January, 19' 



OLEANINGS IN BEfi CULTURE 



1& 



W^Wi^^^l 



HONEY BY PARCEL POST 



A Simple Method of Packing for tlie Mails. 

 How to Find the Customers 



I sincerely believe that, if pure honey in 

 attractive shape could be brought to the 

 attention of every prospective purchaser, 

 there would never be a supply beyond the 

 demand, and the price would be relatively 

 higher. 



I am not an extensive producer and my 

 yearly crop runs from 1,000 to 3,000 pounds, 

 sometimes 3,5(i0. But I believe that I could 

 dispose of quite a large quantity at a big 

 advance over what it would bring me if sold 

 wholesale. 



Some years ago I had printed a lot of cir- 

 culars six by nine inches. In this circular 

 I inform the prospective customer that I am 

 offering pure honey direct to the consumer, 

 and explain just what extracted honey is 

 and how it is produced. At the time I had 

 my price list printed on the reverse side of 

 the sheet. 



That was before or about the beginning 

 of the war, and when all commodities went 

 up in price my list was much too low. I now 

 regulate my prices to conform somewhat to 

 the general wholesale price of honey and 

 change them as the price goes up or down. 

 I make the price just about double the 

 wholesale price, and the purchaser pays for 

 the container and the postage. 



I sell mostly in five and ten pound fric- 

 tion-top pails and have orders for many 

 more of the ten-pound than of the five-pound 

 pails. I prepare it for parcel post shipment 

 in the following manner: I cut a disk out 

 of the strawboard corrugated material so 

 much used at this time for boxes. This can 

 be picked up at your nearest grocery store. 

 The disk is of the .same size as the top of 

 the pail. After driving down the cover se- 

 curely this paper disk is laid on top. A 

 strong cord is wrapped around the pail from 

 top to bottom anil crossed on top, then taken 

 again around the pail and tied securely. 

 This gives a cord in four places dividing the 

 circumference into four parts. This cord 

 holds the paper disk securely down on the 

 cover. I then cut two cords long enough to 

 go around the pail and leave enough ends to 

 tie. One cord is placed an inch or so from 

 the top, and the other the same distance 

 from the bottom. As I go around the pail 

 with these cords they are taken under and 

 over the upright cords — that is "a turn is 

 taken on each of the upright cords. I do 

 not now recall a single instance of honey 

 shipped in this way arriving at destination 

 in bad order, while it is not uncommon to 



liave complaints of broken and leaky pack- 

 ages when sent by express or freight. 



I write the name and address on the paper 

 disk, and also attach a tag bearing the same 

 and my own address. The ten-pound pail, 

 when prepared for mailing, weighs under 11 

 pounds and will go to the second zone for 15 

 cents. The 5-pound pail will come under 

 six pounds, and 10 cents will carry it with- 

 in the second zone. I have what I consider 

 a very attractive blue label that reads: 



"Pure Honey, Blue Label Brand, from the 

 Star Apiary, Ehineland, Mo. S. E. Miller, 

 Prop." 



In addition I have had printed small white 

 labels with a red margin. These are one and 



This picture shows how Mr. Jliller prepares Iiis 



five and ten pound pails of honey for shipment by 



parcel post. 



one-fourth by two and one-fourth inches. I 

 have two kinds; one of which reads, "Gath- 

 ered from autumn flowers, ' ' and the other 

 "From white clover." One of these (ac- 

 cording to the kind of honey contained in 

 the pail) is posted just underneath the lar- 

 ger blue label. 



I could not find in the catalogs a label 

 that suited me exactly in giving directions 

 just how to care for honey; so I got one up 

 according to my own ideas. It tolls whv 

 and under what conditions honey will granu- 



