1898. 



THE AMERICAN BEE JOURNAL. 



261 



was not for that cheap honey here I could have done as well 

 as in former years. I am selling ten times as much as others 

 in ray neighborhood, and sell for more (10 cents straight), 

 simply because my customers cannot have it for less. 



Mr. Liebhardt — Uutil a year ago the Rocky Ford melon- 

 growers realized nothing. Many crates were sold here for 

 less than the cost of the crate. They finally formed an asso- 

 ciation, and made a contract with an Eastern firm for 25 car- 

 loads. The firm used 118 carloads at 75 cents a crate. Last 

 year they took 300 carloads at 95 cents a crate. Fifty crates 

 were shipt to London. This year the same firm will probably 

 have 600 carloads. It does not make so much difference 

 what the price is, as that the parties cannot buy for le.«s. 



Mr. Varian — I'm an Irishman. I came here 20 years ago, 

 and was recently on a visit home. Hardly any product could 

 be more easily shipt to the other side of the Atlantic than 

 honey. They could produce much there, but they do not do 

 so. They get from a shilling to one and sixpence a pound, 

 and extracted is higher than comb. There is a quantity of 

 California and West Indian honey In London, but not in Dub- 

 lin or other cities. I am sure th^-re is quite a chance for the 

 sale of our honey in England and Ireland, but it will need 

 concentration and proper parties on the other side. It is just 

 the same with honey as with butter and cheese — It Is a matter 

 of custom. England and Wales consume quantities of cheese ; 

 in Ireland none eat it at all but the wealthy. 



The Secretary then read a letter from Mrs. A. J. Barber, 

 of Montezuma Co., which follows : 



Marketing Honey. 



My first extracted honey was put into the home market in 

 1890. At that time this place had only one store and a meat 

 market. The store-keeper did not want to bother with honey, 

 so the meat man agreed to see what he could do. I did not 

 know anything about the business, and neither did he, but we 



Owing to foul brood, I had only 1,000 pounds of honey 

 that year, but it all went for cash — no trading this time. I 

 invited all the neighbors to come and see the extractor, and 

 how it workt ; also gave away lots of comb honey the next 

 spring, after it granulated. 



Since 1893 I have never produced less than 7,000 pounds 

 of extracted honey, often much more, but have never had any 

 left unsold when the new honey came on ; and have not had a 

 complaint for two years about honey granulating. 



For the last two years I have sold several thousand pounds 

 through a commission man in Durango. He ships honey to 

 all the mining towns in southern Colorado, and as a result of 

 the advertising given by my labels, I have shipt a lot of 60- 

 pound cans to places that I never would have had orders had 

 it not been for my labels on the pails, and stamp on sections. 



I have made quite a home trade with the neighbors by 

 trading honey for hay, wheat, beef or any other commodity. 

 Many of our neighbors who used to think honey was only a 

 luxury, now lay in their winter supply of honey as regularly 

 as they do their flour and meat. For the home trade I buy 

 coal-oil and gasoline cans, and cut the top out to insure their 

 being well cleaned. These are filled early in the season, and 

 a cap of white cloth put on. They granulate in a couple of 

 weeks, and are ready to take anywhere. These are sold at 

 $4.50 per can. The large lard-pails sell for 60 cents, and 

 the small ones for 40. 



There has been considerable competition lately, but I 

 make It a rule to put nothing on the market that is not first- 

 class. I don't know where we shall end, as prices get lower 

 almost every year, and as production Increases I am afraid 

 that we shall be obliged to give up the business. I believe 

 I have mastered this granulated-honey business, in my neigh- 

 borhood at least, but I can't control the price. I hope that 

 other members may be able to tell us how to better that. 



Mrs. A. J. Barber. 



-a B at !'" ^ -^^^ 



The Bee-Supply Factory of Page S: Lyon Mfg. Co. — One of Our Advertisers. 



tried all I had (500 pounds) in half-pint jelly-glasses. It went 

 off nicely until it began to granulate, when our customers 

 thought they knew that that honey had been adulturated. We 

 had a lot of it to melt over, and then people seemed suspicious 

 of It. We finally got rid of it, however, at 15 cents a glass, 

 but I was not satisfied to sell something that people suspected,' 

 so I made up my mind to produce comb honey. 



Before the next season came on, however, I took out some 

 sections that I had put away in a box, and found them granu- 

 lated hard. I could see no way out of the difficulty, but pro- 

 duced both kinds again. This time I traded nearly the entire 

 crop of 1,500 pounds to the neighbors for anything that I 

 could use. The meat man sold 300 or 400 pounds in pails ; 

 but the complaints were so many that if I had not been in 

 love with the bee-business I should have given it up. I had 

 that year about 200 unfinisht sections. These I concluded to 

 devote to the education of my customers, so after they had 

 granulated they were given away to them as a specimen of 

 genuine alfalfa honey. 



In 1S93 I came to this conclusion : "Honey icill granu- 

 late, and I can't help it. Now the sooner people know all 

 about it the better. I am well known here, and if I should 

 stand back of every pound of honey I sell, perhaps it will 

 make a difference." I had a lot of labels printed, stating that 

 all pure honey will granulate, and telling how to liquefy it, 

 and guaranteeing the purity of all honey under that label, 

 giving name and address. These labels were put on the tin 

 pails, and the campaign began. 



Pres. Alkin — We might say that co-operation Is intelllgen 

 operation. If all other lines of business organize, what ca^ 

 an individual do ? Also the vastness of our country Is sue. 

 that only organized machinery can properly reach It. I mar 

 keted last year 5,500 pounds of extracted honey nearly all in 

 our own market. As a rule, when once taken, it is taken 

 again. The product must be brought before the people. Ex- 

 tracted honey is the most poorly packt of all syrups. Do you 

 expect the retail dealer to retail from a wholesale package '? 

 Just so long as you do we will never have a market. Even E. 

 R. Root says the public will not take it candied. It is simple. 

 Mrs. Barber has convinced her customers. I have sold many 

 three and five pound packages of granulated honey. I tell 

 my customers that I would have to melt It up, and that they 

 might as well save me the trouble. Some prefer it thus for 

 carrying to the mountains. 



H. Rauchfuss — We should adopt an original label, regis- 

 tered, as a guarantee that the honey is pure. It will increase 

 the consumption. We have given jelly-glasses of honey to 

 those who never ate it, and afterwards sold them 10-pound 

 packages. If we could organize and adopt an original pack- 

 age, we could sell all oux honey. 



Mr. Whipple — I had considerable honey left over the first 

 year I started in. I made it into vinegar. Since then I have 

 not had enough honey left over to make all the vinegar I can 

 :lell. A demand for extracted honey has arisen, and I have 

 bought some. 



