572 



G L 1<: A N I N G S IN BEE CULTURE 



Sei'TEMber, 1922 



you think you can afford it, have a freezer 

 of ice cream and give away very small por- 

 tions of ice cream on paper sauce-dishes, 

 with a little extracted honey j^oured over 

 the cream. Sometimes a near-by druggist 

 can be induced to advertise a "Honey Sun- 

 dae." If you have not tried this yourself, 

 you have no idea how delicious it is. When 

 giving out samples, secure the help of some 

 young woman, dressed in white, to prepare 

 the samples and to wait on the people. 



The Value of Local Associations. 



The man who is the greatest menace to 

 selling Iioney is the man (and every com- 

 munity has one or more of them) too care- 

 less to read bee journals and too indifferent 

 to become a member of the beekeepers' or 

 honey producers' association. I do not wisli 

 to give the impression that I am against 

 national associations or state associations. 

 They have their field, and rightly organ- 

 ized and managed, they accomplish great 

 results. I do feel, however, that the im- 

 portance of the local association has never 

 been properly recognized. By local, I mean 

 a county, or a community represented by 

 two or three counties, or a part of a state. 

 Tliese local associations can accomplish al- 

 most unlimited good in many ways, not the 

 least of which is the grading of honey, 

 whether comb or extracted. It has always 

 seemed to me that the dues of such an asso- 

 ciation should be large enough to make pos- 

 sible some work along this line. The secre- 

 tary can know personally almost every 

 member, and, if this secretary is wisely 

 chosen, his official stamp of approval will 

 go a long way with buyers, especially if the 

 locality can be given some honest, sincere 



publicity. If a state is small, a state asso- 

 ciation can function along this line just as 

 well as a local association. I recall several 

 instances wliere two counties have formed 

 an association, which has done a very cred- 

 itable piece of work. There are also tri 

 county associations, membership in which is 

 a real asset to any beekeeper. 



One producer can not do very much with a 

 neighbor who persists in selling honey at 

 too low a price. An association, on the 

 other hand, can most effectually meet this 

 problem. Eight now I know of one in- 

 stance where a local association is getting 

 after a producer (not a member of that as- 

 sociation, not a reader of bee journals, 

 therefore not very well informed on market 

 conditions), who is peddling excellent white 

 clover honey in five and ten pound pails at 

 10c a pound, a most glaring example of the 

 folly of retailing honey at a price below 

 Avliat most buyers would pay for the honey 

 in carlots. In another state a producer is 

 peddling fine comb honey at 20c a section. 

 Join your local association and help educate 

 all local producers so that there need be no 

 such menace to the industry at large. 



Eemember that selling expense is a legiti- 

 mate part of the cost, and that it costs to 

 sell just as it costs to produce. The smaller 

 the quantity sold, the higher the selling price 

 should be. Boost the per capita consump- 

 tion of honey by creating a new consumer 

 demand. Sell honey by the roadside. Talk 

 honey at schools. Demonstrate honey in 

 stores. Join your local association and do 

 all in your power to make it a live associa- 

 tion. Preach the value of honey as a food 

 in season aiid out of season and practice 

 wliat you preacli. 



\'criiinnt field iniM'tiii::. West I'liwlct. 



Anp. 12. A ineiiiber 



at ;i wholosnln prit 



if ii live associution will imt rotail lioni'v 



