294 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTUEE. 



May 



" Well, they do look better, that is a fact, and we 

 will try to keep them up off the floor after this. We 

 ■ are going to have some more shelves put up la a 

 few days, and then we can put them up again where 

 cuatomera can see them." 



Now was an opportunity to say something, and I 

 Improved it. There isn't room to tell one-quarter 

 what I said, but I commenced something like this: 



"Yes, that's the point; honey is not a staple; 

 people don't come here regularly to buy it, as they 

 do sugar, tea, coffee, tobacco, flour, etc. They sel- 

 dom buy honey until they see it, hence it should be 

 kept in sight." 



Need I say that the next time I called, "honey had 

 taken a new start "? 



It requires considerable tact, as well as patience 

 and perseverence, to educate some of these grocery- 

 men. It will not answer to talk to them as though 

 they knew nothing, while you kiiew everything. 

 They should be treated with respect ; but tact should 

 be exercised, and no opportunity of "educating" 

 them should be allowed to slip by unimproved. 

 Take pains to convince them that you are telling 

 them the truth, and thus furnish them with argu- 

 ments with which to meet the objections and ques- 

 tions of customers. 



Another point requires attention, and that is, 

 honey should be put up in such shape that it will 

 give the dealer no annoyance or trouble. Nothing 

 will turn a groeeryman against the business quicker 

 than will dauby, sticky, leaky packages, or to be 

 obliged to dip out extracted honey into the pails 

 and pitchers of customers. Every retailer of comb 

 honey should be furnished with a case having at 

 least one glass side, and a door or cover that will 

 shut close enough to exclude dust and insects. The 

 Sturwold case is an excellent idea. Extracted honey 

 should always be put up in the packages in which it 

 is to be sold. In fact, every thing should be so ar- 

 ranged that the dealer has simply to hand out a 

 package of honey, and drop the "change" into the 

 money-drawer. 



Please allow me to give another illustration. Hav- 

 ing occasion, the past winter, to visit a town in 

 which I had never sold any honey, I put a dozen and 

 a half pint and quart pails of candied buckwheat 

 honey into a valise, and took it with me. Upon my 

 arrival I entered the principal store, and inquired 

 for the proprietor. To my question, if I could be 

 allowed to show him some honey, he asked if it was 

 comb honey. Upon being told that it was extract- 

 ed, he gave a short '• No, I don't want any more of 

 that nuisance in the store," turned upon his heel, 

 and left me. Had I taken the offense, and left the 

 store, that would have ended the matter; but I 

 quietly waited for his indignation to subside, after 

 which he came around where I was sitting by the 

 stove, and said: 



" I'll tell you, my dear sir, why I spoke as I did. 

 About two years ago last fall we bought a large tin 

 can of extracted honey. There was a molasses gate 

 at the bottom to draw off the honey. At first all 

 went pretty well, and we thought we had a clear 

 thing; but the honey soon began to candy, and 

 wouldn't run, and we had to dip it out like hasty 

 pudding, and then shovel it out like lard. After a 

 while we melted it up; but, not having things ar- 

 ranged for that business, it was quite a task; and 

 when it candied again we melted it up and run it in- 

 to jugs and pitchers and goblets and I don't know 

 what all. Ihave a jugfulupat tlje hoxise no\y, We 



have sold some of the pitchers and glasses filled with 

 honey, but it doesn't seem to ' take ' very well, and 

 we have quite a lot of it yet on hand." Here he 

 brought me a goblet filled with candied honey, hav- 

 ing a circular piece of writing paper laid upon the 

 surface of the honey, and thickly covered with dust. 



" I tell you, I have had more trouble and bother 

 with that honey than it was worth ; yes, twice over.' ' 



Having thus " freed his mind," he gave me a look 

 that plainly said, " There, now, what can you say to 

 that?" I said, "il/;/ honey is in such shape that, 

 even if you should not sell it, it will cause you no 

 trouble; but, after the experience that you have 

 had, it would be folly in me 'to ask you to buy it; 

 but if you can spare the time, I wish that you would 

 look at it." 



Oh, yes! if it would please me, he would look at it. 

 When he saw what shape it was in, how it was put 

 up, read the labels, and listened to my "story," it 

 was plain to be seen that he was pleased. The clerks 

 gathered around and expressed their ideas. They 

 didn't know whether it would sell in that shape or 

 not; it seemed as though it might; but if it didn't, it 

 would give them no trouble, etc. Well, to cut the 

 story short, permission was finally given to leave the 

 honey to be sold on commission, which I did, leaving 

 an invoice bill. In a week I wrote the firm as fol- 

 lows: "I am coming your way next week; shall I 

 bring you any more honey?" 



They replied. " Honey is all sold. Bring about as 

 much as you brought before." 



When I called again, the proprietor was in a mood 

 to talk; but it was in a different "strain." He had 

 never been so surprised as he was to see how that 

 honey sold ; it seemed to " take " right off, and gave 

 them no trouble whatever. We had a long chat, 

 and I gave him the best advice that I could in regard 

 to selling honey. In a few days I called again at the 

 store, when one of the clerks said: 



" Did you bring us some more honey to-day, Mr. 

 Hutchinson?" 



" No, sir." 



" Well," he replied, "that last that you brought is 

 all gone." 



I went home with an order for nearly all the honey 

 that I had. 



Of nearly every store in which my honey has found 

 sale, I could tell a " story," but the two that I have 

 given will serve to " point a moral." 



PROPOLIS AND SECTIONS. 



I can only repeat what I said in my former article, 

 that all parts of my hives and fixtures, when they 

 are smooth, and touch nothing, remain free from 

 propolis, " varnish," or " bee-glue." We never have 

 to scrape the top or bottom bars of our sections, for 

 they are always clean. Had I known, last season, 

 when Ernest was here, that this subject was going 

 to be discussed, 1 should have called his attention to 

 the matter, and shown him that, except where two 

 surfaces met, every thing smooth remained en- 

 tirely free from propolis. You also speak of putting 

 sections upon the table after the bees have traveled 

 over the woodwork, and varnished it. I was not 

 aware that the woodwork was placed upon the table. 

 Yes, with the Heddon case we can use only individ- 

 ual separators; but has it not been repeatedly 

 proved, that we can dispense with separators? I 

 use no separators, yet my honey was shipped by 

 freight to the State fair at Detroit, received the first 

 premiums in competition with separatored honey, 

 was shipped borne by freight, then carried 12 miles 



