1906 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE. 



211 



a large demand for all we could produce. 

 Most children are very fond of honey, and 

 will nearly always prefer it to butter if they 

 have a chance. This fact I often noticed in 

 bringing up my family of four children. 

 Here is a tender point with many parents. 

 They will buy for their children many things 

 that they would hardly think of buying for 

 themselves. 



This is where the sample package would 

 count big. The child would have some, then 

 it surely would want more; and the indul- 

 gent parents would commence to buy, and 

 they too would soon like it, and buy often; 

 but don't make your sample package too 

 small. I would advise about a pound. Be 

 sure to have it large enough to do fur a meal 

 or two. A mere taste would amount to 

 nothing. Some may think to give away a 

 pound of honey is rather expensive in order 

 to induce a family to purchase some, so we 

 will do a little figuring along this line. 



We will suppose a man has 10,000 lbs. of 

 extracted horey for sale. This at wholesale 

 price will bring him about $600. Now, if he 

 gives away 1000 lbs. to as many families, 

 and in doing so he finds 500 families that 

 commence to buy his honey at 10 cents, this 

 shows that his customers have cost him two 

 pounds apiece, or 12 cents each; and if they 

 buy on an average 18 lbs. apiece during the 

 season he comes out $300 ahead, or. in other 

 words, he receives $900 for the honey he 

 would otherwise have sold for $600. This 

 $300 would pay for all expenses of selling, 

 and he would have a nice lot of customers 

 to supply another year that had really cost 

 bim nothirg. This is a case where it is nec- 

 essary to sow before you can reap, and, like 

 nearly all other cases, you will reap accord- 

 ing to what you have sown. So I repeat, 

 don't be afraid to give away some honey in 

 order to advertise your business. 



There is one thing we should all bear in 

 mind; and that is, when we get customers 

 try hard to please them so as to supply them 

 with whatever they may want year after 

 year. No business man can afford to lose a 

 customer if he can help it. First furnish a 

 good article, then offer it at a fair price, and 

 always be square in your dealings. If there 

 is any thing about your honey that is not as 

 it should be, call the purchaser's attention 

 to it. Don't wait until after it is sold, and 

 then let him find it out as best he can. If 

 you do, it is only natural that he will be a 

 little careful about buying of you again. It 

 might be of some help to have a circular 

 go with each sample, telling the value of 

 honey for many purpof'es, and how the chil- 

 dren were delighted to have it on their 

 bread. 



I sometimes think that we as honey- pro- 

 ducers have never taken just the right course 

 to bring our honey into general use. It is 

 all right to teach the public as to its purity 

 and healthf ulness, but that is not enough. 

 We must go still further and Fhow them 

 that they can save money by using it. When 

 this is once accomplished we can then, and 

 not until then, let this question rest. I have 



retailed in small lots but very little honey; 

 but I have always noticed that, if rightly 

 done, it is sure to bring good results. If we 

 get a family to commence using honey they 

 are sure to continue as long as we supply 

 them with a good article at a moderate 

 price. We have several customers who buy 

 a 160-lb. keg of dark extracted honey everj' 

 year for their own family use. They have 

 got used to having it on their table, and they 

 tell me they don't see how they could get 

 along without it. They first started by buy- 

 ing a 10- lb. pail once a year. One man in 

 particular bought six kegs this fall to retail 

 out to his neighbors. This man never bought 

 any honey until four years ago, when a 

 friend of mine sold him a pailful. I speak 

 of these incidents to show how easy it would 

 be to start a large demand for our honey if 

 each one went to work in the right way to 

 bring it about. 



Now in connection with the selling of hon- 

 ey let me say a few words in regard to the 

 producing. For some time there has been 

 an almost unlimited demand for dark ex- 

 tracted honey, and but little demand for 

 light extracted unless it is water- white, and 

 can compete with the white honey of Cali- 

 fornia This white extracted honey is a 

 hard thing for us to compete with, and for 

 this reason I would suggest that we try 

 hard to have all our light honey put in sec- 

 tions, and sold as comb honey, and all our 

 dark honey extracted. This would relieve 

 the comb- honey market to quite an extent, 

 and cause those who prefer dark honey, as 

 many do, to buy dark extracted for their 

 table use. I am of cen asked what our dark 

 extracted honey is mostly used for. I find 

 out from those who handle large quantities 

 that the Jews are our best customers for 

 this grade of honey. They not only eat a 

 great deal, but use it extensively to mak e a 

 certain drink which they like during their 

 holidays. One of the largest dealers in hon- 

 ey in New York told me last summer that 

 these people used more dark extracted hon- 

 ey than all other classes put together. Then 

 our large bakeries use considerably more 

 dark extracted than they do light, and it is 

 the same with all manufacturers that use 

 honey. A very intelligent -Jew once told me 

 that their people were suspicious of all light 

 honey, but had confidence in dark honey be- 

 ing what it claimed to be. 



Personally we have been very fortunate 

 in being able to sell aH the honey we could 

 produce, at a good price, as soon as it was 

 ready for market; but I know that many 

 others are not so fortunate, and it is for 

 them that I hope some way will be devised 

 so they may turn their surplus honey into 

 ready money. 



In attempting to write on this subject I 

 fully realize that I am not competent to do 

 justice to the question; but I hope you may 

 find in the above some little thread that, 

 when woven in with the knowledge of oth- 

 ers, will be the means of bringing a better 

 market to us all. 



Delanson, N. Y., Nov. 15. 



