AMERICAN BEE JOURNAL. 



837 



marketing: Honey — Questions on 

 I?Ir. iflelbee's IMelliods. 



Written for the Arnei^ican Bee Joiuvial 



BY DR. C. C. MILLER. 



Friend York : — I've obeyed your in- 

 junction to " think about these things," 

 that you gave us on page 617. Done a 

 good bit of thinking about them, in fact. 

 I suppose you mean to encourage us to 

 emulate the example of Mr. Melbee, for 

 you ask, " Now, why cannot almost any 

 bee-keeper do as Mr. M. has done ? I'm 

 glad you put in that " almost," for I'm 

 pretty sure I couldn't do it, and I should 

 feel badly to disappoint you if I thought 

 you expected it of me. I'll try to tell 

 you why I can't do what Mr. Melbee has 

 done. 



I can imagine myself going into a 

 house with a sample of honey, saying to 

 them, " Here is some of the finest honey 

 that was ever produced. It is made by 

 bees, with not the slightest taint of 

 adulteration. If you buy of me, you are 

 sure of getting the genuine article. 

 Every bee that worked on this was dec- 

 orated with at least three stripes of gold 

 — none of your coramot^ stock — and the 

 honey is correspondingly fine. Just 

 taste it." 



After tasting, the good woman says, 

 " Yes, that is good honey. You may 

 give me a pound." 



" Why, you see, it's put up in 5-pound 

 packages, and that's the smallest pack- 

 age I have. I'm sure there will be no 

 difficulty in using 5 pounds of as nice 

 honey as that." 



" Oh, I don't know that there will. I 

 guess I'll take the 5 pounds. How 

 much is it ?" 



"$1.20 for the 5 pounds, and 10 

 cents for the pail ; and you can return 

 the pail, if you wish, and get back the 

 10 cents for it." 



" A dollar twenty cents ! Why, isn't 

 that pretty high. That's — let me see — 

 why, that's 24 cents a pound. Why, I 



can get comb honey at Hutchison's gro- 

 cery forl6 cents a pound." 



" Yes, but that isn't as nice honey as 

 this." 



" Maybe it isn't, but we've had as nice 

 white honey as ever was, and the last 

 we got was 18 cents, and we haven't 

 paid over 20 cents for years. Patrick 

 and Otis both keep it, and I guess yours 

 is hardly worth six cents a pound more 

 than theirs. I think I'll not take any." 



Now I suppose Mr. Melbee would go 

 on and sell that woman 5 pounds of 

 honey at 24 cents a pound, but I don't 

 believe I could. Really, I don't believe • 

 I could. 



I don't believe I need go any farther 

 Mr. Editor, to answer your question, (so 

 far as I am concerned,) why almost any 

 bee-keeper cannot do " as Mr. M. has 

 done." 



Now that I've ansvvered your question, 

 Mr. Editor, would you mind answering 

 a question or two of mine. Does Mr. 

 Melbee live in a mountainous region 

 where the people are miles from a gro- 

 cery and know nothing about the prices 

 of honey? Or does he live in a com- 

 munity where the people are immensely 

 wealthy, and care nothing about what 

 they pay for a thing ? And how does it 

 come that the people don't find out that 

 they can get honey for so much less '? 



Looking at your market reports, I find 

 extracted honsy as low as 5 cents, and 

 nothing higher than 8. I suppose there 

 would be no trouble in getting any 

 amount at 7 cents. If sold at 24 cents 

 there is a margin of 17 cents, and after 

 paying the agent a commission of 10 

 cents there is left a profit of 7 cents a 

 pound for Mr. Melbee. That would 

 make a profit of $630 on the 9000 

 pounds the agent sold. Now as you 

 think others might do as well as Mr. 

 Melbee, don't you think other agents 

 might do as well as his agent of last 

 year? And don't you think he could 

 have a hundred agents at work by en- 

 larging his territory ? Or put it moder- 

 ately, and say 20 agents, leaving Mr. 

 Melbee his whole time to make pur- 

 chases. That would bring in for Mr. 

 Melbee the neat little sum of $12,600 

 clear profiit a year, and no stings to 

 stand. 



If it's a fair question, and wouldn't be 

 intruding too much into Mr. Melbee's 

 private affairs, would you be kind 

 enough to tell us something about the 

 financial standing of a man who has 

 been doing so well, getting 24 to 32 

 cents a pound for the last 18 or 20 

 years ? How much is he worth ? Or if 



