 for years." 



" But your family— wouldn't they like it?" 



"Oh! they might, likely enough; but we can't 

 afford it; and as long as they are satisfied with 

 the cheap sugar syrup, I can't afford honey." 



" Well, Mr. H., I'll admit honey can't com- 

 pete with sugar, simply for sweetening pur- 

 poses; but it's the //(('I'or I want to sell you; and 

 I think I could convince you that honey is as 

 cheap as sugar when you take that into consid- 

 eration." 



" Well, you'll have a hard time convincing 

 me." 



" I think I heard you speak of buckwheat 

 flour being high. I suppose you have buck- 

 wheat cakes at your house these mornings?" 



" Yes, sir; there's nothing equal to buckwheat 

 cakes, made the old-fashioned way with yeast." 



"And you like the flavor of those cakes so 

 well that you pay nearly three times the price 

 of wheat flour to get them !" 



" Well, I'll acknowledge the corn, Mr. Fowls; 

 but if I'm extravagant with my cakes I ought 

 to be careful what I put on them." 



"So I suppose you put on granulated-sugar 

 syrup." 



"Yes; and the children want them just 

 swimming in it too; but it's cheap.'' 



" Mr. H., let me suggest that it would cost no 

 more to put just a little of this fine-flavored 

 honey around on top of them than it would to 

 have it just swimming in sugar syrup." 



" Well, you call at my house when yon come 

 around with the honey, and we'll try it." 



