18S6 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE. 



817 



tween two and three thousand dollars yearly, 

 in cash. The principal difficulty that meets 

 me now, however, is, that it costs almost as 

 much to raise and sell the stuff as we get for 

 it ; therefore we must reduce expenses by 

 making horseAvork take the place of liand- 

 work ; and we must also learn to raise tine 

 products that will command high prices, 

 without very much labor in getting rid of 

 them. Well, the comity fair promised to as- 

 sist greatly in all these points ; and by the 

 close of the third day I was very much 

 pleased to find that my plans had been real- 

 ized. The principal crop sold was the cele- 

 ry, and the " White Plume''' celery is just 

 the thing for such an undertaking. When 

 you get any sort of commodity started on the 

 fairground, it sells itself. If a man or wo- 

 man is seen with a nice bunch of celery in 

 her hand, everybody she meets wants to 

 know where she got it — price, etc. ; and l)y 

 and by, if you do ijour part faithfully, you 

 will soon have everybody on the fairground 

 wanting a bundle of celery. We sold 75 lbs. 

 to the dining-room people, and we retailed 

 enough more to make it toward 500 lbs. 

 Our retail price is 5 cts. per lb. ; but to the 

 dining-room people, or anybody else who 

 buys 100 lbs. or more, we sell it for 3 cts. per 

 lb. Cabbages sold pretty well, but the cele- 

 ry was the great staple of our vegetable and 

 honey-stand. Honey is now so staple an ar- 

 ticle of diet almost every day in the year in 

 Medina that we sold but comparatively little 

 this season. 



You will notice baskets hung around over- 

 head. These are a great convenience in any 

 such business. The baskets can be furnish- 

 ed for 5 cts., at a small profit, and a great 

 many times people will buy things if they 

 can get a basket to carry them in, when they 

 would not take them otherwise. Have your 

 baskets handy, and have every thing handy. 



We kept paper bags right under the coun- 

 ter, on a shelf prepared on purpose. I learn- 

 ed a great many things in selling before a 

 crowd like the crowd you meet on fair- 

 grounds. One important thing is to be al- 

 ways busy. There were three of us taking 

 care of the stand. The man who had charge 

 of the honey kept busy most of the time in 

 filling little glass pails with honey. The 

 woman who assisted employed her spare 

 moments in shelling lima beans. The beans 

 were retailed at 10 cts. per half-pint berry- 

 box full. I was kept busy most of the time 

 in weighing the celery, clipping off dark or 

 discolored leaves, and filling up the celery- 

 glasses, When the contents of a gujfis '<\ev(^ 



sold, it was slipped into a paper bag ; then 

 some more celery was weighed out and put 

 in its place. Many customers came up with 

 a rush, and were in a hurry, therefore I had 

 my paper bags already open, the bottoms 

 pressed out, and every thing in readiness so 

 I could do up the package in a twinkling. 

 You may ask, '■ AVhy not have them wrap- 

 ped up beforehand V My friends, that 

 does not work well. Customers want to see 

 things, and examine them before the articles 

 are wrapped up. Now. this one thing of be- 

 ing busy is very important. A man who sits 

 down and smokes until purchasers come will 

 not sell half as much as the one who has his 

 coat off and is busy. Somebody says, 

 '' What are they at work at down there?'' 



" Why, they are selling celery like every 

 thing. Just see. They are taking it off 

 just as fast as that fellow can wrap it up. 

 Let us go and look at it." 



When they come up to the stand, some- 

 body says, " Where did this celery grow?" 



I reply, that it was raised right over the 

 fence, and show them where they can see 

 the white tops of it glistening through the 

 trees. Then come a good many questions ; 

 and when people find it can be raised on our 

 soil they naturally inquire if plants will be 

 ready for sale the next spring. I tell them 

 that we always keep strong transplanted 

 plants ready for customers, from the first of 

 April to the first of September. Thus you 

 see our plant-business is advertised. 



Tlien somebody wants to know about Ter- 

 ry's system of raising potatoes. My reply is, 

 "■• Friends, you can see the potatoes growing 

 right over the fence there, and here is Ter- 

 ry's book, that tells all about just how to do 

 it; and here are some of the potatoes, just 

 as they were dug— no small ones tlirown 

 out at all. They come out of the ground just 

 like this.'' 



Now, almost every farmer's boy is inter- 

 ested in nice fruits and in nice vegetables ; 

 and especially is he interested when he sees 

 the man behind the counter " just taking in 

 the nickels like every thing," for something 

 that he can raise on his own grounds. All 

 parties are benefited. The talk in regard to 

 the things is a means of educating the peo- 

 ple, and the result is a developing of the re- 

 sources of our nation, the encouragement of 

 agriculture right around our homes, and es- 

 pecially the encouragement of getting large 

 crops on small areas of ground, thus bring- 

 ing the whole matter within the scope of 

 people of humble means, and those wlio 

 \m\c only small Jiomes. 



