June 10, 1902. 



AMERICAN BEE JOURNAL 



389 



used to ship our honey to St. Louis on the steamboats on 

 the Mississippi in the river boats, and we didn't ko alcitij;-, 

 and could not understand why our honey should .irrive 

 broken. After three or four years of more or less failinir, I 

 went down with some honey, and found out that those liifj, 

 stronff darkies — those roust-abouts didn't think that it was 

 worth while for two men to take hold, and one man took the 

 whole thinp on his shoulder and dropped it down when he 

 pot to the place where it was to be deposited, and usually 

 broke every comb ; that is all the good the handles did. 



Mr. Purple — Mr. Dadant didn't make it heavy enou^jh. 

 If made like Mr. Moore said, two or three hundred pounds, 

 they could not then pick it up in that way ; it would take 

 two men to pick that up. 



Mr. Johansen — I want to know more about the starters 

 in the sections. If the sections are filled with starter.s all 

 through, wouldn't that be damaged by the sealing of the 

 honey ; would that be pleasant for the persons who cat it, 

 if they found wax right in the middle of that section ? Has 

 any one had experience in that line ? 



Dr. Miller — I might say in answer to that, for a great 

 many years I have filled sections almost literally full— a 

 foundation starter at top and bottom, a little more than half 

 an inch wide at the bottom, and the starter from the top 

 coming down so they almost meet, making foundation from 

 top to bottom when finished, and I never had any complaint 

 about it. It tastes all right ; I have no objection to it, nor 

 my family. I suppose if you used a foundation heavy 

 enough there might be trouble, but using a foundation as 

 light as thin foundation — not extra thin — you would have 

 no difticulty. I usually use the same grade top and bottom. 

 If I thought it advisable to use the extra thin at the top. I 

 should simply use the thin for the bottom, because the ex- 

 tra thin I should think would fall down. 



WOKKING TTP A P.WING HONEY-TR.\DE. 



"What is the best plan for working up a paying demand 

 for honey in a city market ?" 



Pres. York — Mr. Moore ought to be able to give us 

 something on that. 



Mr. Moore — I have nothing to say, Mr. President. Why, 

 a question like that is a little like a question I put in one 

 time to make fun, and I was never more pleased with myself 

 in my life than with the result of that question. I had a 

 lot of fun over it. There was one question put in which I 

 didn't give at all, and Dr. Miller answered that very finely. 

 He said, "That is the Secretary who put in that question." 

 Then when my question did really come along the Doctor 

 gave us the finest talk of his life, but I was not blamed for 

 it ! But this question is like, " How shall I make money in 

 Chicago ?" 



Pres. York — Sell honey. (Laughter.) 

 Mr. Moore — It is a lifetime business. Above all, it 

 means to get out and get acquainted with people you are 

 going to sell honey to, and that, it seems to me, is a settler 

 of the whole question. Get out and see them ; go up and 

 down the streets and get acquainted with people day after 

 day, month after month, and year after year. If you are 

 an honest man, and have good things, good goods, they 

 will swear by you, and that is the way, the only way, to 

 make a market for anything in this 20th Century. You can 

 stand here and talk a week and not cover the subject, but I 

 believe if you have the hustle in you, and energy, and go 

 where there are lots of people, like in Chicago, and have a 

 good article of honey, and will get out and keep at it, you 

 will make a success. It is the eternally and everlastingly 

 keeping at it : no matter if you don't sell this time you will 

 another. Don't slam the door if you don't get an order. 

 Just close it gently ; give everybody a kind word. They 

 will say, "That is funny ; that fellow shut the door gently 

 and I didn't give him an order." You might say the same 

 thing of the honey trade as of the hardware trade. Give 

 good goods, and charge good prices for it ; you don't gain 

 either respect or money by selling things cheap. 



Pres. York — I think Mr. Moore has reference to family 

 trade ; what about working up a demand in any other way ? 

 A Member — Get an office on South Water Street. 

 Mr. Horstmann — I have been very successful in getting 

 rid of my honey, and about 500 pounds of a friend's honey. 

 I have my apiary right in the yard where everybody can see 

 it, and I keep it as neat as I can. I have the hives nicely 

 painted. People passing on the street can see it ; some call 

 it a graveyard, and others something else other than bee- 

 hives. It is an advertisement for me. They learn that 

 honey is produced there, and they come right to the house 

 and get it. I sold over 2000 pounds of honey without can- 

 vassing. Next year, if I have success, I expect to produce 



close to two tons, and I believe I will sell it all in the name 

 way. You ought to have your apiary in as neat appearance 

 as possible ; that is what I try to do, so as to attract atten- 

 tion. People will see the hives and begin to talk about 

 them ; they will know that honey is produced there. Sell 

 them a good article, and they will come back. If anybody 

 comes around I always show them my apiary, and talk 

 about bees. I think I am known for miles around for sell- 

 ing honey. I have sold my section honey for 20 cents a 

 section, or six for a dollar. My extracted honey I sell for 

 10 cents a pound, the customers bringing their jars and 

 get them full. I have had no trouble whatever in getting 

 rid of my honey. I think I will have to buy some from 

 somebody in order to supply my customers. 



Mr. Moore- I would like to hear from Mr. Dadant ; he 

 told the story abojt selling nearly SIO.OOO worth of honey 

 in olden times. I would like to have him tell that. 



Mr. Dadant — I wish I had a copy of the story, so I could 

 tell the same one. I don't know exactly what I did say. 



Mr. Moore — You told how you sold extracted honey in 

 olden days, up and down the river to the boatmen. 



Mr. Dadant — The first honey we sold was comb honey, 

 and we shipped it to St. Louis; then we began extracting, 

 in 1809, I believe. The only persons selling then were the 

 drugstore keepers ; they sold two or three ounce bottles for 

 sick people. When I went to the drug-store to offer some 

 nice clover honey for sale, they had never seen anything 

 but strained honey ; they said they didn't want that, it was 

 too nice. They thought it was sugar syrup. I suppose. We 

 put our honey up then in Kipound tin cans. We had been 

 transporting comb honey to St. Louis, shipping it on the 

 boats, and the boatmen all knew us. When they found we 

 were shipping honey in 10-pound cans to St. Louis, the 

 boatmen wanted some. We sold about 1200 pounds of honey 

 to boatmen at Keokuk, Iowa. We sold a great deal of 

 honey in 10-pound cans ; then we got up the 5-pound, 2^- 

 pound, and l'4-pound, and we stopped there, and now peo- 

 ple want us to sell it in '2 -pound cans. We have not come 

 to that yet, but I suppose we will have to. All we have to 

 say in our neighborhood is, "Mr. Dadant has some honey 

 to sell," and that is all that the man I have who draws out 

 honey for me has to say, and they give him an order; he 

 has placed in the city of Keokuk about 1300 pounds in a 

 half day; everybody tells him, "Your packages are too 

 large." After a while the people will do as they do in Paris. 

 There they take their salad-dish to the store, and get one 

 cent's worth of salad-dressing at a time, and one cent's 

 worth of oil, pepper and salt to dress the salad. I doubt 

 that we will get that low. The time probably will come 

 when we will have to sell it in '2-pound cans. I think we 

 will have to come to using glass for putting up small pack- 

 ages of honey ; 1 '4 -pound tin cans are nearly as expensive 

 as glass, and the tin doesn't look so nice. But to sell honey, 

 as these gentlemen say, you have to be known ; make your- 

 self known to people ; you have to hang on, keep hammer- 

 ing at it ; don't get discouraged : keep fighting and disput- 

 ing. Don't be afraid when people say your honey is adul- 

 terated. Don't be afraid to fight; I do some hard fighting 

 when they say my honey is not pure, and generally I con- 

 vince them that it is pure. I had a gentleman say to me 

 once that my honey was not pure. I told him he didn't 

 know what he was talking about, and I knew that he didn't 

 know, and that he certainly must know himself that he 

 didn't know. I convinced him that my honey was abso- 

 lutely pure, and he never doubted my word after that, and 

 was very nice to me, although I called him a fool. 

 (Continued next week. 



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