AUGUST 1, 191C 



669 



anywhere else), careful grading is neces- 

 sary. The product must, in all cases, be 

 exactly what it claims to be. This is even 

 more important in the home market than 

 when selling to a commission house, for 

 future sales depend on satisfying the cus- 

 tomers. 



Endeavor to have the grocer make it a 

 point to push the sale of your honey. In 

 order to do this it will, of course, be neces- 

 sary to allow him a liberal margin of profit. 

 It is better to do this, in most cases, than to 

 attempt to sell the product direct; and even 

 then you will probably realize more than 

 you would from the commission merchant 

 in the city. 



One man of the writer's acquaintance, 



whose whole business is beekeejjing, sells his 

 honey almost entirely to consumers, having 

 regular customers in three or four small 

 cities. Of course he can do little marketing 

 in the busiest seasons; but he sells a good 

 deal at times when the bees need no atten- 

 tion. This man sometimes finds he has more 

 than he can sell to the retail trade, and then 

 lie drives to a village two or three miles 

 further away, and disposes of it to the retail 

 merchants. In the towns where his regular 

 customers live he does not attemi:)t to do 

 business with the retailers, as they naturally 

 know him and feel somewhat prejudiced 

 against him. Fortunately for him, he lives 

 in a locality where thriving manufacturing 

 villages and cities are scattered thickly. 

 East Barrington, N. H. 



PUT YOURSELF IN THE CUSTOMER'S PLACE 



RUTH C. GIFFORD 



We find that the easiest way to sell honey 

 is to give the customers just what they want. 

 Perhaps you think these kinds of customers 

 are cranky. If they are, they are merely 

 like everybody else. All persons are cranky 

 if you know 'em. Besides, these customers 

 generally use a lot of honey, and their trade 

 is dependable. 



As soon as the honey is off the hives, and 

 cleaned, it is sorted , and the cases immedi- 

 ately packed for the customers who have 

 likes and dislikes. Some prefer the pure 

 white honey; others want the light and 

 dark mixed. They claim it has a better 

 flavor. Then there are 

 some who don't think 

 the light honey is fit to 

 eat, and refuse to buy 

 anything except the 

 very dark. 



The frequent request 

 that puzzled me most 

 was for sections that 

 have no honey in <he 

 row of cells next to the 

 wood. On inquiring I 

 received a very interest- 

 ing reply. In nearly all 

 homes the honey is cut 

 out of the wooden sec- 

 tion before it goes on 

 the table. Consequently 

 the majority of the fam- 

 ily never see how at- 

 tractive the section looks 

 witli the cells neatly 

 sealed close up to the 

 wood. When honev is 

 prepared for use from 



these pretty sections, sealed cells have 

 to be cut; so when it reaches the table the 

 edges of the comb look smeary, and some 

 honey is running over the plate. If the 

 outside row of cells is empty the honey can 

 be removed from the section so it will look 

 very attractive when it reaches the table. 

 There will not be a single drop of honey in 

 sight until it is passed to the first hungry 

 honey-eater. Now, when we have company 

 and want it to look extra nice we always 

 select a section which has no honey in the 

 row of cells next to the wood, and the way 

 ]ieople admire it amply repays. 



lUitli C Gitlord's carr.vingr-case frmn which slu- rct.iils comb honey, 



