500 



THE AMERICAN BEE JOLTRNAL. 



August 11, 



over a hole in the qiiilts — the moisture arising from the brood- 

 chamber felow would be absorbed l.y the sugar and thus pro- 

 vide a food that tlio beos vi'ould be able to take. But it would 

 be exactly what they require for brood-rearing, a slow but 

 continual supply. If this simp'le method of feeding is used 

 up to the middle of September, an examination of the hive 

 then will reveal au extensive brood-nest, a large quantity of 

 bees, but most likely, as must be expected, not sufficient food 

 stored to carry the colony through the winter. Then is the 

 time when there are plenty of bees, young and old, and mild 

 weather, to give quickly as much syrup as will make their 

 future safe. The bees will have time to ripen and seal it over, 

 and will then go into winter quarters in a thoroughly 

 satisfactory condition. 



[Continued next week ] 



No. 2.— The A B C of Marketing Honey. 



BY HERMAN F. MOOBE. 

 [Continued from page 483-1 

 Before going any further in this ABC school, let me ex- 

 hort you all to remember that this is no play school ; that the 

 walls of our school-room are decorated with pictures of the 

 Patriarch Jacob (Gen. 43-11), Solomon (Prov. 24-13), Aris- 

 tomachus, the celebrated Sicilian apiarist; Dzlerzon, Von 

 Berlepscb, Adam Grioitn, Samuel Wagner, L. L. Langstroth — 

 men of deepest, broadest thought and culture — men who gave 

 their lives to work and study and scientific Investigation 

 among their beloved bees — men who found a long, peaceful 

 life among the hives all too short to fathom all the mysteries, 

 to solve all the problems. 



In the spirit of deepest seriousness, then, let us approach 

 our study, realizing that only by years of constant applica- 

 tion can we hope to approach perfection, in even the simplest 

 forms of human industry. 



Look at shoes, dry goods, cloaks, hats, woolens, etc.; in 

 all these lines men are required to put in two to five years' 

 work in the factory or counting-house before they are consid- 

 ered worthy to sell a dollar's worth of goods from a grip or 

 sample trunk. Why ? Because an inexperienced man, ever 

 so innocently, might damage their business thousands of dol- 

 lars. Let us learn from these great lines of merchandise, that 

 control the world's business, that it is no slight thing to go 

 among the people and ask for their trade; that no amount of 

 education, investigation, culture and labor is too great to 

 bring to your aid In this work. 



In order to succeed you must be everlastingly at it. Don't 

 go at It by fits and starts, for remember the people eat three 

 times a day, and 3.65 days in the year, and sometimes more. 



Don't be satisfied with anything less than calling on every 

 family in your county, and if possible in every adjoining 

 county. 



Now as to the kind of honey we are going to sell. Decide 

 on the start always to sell the best only; we need not dwell 

 on the question of purity, for I take it for granted that no 

 bee-keeper will ever sell anything but pure honey. 



Let me beseech you, if any case of adulteration comes to 

 your notice, when a bee-keeper Is guilty of such practices, go 

 to him first in private, taking with you a neighbor who is also 

 a beekeeper; ask him to "quit his meanness" at once and 

 forever. If he goes on doing wrong, and injuring our voca- 

 tion — one of the most honorable — prosecute him without fear 

 or favor, and call down upon his head, by legal process, the 

 utmost penalties of the law. 



By the best honey is meant clear, well-ripened honey, of 

 flavor agreeable to the trade that will consume it. This is, of 

 course, a relative term. In the Middle States white clover and 

 basswood are the best, tho they allow of a small percent of 

 honey from golden-rod and buckwheat without detracting 

 from the fine flavor that most pleases the people. In the rain- 

 less, irrigated districts of the West and Southwest, honey 

 from the alfalfa clover takes first place, tho a small mixture 

 of say 5 per cent, of cleome or other honey will not condemn 

 it If otherwise good. 



In California black and white sage lead, very likely more 

 or less mixt with other flowers that happen to bloom at the 

 same time. Now here is the point: Use the greatest care in 

 importing honey from one of these districts to another. Peo- 

 ple were never more suspicious of anything they don't under- 

 stand than at the present day, and if you follow your own fine 

 clover product of one year with sage or alfalfa the next year 

 you may need to be deep in the confidence of your customers, 

 or use lots of persuasion and explanation to avoid having the 

 cry of adulteration raised against you. 



The writer has been all through this experience. In the 



80's he sold thousands of pounds of California honey in Toledo 

 and Cleveland, Ohio, under its proper name, and a fairly good 

 grade as well. At first the name was popular, no doubt from 

 the well known excellence of California fruits. But the dif- 

 ference between Ohio white clover, and sage from California 

 was so roarkt that no permanent demand for the sage could 

 be workt up among people accustomed from childhood to 

 clover honey ; and even to this day, in certain localities, Cali- 

 fornia honey is considered another name for adulterated 

 honey. 



Any of the very mild flavors of honey must be condemned 

 for use in any other locality than their own. The majority of 

 consumers desire a deep, strong honey-flavor, and one-third 

 buckwheat or golden-rod will often correct a too-mild flavor. 

 I go into this matter because if you have a good trade in 

 honey you must sell them honey 12 months in the year, and 

 you will have good years and poor years for honey-production, 

 and in poor years you must of necessity buy some honey of 

 your near and far neighbors, and even from friends in other 

 States. 



Be sure to keep the qualliy of your liquid honey right up 

 to the top, for by so doing you will find that your sales of ex- 

 tracted honey will be far greater than in comb honey, your 

 profit will be the greater, and the certainty of your making a 

 lasting success of selling honey will be all the more sure. 

 Remember that any lasting success always must mean good 

 profits and increasing sales. 



The matter of deciding upon the size of package and price 

 per pound of comb and extracted honey is one that must re- 

 ceive our careful attention. If you are able to call upon each 

 customer In your route, once in three months, your standard 

 size of package should be such that it will last an average 

 family of five persons for two months, leaving them some 

 time to get hungry for more before you call again. The aver- 

 age family will buy honey only four times a year, if you can 

 sell them 5 to 15 pounds at each sale. This manner of selling 

 will add greatly to your profits by lessening the expense of 

 handling, for it will cost you as much to sell one pound to a 

 private family on your route as 10 pounds. 



Some may say, "My trade will not buy 5 to 15 pounds at 

 a time." In this you are in error. The average customer will 

 buy anything that is oifered to him, if he Is satisfied about 

 quality and price. The quantity is entirely secondary. To 

 prove this, the writer has sold honey in large-sized packages 

 ($1.00 to $2.50) for years, when at the same time people 

 could go to a grocery and buy one pound or less almost every- 

 where. This may seem like a puzzle, but the reason is near. 

 Families everywhere are always glad to buy their produce of 

 whatever kind from the one who raises it, because they get 

 fresher stuff and better quality than when purchast of the or- 

 dinary dealer. Instances: A friend once purchast 12 dozen 

 fresh- laid eggs of the writer, that his brother had sent him, 

 with no objection, when six eggs could have been purchast at 

 any grocery. Many families, that are favorably situated, are 

 accustomed to buying Ave to twenty dollars worth at a time, 

 especially in the fall, of potatoes, apples, meat — in fact any- 

 thing that the farmers raise and offer for sale from their 

 wagons. 



In deciding upon the price per pound to ask for our 

 honey, several things must be considered. Your expenses in 

 any iDusiness are usually two times as much as you have esti- 

 mated that they will be. You must pay expenses and have a 

 small or large profit for yourself out of every pound of honey 

 you sell. This is the way business Is conducted all over the 

 world. Any other method leads to certain failure. 



In selling to the consumer we are entitled to the highest 

 market price in our locality, for our labor and expense is 

 much greater in proportion than when selling the same goods 

 at wholesale. 



In determining the price in your locality, go to the best 

 and highest-priced retail grocery-houses and inquire their sell- 

 ing price without letting them know you are a producer of 

 honey. "You are sure then to receive a truthful answer. If 

 you sell to families in their town, do not cut their price, for 

 people who want the best goods will be more certain to buy if 

 you charge a good price. Of course, you must use your judg- 

 ment about small fractions of difference, but this is a good 

 general rule. ' 



If you should begin by cutting prices you can't afford to 

 keep it up, and you will wish you never had sold your honey 

 too low when you undertake the task of putting back the 

 price up to where it should have started. If you don't lose 

 half or more of your customers I miss my guess. One of the 

 greatest advantages you will find in selling to the consumer is 

 that the quality and not so much the price is his great desid- 

 eratum. 



[Continued next week.l 



