236 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE. 



Mar. 1 



DE LUXE HONEY FOR THE MARKET. 



A New Industry in Putting up Candied Honey 

 in Retail Packages ; the Importance of Ca- 

 tering to a Really Fancy Trade. 



BY E. R. ROOT. 



The ordinary packages for honey scarcely 

 compare with the packages for holding food 

 stuffs on sale at the ordinary grocery; take 

 for example the beautiful wrappings of 

 breakfast foods. As a general thing, honey 

 put up in bottles nicely labeled is very at- 

 tractive; but a good deal of the bottled hon- 

 ey on the market has a certain something 

 about it that does not quite compare with 

 other bottled goods like syrups, catsups, 

 pickles, and the like. Even the cartons for 

 fancy comb honey look cheap in comparison 

 with the cartons to hold other classes of 

 food stuffs. 



In making this general criticism I am 

 aware that, if there is any foundation for it 

 in fact, it applies to the Root Co. as well as 

 to the whole bee-keeping class. But it is 

 high time we were all catering to a more 

 fancy "de luxe" style of package. The 

 fancier and more attractive the package, 

 the fancier the price. It is possible, and le- 

 gitimate, too, for the producer to double on 

 his honey, for there is always a fancy trade 

 willing to pay the price for a strictly fancy 

 article. 



At various times I have had something to 

 say about the possibility of selling granu- 

 lated honey to the retail trade. Many of 

 our friends have ridiculed the idea. "Ab- 

 surd ! " " ridiculous ! " " impossible ! ' ' they 

 have said. But we are selling such honey 

 to the city trade, and it does not seem to be 

 impossible, absurd, or ridiculous. The il- 

 lustration on the opposite page shows how 

 the Root Co. is now putting up candied 

 honey. It is an exact duplicate of the pack- 

 ages we are putting out in size, style, and 

 lettering here shown. Indeed, it is gilt- 

 edged; and it is the only package that can 

 literally make claim to the title. 



This design opposite \s» printed on some 

 large placards, and hung up in the grocery 

 windows to attract attention. Inside on the 

 counters or in the show-windows nice neat 

 piles of these bricks are laid one upon the 

 other where the customer can see them. 

 Their very novelty attracts attention, and 

 people, out of curiosity if nothing more, are 

 persuaded to buy, take one home, when, 

 presto ! they want some more. 



Right here I wish to say that the credit 

 of designing this beautiful package largely 

 belongs to our honey-man, Mr. J. A. War- 

 ren, who has had a number of years' experi- 

 ence in selling directly to the retail trade. 

 He not only takes charge of putting up the 

 honey, but he is our salesman as well. The 

 honey originally is purchased in square cans 

 candied hard. It is then cut up into rect- 

 angular blocks weighing IJ pounds each, or 

 48 to the can of 60 pounds. They are then 

 wrapped in paraffine paper to prevent soak- 



ing, then another sheet of parchment to pre- 

 vent breaking. This is then slipped into a 

 paper carton just the right size. Last of 

 all there is a wrapping of white paper, 

 printed in gilt letters, embossed, or raised. 

 The ends are carefully folded over, and se- 

 cured in position by a little square label 

 with Root's honey trade-mark on it, show- 

 ing the familiar wreath, the bee-hive, etc. 

 The wording on top, "Wholesome, Deli- 

 cious. Economical, Healthful," is particular- 

 ly appropriate and exactly true. The effect 

 of all this is beautiful and attractive. 



Any one can figure up what his profits 

 will be on a package of this kind, for him- 

 self, for these packages are retailing for 25 

 cents in Cleveland. Ordinary alfalfa honey 

 in square cans costs anywhere from 6 to 7 

 cents per pound. Five people in our em- 

 ploy will put up 1000 packages, like the il- 

 lustration shown here, in a day. That 

 means taking the honey out of the square 

 cans, cutting it up into bricks; wrapping it 

 in two thicknesses of paper, one of paraf- 

 fine and one of parchment, slipping it into a 

 carton, wrapping it up again, and sealing 

 as shown. A bee-keeper can do all this 

 work with his family in winter, when they 

 can hardly do any thing else to advantage; 

 and when the honey is put up it will stay in 

 that shape for months. 



The Root Co. is prepared to furnish the 

 wrappers, the cartons, and the printed mat- 

 ter as shown in this design. Of course, the 

 source, " The A. I. Root Co., Medina, 0.," 

 would have to be replaced by the name of 

 the party putting up the honey, who can 

 have his individual trade-mark on the ends 

 of the package. The other wording he can 

 leave just as it is. Or if he wishes to see 

 if his own honey will sell in his own locality 

 we will furnish him the packages already 

 put up, at the prices named in Special No- 

 tices elsewhere in this issue. Perhaps this 

 will be the better way until the bee-keeper 

 learns whether there will be a demand for 

 this kind of honey in his locality, or whether 

 he himself is salesman enough to convince 

 the trade that these goods will sell if only 

 given a fair chance. 



The large fancy wholesale grocery trade 

 of Cleveland is selling this de luxe honey at 

 25 cents a package as already stated. In- 

 deed, at this time it is being advertised in 

 all the large dailies of Cleveland, a city of 

 about half a million people. 



If Ihe glucose people can put out an in- 

 ferior food like karo, and make people ac- 

 tually buy it by mere force of advertising, 

 certainly the fancy grocery trade in the 

 large cities can make goods as fine as these 

 go off hke hot cakes. Editor York, of the 

 American Bee Journal, has emphasized the 

 importance of bee-keepers advertising more 

 —advertising their honey. If more of this 

 were done, and each bee-keeper endeavored 

 to market his own crop to a very great ex- 

 tent, we should hear less of stagnation in 

 prices; for be it known that the honey mar- 

 ket at the present time is in a rather bad 

 way. 



