1905 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE. 



861 



some of the best stores, not all, refuse to 

 "be bothered" with cutting up the honey. 

 It is too much trouble to cut the honey up as 

 you propose, or we would overcome the dif- 

 ficulty. 



I have put the candied honey into about 

 thirty-five stores in Toronto; in fact, with 

 one exception, into every store in which I 

 tried to introduce it, and that store had a 

 stock in glasses and tins. The dealer told 

 me he had a stock. I told him to take a tin 

 of the candied; and when he could not sell 

 his present stock, then try to sell the can- 

 died. He said, "No, I feel sure if I were to 

 get the candied and sell in blocks then I could 

 not sell my present stock. I will wait until 

 the present stock is reduced, then buy the 

 candied. ' ' 



I told him he could sell enough candied 

 (where otherwise he would not sell at all) 

 to pay for his present stock ; but he declined 

 until later. The sale price is fixed at 2 lbs. 

 for 25 cts. What I sell at does not here 

 matter; but let me say that, at that price, 

 the retailer has a good margin. He is in- 

 terested in the sale of the goods; can afford 

 to advertise them; and the retailer, not 

 paying for a package, and getting a first- 

 class article, is pleased. 



Let me say right here our dull honey mar- 

 kets are largely the result of rushing honey 

 too much to centers. These centers set the 

 price for the country, and are too low. 



Next, and very important, bee-keepers are 

 so unbusinesslike that they try to wholesale 

 and retail in the same market. Nothing 

 will antagonize a dealer more quickly and 

 justly. Then, still worse, the wholesaling 

 and retailing are attempted at the same 

 price, or nearly so. A retail establishment 

 is not a charitable institution run for the 

 benefit of bee-keepers, and the margin re- 

 quired on goods is much greater than one 

 not in business realizes. Give your dealer 25 

 per cent, or more is better, on his goods, and 

 he can afford to push them. In Canada I 

 have created this market. It will revolu- 

 tionize selling honey; much more honey will 

 be sold in this way, and I do not mind how 

 many more sell in this way, but do not let 

 them cut prices. Every one who gets honey 

 from us is compelled to sell at 2 lbs. for 25 

 cts., which price is none too great for a 

 first- class article. I find the reason why 

 honey is not sold more is that it is too cheap, 

 and creates suspicion rather than that it is 

 too dear. 



I send you herewith a guarantee which 

 each dealer gets to put up with the honey. 



$100.00 REWARD. 



Brantford, Ont., Jan. 27, 1905. 

 To (name of retailer). 



Dear Sirs.— We will Rladly pay one hundred dollars 

 ($100.00) if you can find any adulteration in the honey 

 with which we supply you, and which you sell in the 

 granulated solid blocks at 2 lbs. for 25 cts. In our api- 

 aries (which we believe are the largest and best equip- 

 ped plant of this nature in Canada), our aim is to put 

 upon the market goods of the very best quality. 



Yours very truly, Foster & Holtermann. 



Sell good honey for table consumption; 

 ask a good price; give the retailer a good 

 margin, and distribute it over the country 



instead of rushing it off to the large centers, 

 and you will see a different face on the hon- 

 ey market; and, so far as success in business 

 goes, a different face on the bee-keeper. I 

 would suggest that you refuse to supply 

 this "de luxe " style of package to any who 

 would not agree to maintain the retail price. 

 Only the choicest honey should be put up in 

 this way, and it should bring a good price. 

 I am willing to be one to take this package 

 and maintain the retail price. In one store 

 where this honey candied is sold they retail 

 as much as two 60-lb. tins. This store now 

 sells more candied honey in a week than it 

 did of the liquid heretofore in a year. I am 

 very much pleased that you have taken this 

 matter in hand. May the bee-keepers now 

 bear in mind not to sell at such a figure, 

 wholesale or retail, as will either leave 

 him no profit or leave the dealer none. You 

 might as well have a honey-extractor with- 

 out a crank as to try to improve your honey 

 market without leaving the retailer a good 

 profit. I may say I do no retailing at all. I 

 do not want any one to come to my apiary 

 and stop the gang to sell them a few pints 

 of honey. 

 Brantford, Ont., Can. 



[I particularly endorse your advice to give 

 the retailer a good margin instead of rush- 

 ing his honey off to the large centers. Of 

 course some honey (and perhaps the most o f 

 it) must be disposed of through the big 

 markets; but the bee-keepers should be 

 careful not to glut any given city by getting 

 too much in that place. I am glad you ap- 

 preciate the possibilities in selling candied 

 honey. I feel sure that the future will see 

 much more of it sold than is now. —Ed.] 



MEXICAN BEE-KEEPING. 



The Small Undersized Bees. 



BY W. D. JEFFERSON. 



I will try to describe those little yellow 

 bees of which I sent you a sample from 

 Brownsville, Texas, last winter. They build 

 their nest on a small tree or bush. The out- 

 side is built of a material similar to that in 

 wasps' nests. A large colony builds a nest 

 about the size of a ten-gallon keg, and about 

 the shape of a common jug. They leave a 

 small entrance right in the lower end of the 

 nest. When they fill this one with honey 

 and brood, they add another on the lower 

 end; and the Mexicans tell me they often find 

 them with as many as five of those rooms or 

 supers. They often get as much as ten gal- 

 lons of honey from one colony of those little 

 bees, and they say their honey and comb are 

 much whiter than that made by common bees. 



I was not fortunate enough to see any of 

 the comb or honey; but one trouble is, when 

 you tear a hole in their hive and break their 

 honey they leave. The Mexicans also tell 

 me that they have hived them in boxes, and 

 succeeded in making them stay and work, 

 but they plaster the inside of the box with 



