GLEANINGS IN B E li CUE T U R E 



SkI'Tkmber, 1'J2"2 



now go further aud say that tlie lack of 

 consistent and systematic effort has, in my 

 opinion, very nearly brought on a crisis in 

 the industry. T do not fear that we are 

 getting back to where we were years ago 

 when carloads of honey in increasing num- 

 bers were being held over; what I do fear 

 is that the lack of real concern on the part 

 of the producer toward increasing the con- 

 sumer demand is standing in the way of fair 

 prices to the producer for the product. I 

 do not advocate a final retail price so high 

 that the consumer will not buy. I do ad- 

 vocate continuous sales activity along the 

 line of popularizing honey as a food. 

 What Is the Best Remedy for These Condi- 

 tions? 



Producers can do much to help matters in 

 the immediate future. The old producer 

 needs to get some of the unbounded enthu- 

 siasm for honey that the beginner in bee- 

 keeping has. We all know that the begin- 

 ner talks honey in the daytime and in the 

 nighttime, at home and abroad. He does 

 it until he sometimes makes himself a nuis- 

 ance, and yet his enthusiasm is such that 

 he sells more than he himself can produce 

 and has to buy from his neighbors. The in- 

 dustry in general will be helped when tlie 

 greatest possible amount of honey produced 

 in a given state or in a given locality can 

 be consumed near by. When it costs two 

 or three cents a pound to move honey in 

 bulk from one part of the country to an- 

 other and a greater amount still to move it 

 again in bottled form, there is danger of 

 piling up a transportation charge that is 

 actually greater than the original cost of 

 the honey. What is the use of doing a large 

 business and making no profit? Why keep 

 bees if the bees do not keep you? I firmly 

 believe that only when the use of honey on 

 the table becomes more popular will the 

 producer make an adequate profit on his 

 investment. 



The following suggestions have all been 



tried and proven. No one producer will at- 

 tempt to put all of these into use. Many 

 will be able to follow one or two of them.. 

 Roadside Selling. 



Roadside selling has done much to pre- 

 vent honey from dropping in price to a 

 dangerously low level. Gleanings has per- 

 sistently called attention to the benefits, but 

 not all producers realize wliat can be done. 

 At one of the eastern field meetings refer- 

 ence was made to a producer who had es- 

 tablished several roadside stands and had 

 sold in all over 100,000 pounds of honey. All 

 that is required is good honey in an attract- 

 ive package, properly advertised by means 

 of a neat yet conspicuous sign. The five 

 and ten pound pails are very popular pack- 

 ages for roadside selling. Honey should be 

 exhibited in glass, however, for some cus- 

 tomers will not buy in tin, and all like to 

 see the color of what they are getting. It 

 is a good plan to have an attractive card 

 announcing that the same honey is sold in 

 tin at a lower price. 



The producer need not live on a main 

 highway in order to sell honey by the road- 

 side. He can erect a small stand on the 

 main highway, establish someone in charge 

 and keep the stand supplied with honey by 

 trips morning, noon and night. It is an 

 advantage to live on the main highway, of 

 course, right close to the selling stand, for 

 considerable sales may be made on days 

 when the automobile traffic is too light to 

 pay to have someone at the stand all day. 

 A sign, announcing that the blowing of the 

 liorn will bring an attendant, will take care 

 of the trade on days wlien travel is light. 



If the honey stand by the side of the 

 road is near a beeyard, the bees help adver- 

 tise, of course, and the venture is more like- 

 ly to be a successful one than if no bees can 

 be seen. If the apiary is too far away to 

 be seen from the road, a colony or two back 

 a few feet from the stand will serve almost 

 as well. 



Where siiles ;n-f lieavy a Looth at tlio roadside adds greatly U> tlie i-iHiilurt 



words "Pure Honey" on tho beehives. 



ale^iiuaii. Ncjtc tli 



