14 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE 



January, 1917 



the home, formed a prominent and very 

 pleasing part of the landscape as observable 

 by the passerby. 



Fastened and braced to a telephone-post 

 directly in front of Mr. Pritchard's house 

 was the roadside sign announcing the sale 

 of honey, which read as follows : " Honey 

 for Sale — Sound Sparton." The words 

 " Honey for Sale " were drawn in large 

 plain letters, readable at a' considerable 

 distance by the occupants of any approach- 

 ing vehicle. The words " Sound Spailon " 

 were written directly beneath the words 

 " Honey for Sale," and in somewhat small- 

 er letters, but large enough for automobil- 

 ists to read on near approach. Mr. Pritch- 

 ard says that the direction to " sound 



CHOICE HONEY 



(X)MB OR 



•XTRACTRD 



ARLIE iRlTCHARD 



A crackerjack business card. 



sparton," printed on the sign, has proved a 

 very important part in making honey sales. 

 It informs the automobilist that by sound- 

 ing his sparton he can learn and see just 

 what is for sale without even getting out 

 of his machine. A sparton heard in front 

 of the Pritehard residence brings a jDrompt 

 response from some member of the family 

 ready to show honey wares. Many an 

 automobile traveler has bought honey at 

 this place who would not have done so had 

 it not been possible to open negotiations by 

 merely sounding the automobile's horn. 



The picture in the lower right-hand cor- 

 ner of the accompanying page (showing 

 various honey-signs) is from a photograj)h 

 of the Pi-itcliard roadside honey-sign. Ob- 

 serve how plainly and largely the words 

 " Honey for Sale " are printed (and this 

 was done by hand by Mr. Pritehard him- 

 self), and note further how easily and 

 ('(tieiently the sign was placed by attach- 

 ing it to a telephone-pole directly beside 

 the I'oadway. 



HOW ONE MAN DID IT. 



With this mental picture of the premises 

 and the lioney-sign in tnind. let Mr. Priteh- 



ard tell his own story of " roadside " 

 honey-selling. 



" We put the honey-sign up on October 

 11," said Mr. Pritehard. " making the let- 

 tering of the sign conspicuous, and its 

 position at the roadside conspicuous too. 

 The possibilities in roadside selling of 

 honey were called to our attention by the 

 fact that travelers, attracted by our apiary 

 in plain view at the rear of our house, fre- 

 quently called and asked if we had honey 

 for sale. So it occurred to me that if we 

 should disjilay a sign announcing honey 

 for sale it would increase the number of 

 prospective purchasers calling, and perhaps 

 develop quite a business. You see, it was 

 the hives in plain sight that first led a 

 considerable number of travelers to stop 

 and call at the house for honey which re- 

 sulted in our beginning roadside honej'- 

 selling. So, I would first emphasize the 

 great importance of having a neat-looking 

 apiary in plain view of the road. 



" No sooner had we pat the sign up at the 

 roadside than the number cf callers at the 

 house asking for honey increased tremen- 

 dously. Today is December 11 — just two 

 months since we put the roadside sign up — • 

 and we have sold at our door 3000 pounds 

 of extracted honey and nearly 20 eases of 

 comb honey. This has all been done, too, 

 with no loss of time from regular work. 

 Odd moments have served to do the work 

 connected with the selling. Experience 

 has taught us some things about selling in 

 briefer time and with less work than at 

 first. One simple time-saving and labor- 

 saving device is this: A tray for carrying 

 honey to the roadside, the bottom of which 

 was made from a cheese-box cover, having 

 a half barrel-hoop nailed to this for a 

 handle. This tray has served to carry all 

 sizes of honey jars and pails (except the 

 very largest) to the roadside, and so give 

 the prospective customer full knowledge 

 at first sight of just what we had to sell. 



QUALITY AND PRICES. 



" The comb honey that we have sold 

 would be graded as 'Choice' and not 'Ex- 

 tra fancy' nor 'Fancy,' but all of first- 

 class table quality. The extracted honey 

 that we have sold was all of the very best 

 quality. 



" The price we got for comb honey was 

 uniformly 20 cents a section, generally 

 weighing about 11 or 12 ounces. For ex- 

 tracted we got 20 cents for a one-pound jar ; 

 35 cents for a two-pound jar; 50 cents for 

 a three-pound jar; 75 cents for a five- 

 pound jar; 90 cents for a six-pound jar; 

 $1.40 for a ten-iDound pail, we furnishing 

 the pail of course. 



