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OCTUBEK 1920 



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KEEP YOUR TRADE SUPPLIED 



Even if You Have to Buy Honey from Other Bee- 

 keepers or Dealers 



Some 20 years ago in Chicago, when I was 

 engaged in the wholesale honey business 

 rather extensively (handling five carloads in 

 one year, and bottling three of the five cars)'> 

 I sold a large quantity of honey, both in 

 60-pound cans and in barrels, to beekeepers 

 in many parts of the country. I remember 

 one live beekeeper in St. Paul who ordered 

 and re-ordered continuously, to keep his 

 honey customers supplied. He certainly 

 knew his business, and didn 't propose to al- 

 low his regular customers to go unsweetened 

 as soon as his own crop of honey was all sold 

 out. 



Yes, I know there is some danger, when 

 getting honey on the open market, that 

 some foul-broody honey may be secured. But 

 there is no good reason why plenty of honey 

 cannot be had that was produced in disease- 

 free apiaries. 



I never could understand why those who 

 produce more honey than thjeir local market 

 can well use, do not patronize the advertis- 

 ing columns of the bee papers, and thereby 

 let their fellow beekeepers, who are soon, 

 sold out of honey, know just where they 

 can get more to supply their demand. 



By doing such advertising, it may be 

 found that some beekeeper right in an ad- 

 joining county would be glad to buy th-? 

 honey to take care of a growing trade. Also, 

 such procedure will often result in getting a 

 better price than to try to unload too much 

 honey in one town, and thus cause it to be- 

 come a drug (or drag) on the market. Bee- 

 keepers should wake up, and use a little 

 gumption at the selling end of their busi- 

 ness. 



For many years I have contended, and still 

 insist, that there has never been enough 

 honey produced to supply a demand that 

 might easily be created if a little effort were 

 put forth by honey producers themselves. 

 And now that sugar has gone away up in 

 price, it is just the time for beekeepers to 

 get busy and push the sale of honey, which 

 is a much better sweet than Isugar, but the 

 general public doesn 't know this, and so 

 they go on neglecting honey as a food. So 

 it is up to the honey producers to educate 

 the consuming public concerning the value 

 of honey as a daily food. If the beekeepers 

 don't do this, it never will be done. 



It would seem to me that this is a suffi- 

 ciently vital subject to merit some discus- 

 sion in the bee papers. The selling end of 

 the honey business has been neglected all 

 too long. There certainly are ways of dis- 

 posing of the honey crops so they shall be 



more evenly distributed over the 'country, 

 and thus insure better, or more profitable 

 prices to the producers. It seems to be the 

 unfortunate lot of the producers along all 

 agricultural lines to be working for less pay 

 or profit than those who make a business of 

 simply handling the products of the farm. 

 No doubt some middlemen are needed, but 

 there is no good excuse or reason for a 

 horde of them attempting to exist as they 

 do, when half as many or less could handle 

 the business. Let the other half get out in 

 the country and help produce something, 

 rather than be the parasites that a good 

 many of them are. Unless more people do 

 get out on the land and help produce food, 

 there is going to be some enforced starvation 

 among certain classes in the not far dis- 

 tant future. And that means that many in- 

 nocent and helpless children will not get 

 the food they should have. 



But I am wandering from my subject. Let 

 every beekeeper see to it that his home trade 

 is always supplied with honey. If his own 

 crop does not reach, then by all means buy 

 some honey from other beekeepers or deal- 

 ers, and keep the people sweet! It will pay 

 to do this, not only in dollars and cents, but 

 also in the consciousness of having done a 

 commendable work in the interest of hu- 

 manity. George W. York. 



Spokane, Wash. 



.s«= 



SUBJEC TS TO AVOID 



When a Beekeeper is Selling His Honey in Person 

 at Retail 



Inasmuch as no one can be well versed in 

 many subjects, and that of bees and honey 

 being one which is little understood by the 

 average person, and concerning which there 

 are so many false impressions, it would 

 seem to be the part of prudence for the man 

 who purchases and "peddles" his own hon- 

 ey to bear in mind that there are certain 

 points which it is well to emphasize, and 

 others on which the least said the better. 



All of us have been asked such questions 

 as, "How do you get that little box around 

 the cake of honey without mashing ths 

 comb?" "Do you feed your bees glucose 

 or sugar?" "Do the bees ever get out of 

 their hive and sting you?" And so on in- 

 definitely. If the questioners are used to 

 a local amber honey, they will solemnly 

 claim that a lighter honey is glucose, be- 

 cause it is nearly that color; or that some 

 other honcv hns 'if en "doped" because it 

 •'gets sugary." That is when explanations 

 are in order. 



If they are referring to the product of 

 some competitor, it would, of course, be easy 

 to refrain from explanations, by silence 



