758 



THE AMERICAN BEE JOURNAL. 



Nov. 27 1 902 



Convention Proceedings. 



THE DENVER CONVENTION. 



Report of the Proceeding's of the 33d Annual 

 Convention of the National Bee-Keepers' As- 

 sociation, held in Denver, Col., on Wed- 

 nesday, Thursday and Friday, 

 Sept. 3, 4 and 5, 1902. 



(Continued from paije 742.! 



Pres. Hutchinson next called on Mr. R. C. Aikin, of 

 Colorado, to read his paper on 



PUTTING UP EXTRACTED HONEY FOR THE RETAIL 

 TRADE. 



With many this is a burning question. For several 

 years there has been a subdued and smoldering^ fire going, 

 sometimes a good-sized smoke and considerable darkness, 

 now and then enough light to let us see what the smoke was 

 about. Well, I think there have been some of the brethren 

 around poking the fire to make the blaze shoot up on high 

 so that those at a distance could see, and I have a suspicion 

 that that Irish mud-and-stone man from Toledo, Ohio, as- 

 sisted by that other Irishman from Flint, Mich., has been 

 putting up a job on me. Just think of it, after all the rum- 

 pus I have had with the Ohio Fowls and others, then, to cap 

 the climax, ask me to treat this subject before this body of 

 the wit and wisdom of the land, and me to prepare in ad- 

 vance what I have to say, and send a sample of the whole 

 thing to that Chicago Irishman, so he could come prepared 

 to lick rael But, brethren and sisters, I am still on the 

 " ridge pole," and just as happy as an owl, and I will bet 

 that I can fight just as long in this high altitude as all three 

 of the other Irishmen. So up go my sleeves, and now 

 watch the sparks fly. 



You want to know how to put up extracted honey for 

 retail, do you? Well, ask " Yorrick," he will tell you to 

 find the " Root " of the matter in his catalog printed down 

 at Medina, and when you have found that the price of one- 

 pound glass jars is almost 4 cents each at New York, Phila- 

 delphia and Cincinnati, and even 4 cents each at Indianap- 

 olis, just send in an order and put your honey up in these. 

 "Jones pays the freight " on these jars, and stands break- 

 age ; of course the supply dealer could not possibly do it I 



You see that your honey is thoroughly liquid — if any 

 granules, melt them ; and as the wholesale price of ex- 

 tracted honey delivered in Chicago is 5 to 6 cents — call it 6 

 ^then deduct '^ of a cent a pound for freights (that's the 

 car-rate to Chicago), and another V for cans in which to 

 ship it, then a 5 percent commission, which is three-tenths 

 of a cent, then allow two-tenths of a cent more for freights 

 on the package (cans and boxes) and for postage, collec- 

 tions, etc., and you have just 4 cents left as the worth of 

 your honey. 



We mean that when honey delivered from Denver to 

 Chicago brings 6 cents there in car-lots it is worth 4 cents 

 at your honey-house. Put the 4-cent honey in the 4-cent 

 jar, then add one cent for the freights you paid on the jar, 

 and one cent more for your trouble in filling and boxing 

 these jars ready for shipment, and you have a net price of 

 10 cents as the cost of your honey ready for the railroad — 4 

 cents for honey and 6 cents for the other things. 



Let me tell a little story. Once on a time there was a 

 great hooting by one of the big owls down East, just to 

 scare some of the other tribes out West. Well, I just 

 thought I would try an experiment and see if high-priced, 

 glass-packed honey in the lower altitudes was a myth or not, 

 so I sent some honey into — well, away beyond Chicago — 

 with instructions for the receiver, who was an honest man, 

 to sell it, and after paying himself, and freights, etc., to 

 send me the balance ; and, sir, not one cent came back 1 



If you live near a big city, and have wealthy and stylish 

 customers who do not care for price, so the honey looks 

 nice through clear glass, and costs more than common peo- 

 ple pay for it, pack it in glass every time, and stick on the 

 price. I have figured it was worth at your honey-house in 

 those jars 10 cents each. You are catering to the users of 



luxuries, and as luxuries do not sell so well because the con- 

 sumers of them have other luxuries of many kinds, and are 

 a set of dyspeptics, and eat very lightly at best, and because 

 luxuries are always uncertain of sale and subject to fluctua- 

 tions, you ought to and must have a good commission to pay 

 for insurance, taxes, and your own trouble and risks. You 

 should add about 40 percent for youy profits, another 40 for 

 the retailer and others, aud say 20 percent for the railroads 

 and carriers. This will make the honey sell at 20 cents a 

 pound and upward. This is for the small percent of the 

 very wealthy who do not eat much honey, because they 

 have so vei"y many other good things. 



If you have to sell to people like yourself, who have to 

 work on from 8200 to $600 salaries, and economize very 

 closely to make ends meet, they can not and will not pay 15 

 cents for glass and things to get 5 cents worth of eating; 

 and for that trade you must put up your honey so as to get 

 it to them with the least possible expense for fancy wrap- 

 pings ; they want something to put to their ribs and to keep 

 the babies from actual starvation. This is the big — let us 

 spell that with capital B, I, and G — class of consumers. Put 

 their honey into common lard-pails, wooden or pasteboard 

 boxes, paper bags or some other cheap package that will 

 get the goods there cheaply, yet neat and clean. If you 

 want to sell lots of honey at retail, just cater to this trade, 

 and you will enter a field that is as wide as the commercial 

 world, few competitors, and a vast horde of hungry mouths. 

 Do not go on trying to feed and stuft' the wealthy who are 

 already too full, but reach out to the middle and lower 

 classes, who must, of necessity, look twice and think many 

 times before buying a useless and expensive piece of glass- 

 ware to get a little sweet. 



Not one in a hundred have any use for the glass bottle 

 after the honey is out of it. Some tell us these packages 

 are valuable after the honey is out of them, but I tell you 

 that very few of those who do and who ought to consume 

 honey — such as the very wealthy in brown-stone fronts, 

 and the laborers who have not a fruit-tree to their name — 

 would or could use empty honey-jars, so that argument does 

 not "go " where proper intelligence prevails. 



Then, too, honey in glass is and must be fancy; it won't 

 hold its place unless it is. It must be put up so that it will 

 remain liquid and clear, which means an expensive bottling 

 plant such as the ordinary beekeeper can not have. Or, in 

 lieu of this, the goods must not get beyond the immediate 

 neighborhood of the producer or packer, for he must ex- 

 change or reliquefy when it candies or gets cloudy. The 

 great producing districts are altogether too far from the 

 consumer for this taking-back method, and even if close it 

 is a very unsatisfactory and expensive plan, and can not 

 prove practical with one producer in a hundred ; for general 

 results it is a mere makeshift. 



I do not deny that there is a demand for fancy goods 

 put up in fancy style. Such have a place ; but that such is 

 practical for the average producer, and for the wholesale 

 producer in the average locality, I do most emphatically deny. 

 (Jive me 100,000 pounds of No. 1 extracted honey to pack in 

 lard-pails before it has had time to candy the first time, and 

 I will guarantee to sell it within a year and get better prices 

 than can be had for the same honey in 5-gallon cans, and 

 better prices than can be had for the same in glass, outside of 

 the limited, fancy city trade. When I say better prices, re- 

 member that I do not mean that the gross price will be 

 more, but I do mean that the producer will net more out of 

 his crop. I also mean that the goods will reach a field that 

 is neglected, and where it will do the most good to suffering 

 humanity. 



But some honeys will not candy freely and quickly, 

 which is the misfortune of those who have such; it won't be 

 long until many will be hunting methods by which to cause 

 rapid and complete candying, which probably will not be a 

 serious problem. We want the honey to candy quickly and 

 solidly, be packed right into the retail package from the set- 

 tling-tank, and the package to be the very cheapest that 

 will successfully carry the goods to the consumer at a mini- 

 mum of cost. At the present time lard-pails and paper- 

 bags are the most feasible thing available until something 

 better is invented. This may seem strange to many, but 

 the proof is in the eating of the pudding, and I have par- 

 taken thereof. To get into the forefront of the battle is 

 to be a target for the bullets of the enemy, but it is good 

 for the cause. Every good thing has to run the gauntlet of 

 criticism and meet with opposition, and the lard-pail-paper- 

 bag-candied-honey scheme is, and will be no exception to 

 the good, old rule. 



In short, extract your honey into the big — yes BIG — 

 honey-settling tank, from the tank draw into nothing more 



