540 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE. 



July 15. 



sell as readily as the others, and that you war- 

 rant satisfaction. 



You get your money, and go back to your 

 wagon with two cases yet to dispose of. You 

 have been to all the groceries, and are not 

 sold out. Now you try the bakeries. 



" I see you do not have any honey on sale 

 here, yet some of the bakeries over our way 

 sell more than some of the groceries." 



" We never have any call for it." 



You smile, and say, " Yet that does not 

 prove you could not sell it. You do not have 

 call for strawberries at this time of the year, 

 either ; but they would surely sell if you had 

 them in sight. Probably half the comb honey 

 that is sold is carried home because the cus- 

 tomers are in the store on other business, and, 

 seeing the honey, take a fancy to it and buy 

 it. If you had this case of honey on the shelf 

 back of you, right here in plain sight, it 

 would not be long before some customer, tak- 

 ing home some fresh bread or rolls would 

 want to take along a section or two of honey 

 also." 



' ' But we buy some strained honey for use in 

 our baking, and we have some Mason jars of it 

 on the shelf up there, you see, and it does not 

 pay for the bother of fussing with it, for we 

 hardly ever sell any." 



" Well, I'm not much surprised, because it 

 is not labeled, and people do not know what 

 it is. When you strain your honey the ' poet- 

 ry ' is all taken out of it, as a lawyer friend of 

 mine says. Comb honey is always attractive, 

 vdll sell itself, and if other bakers do well with 

 it I don't see how you would miss it. You 

 can make 25 per cent on it, and whatever" you 

 make will be just that much extra to help pay 

 rent and keep business on the move. You 

 can rest assured that, if you had these two 

 cases here in sight, the people would buy it. 

 Besides it is attractive, and helps give your 

 place a neat and filled-up appearance. ' ' 



" If you want to leave one case here and let 

 me try it I will pay you for it if it sells, and if 

 not you can get it again some time." 



" I thank you for the offer, but I can't ac- 

 cept it. If I should do business that way I 

 should have to raise my prices to cover an oc- 

 casional loss from failure or fire, or something 

 else. My prices are as low as they can be for 

 a good article, and I have to sell for cash." 



" Another sale made; but the other bakeries 

 do not care to take the remaining case, and 

 so you go to the hustling young fellow who 

 runs a fruit and confectionery store in a little 

 7x9 room under a stairway a few feet from 

 the leading business corner of the place. 



" You occasionally have quite a loss by your 

 fruit spoiling on your hands. Here is an ar- 

 ticle that will make you a good percentage, and 

 will last for years so far as its keeping quali- 

 ties are concerned. The investment is abso- 

 lutely a safe one because it is sure to sell, even 

 if it does not go off with a rush." 



He likes the idea first rate, and your purse 

 is heavier and your wagon empty. 



Now, do you think I have made this appear 

 too easy ? Not a bit of it, unless the market 

 is actually glutted with an enormous crop. 

 In that case my advice would be that, if you 



can not mate sales after trying various places 

 within your reach, wait a few months and try 

 it over. You had better borrow money and 

 hold your crop than to sacrifice it. I am sure, 

 however, that some earnest work along this 

 line will give you good results under almost 

 any circumstances that you are apt to find, for 

 conditions var}' greatly in towns within a few 

 miles of each other. I know of two cities 9 

 miles apart where the retail price of honey 

 has been different by 25 to 40 per cent. You will 

 find a good many things that are new to you 

 if you will do some exploring along this line. 



If you are fortunate enough to have a crop 

 of honey that averages very high, you will be 

 surprised to see how easy it is to interest 

 people ; but your lower grades should be 

 pushed along in proportion to what you have. 

 You do not want a lot of low-grade honey on 

 hand, with the best all gone. The price-mark 

 is the safety-valve. You can sell any thing 

 if the price is right; but have your price high 

 enough so you will have to talk it up to sell it. 



One party said to me, " Your honey gives 

 good satisfaction, and I have made a good 

 profit on it; and any time you are over, come 

 in and see how I am stocked." 



No wonder he was pleased, for he had sold 

 lots of it, and at pi ices from 20 to 25 per cent 

 higher than I supposed he was getting, 

 and higher than the other grocers in town 

 were getting. He had a large and fancy trade, 

 and was actually clearing 40 to 45 per cent 

 on my honey. 



Give )'our customer a square deal on grading, 

 etc., and you will often be pleased to hear such 

 expressions as: " Just set it right on the 

 counter ; here is your money. I am too busy 

 to open it and look at it. The other was all 

 right, and I will risk this being the same." 

 " How manyhave you ? Two cases of fancy 

 and three of amber ? All right ; carry it to 

 the back of the store ; I'll take your word for 

 it." "I don't know but your price is a little 

 high ; but I like the way you put it up, and it 

 sells as well as any honey I ever boiight." 



You will soon get acquainted with your 

 trade, and if you do your part you will get a 

 top-notch price, will not hear any thing about 

 "trade it out," will not be badgered about 

 cutting prices, and will be treated in a friendly 

 and businesslike way on every trip, with nu- 

 merous invitations to ' ' call again when you 

 are over." 



Once on my first call, as I set a beautiful 

 case of honey with a three-inch glass front on 

 a gentleman's counter, and removed the cov- 

 er, he read aloud the fourteen-inch label on 

 the front of the case, ' ' Gathered from Orange 

 Blossoms ;" and then as he saw the 28 neat 

 labels printed in red ink, pasted on the sec- 

 tions, with the snow-white honey smiling up 

 at him from between, he slapped his hands to- 

 gether and exclaimed, "By jolly!" I need 

 not tell you he has been my steady customer 

 since, although he thought my price was 

 high, and I knew it was high enough. 



With the finest honey from clover, orange, 

 willow-herb, sage, etc., you need not be doubt- 

 ful about placing it to advantage in almost any 

 market ; and while I know that the majority of 



