Sept ID. 1911 



this way ynu linve two hives as good as the 

 one. Work every colony this way that has 

 at least tliree frames of brood. 



liy the time the lioney-tiow begins there 

 are Jsoo hives ahnost as good as the 400 would 

 have been; hence the advantage of introduc- 

 ing laying queens. In ten or fifteen days 

 before the honey-liow is over, remove tiie 

 ((ueens from 40o colonies and disjxjseof them 

 as you please. In eight days cut out all 

 queen-cells, so by the time the honey-How 

 is over these 400 colonies will be without 

 bees. This gives you 400 hives with combs 

 in the lower bodies, filled witli honey and 

 l)ollen for another year, and probably a good 

 number in the upi)er story with honey. If 

 the ne.xt season is a failure you have your 

 sujjply of fee<l all ready; and if a good year, 

 they are ready for new swarms made on the 

 same i)lan as before. During a year with no 

 honey-How it would cost four or five times 

 as much to feed 800 colonies as it would to 

 buy the 400 queens, besides the work of feed- 

 ing. When a good honey year here in Cal- 

 ifornia we want all the colonies possible, 

 especially where located in the mountains 

 among the sage, but when there is no hon- 

 ey we can get along with a few. 



From all records of the past, one can rely 

 on a honey croj) here only about every otli- 

 er year, i am trying 50 "on this plan this 

 year, and I am sure it is a success. In order 

 to keep the combs of honey and pollen from 

 the moths, build a shed with a good roof, 

 but open on all four sides. Place 2x4 scant- 

 ling, set up edgewise, in rows wide enough 

 to set the hive-bodies. Put a wire screen 

 on tlie bottom of the first hive-body; put 

 five or not more than six combs in a body, 

 and stack them up as high as you can, and 

 on top of eacli stack put another wire screen. 

 See that the screens are tight on the top and 

 bottom of eacli stack of hives, so no bees or 

 moths can get in. The draft of air through 

 each stack will keep them in good condition. 



Simi, Cal. 



DOES IT PAY A BEE-KEEPER TO SELL BOT- 

 TLED HONEY? 



A Bee-keeper, if He is his Own Salesman, should 

 Sell in Larger Packages. 



BY GEORGE SHIBER. 



After reading the article by jSIr. Foster, 

 page 17, Jan. 1, regarding the different 

 shapes of small glass packages for the retail 

 trade, I wondered if it really were a wise 

 thing for bee-keepers generally to cater to 

 this small-package trade — not but that it is 

 a good enough business to cultivate, but be- 

 cause it can be better covered by a regular 

 honey-jobber. Of course, there is no doubt 

 that .so?7ie producers are so situated that they 

 can cater to the bottle trade profitably. 



One of the first and most vital points that 

 arise is the question of selling. It takes a 

 good salesman to sell honey to tlie retail 

 trade successfully and profitaloly, for one re- 



565 



ally becomes a specialty salesman when he 

 takes out liis samples; and, by the way, it 

 is just a question whether an experienced 

 salesman could make fair wages with no 

 other line than honey. A salesman from a 

 wholesale grocery firm can, as a rule, get a 

 better i)rice for the same goods, because he 

 knows his trade and his trade knows his 

 firm. For illustration, sup})ose the bee- 

 keeper works Northern Pennsylvania. In 

 sjiite of all precaution he is almost sure to 

 have some slow])ayers and very likely a few 

 actual losses, wliich, of course, must be fig- 

 ured in the grand balance. 



Another point is the expense, and it is a 

 vital one too. Traveling, say, five days a 

 week, costs, at a very low estimate, at feast 

 fifteen or eigliteen dollars — say S3.oO a day. 

 It is seldom that a dealer will "want to buy 

 very much at a time — one to two <lozen 25- 

 cent packages, perhaps, or two to four dozen 

 10-cent packages — in otlierwords, somewhere 

 in the neigliborhood of 25 lbs. When this 

 dealer is sold out he will wait for the sales- 

 man to come again, at wliich time he will 

 settle for the "other bill, "and perhajiswant 

 a deduction for one bottle tliat was broken 

 — another item that must be added to the 

 expense. But suppose one is able to sell to 

 twehe dealers a day an average of jjerhajis 

 25 lbs. to each one, making 1500 lbs. for the 

 week's business. After paying for cases, 

 bottles, etc., is there more than about thir- 

 teen cents a pound left, especially when one- 

 pound bottles are sold at $2.25 a dozen? It 

 is my opinion it would be a little less. Again, 

 $2.00 a dozen would be a better jirice — that 

 is, the honey would move faster; and sup- 

 pose 3 cts. per lb. more than the market 

 l)rice offered by the jobber would be secured. 

 The salesman would have about $45.00 ex- 

 tra; but the expense would have to be de- 

 ducted, leaving, say, $25.00 net, provided 

 there were no loss. Now% I want to say that 

 this salesman w^ould have earned $25.00, and 

 he would have to be a good salesman, too, 

 to do all this. 



Now% I have never tried selling honey in 

 this way, for it has never appealed to me, 

 although I have had abundant opportunity 

 to try it, for I have been calling on the 

 butcher and grocer trade for years. During 

 this time I have picked up a lot of sixty- 

 pound-package customers at a price of 10 cts. 

 per lb. In brief, I prefer larger packages of 

 tin — 10, 20, 60 lb. packages — and none small- 

 er than 5 lbs. In this way customers can 

 have the second mouthful when they buy. 

 If people will pay 25 cts. per lb. for honey 

 in a glass bottle that is of no value to them 

 after it is empty, why is it not a good argu- 

 ment to get them to "buy a larger package at 

 a cost of 15 cts. per lb., more or less? I am 

 not arguing against the bottle goods for 

 fancy trade; but, as a rule, I believe more 

 honey will be sold if a greater effort is made 

 toward the larger packages. 



As a rule, the cheap syru])s are in tin 

 packages — one, two, and four quart size. So 

 far as 1 have observed, maple syrup is gen- 

 erally offered in two and four quart cans. 



