AMERICAN BEE JOURNAL. 



255 



itself to his consideration, and which it 

 will be profitable for him to adopt. 



The honey-house becomes a class- 

 room in which the bee-keepers at the 

 Fair meet and take counsel, the one with 

 the other. As a rule they find in it all 

 the equipment the class requires to aid it 

 in its work of mutual instruction. The 

 business, in all its branches, is discussed. 

 Defects are pointed out, and improve- 

 ments suggested. The articles on the 

 tables are not the only things discussed — 

 the whole bee-keeping business is can- 

 vassed — not systematically treated, it is 

 true, but probably talked of in a way in 

 which there is more practical knowledge 

 imparted and received than if it was 

 done in convention order. 



"Bee talks " are indulged in without 

 stilted speeches being made, and mutual 

 acquaintance is established between 

 kindred spirits.. There is gained the 

 educational advantage of communion 

 with those whose thoughts and tastes run 

 along the same lines, for " as iron sharp- 

 eneth iron," so does the bee-keeper his 

 fellow. Every honey exhibition becomes 

 a social reunion, where old friends meet, 

 and new ones are made. In these re- 

 spects honey exhibitions are not a whit 

 behind the more pretentious convention. 



EXHIBITS AS ADVERTISEMENTS. 



Public exhibitions of honey are the 

 best and most profitable mediums through 

 which it can be introduced to the con- 

 sumer. The benfits that flow from them 

 in this respect are not confined to the 

 exhibitor, but are felt by the whole 

 brotherhood. Still, they are sufficiently 

 profitable to make it a matter of self- 

 interest to exhibit when a good oppor- 

 tunity presents itself — more especially is 

 this the case when the exhibitor is a 

 large producer. In no other way can he 

 advertise his wares at such a trifling cost 

 as by piling them upon the show-table. 



He may advertise in the public papers, 

 or he may send circulars and price-lists 

 into the homes of the people, but the 

 most effective way to place his goods be- 

 fore the public is to display them where 

 they may be examined and tested. The 

 exhibition presents an excellent oppor- 

 tunity to do this. The secret of making 

 sales, is to secure inspection ; once get 

 people to handle and taste, and sales 

 will follow where no purchases were 

 intended. A good customer once made 

 in this way, is apt to be retained if prop- 

 erly treated. A man's reputation as a 

 successful competitor inspires confidence 

 in the merits of what he has to sell. 



1 make a point of keeping the name 

 and address of every stranger to whom 



I sell a certain quantity at such places. 

 If 1 cannot be on the ground the follow- 

 ing and subsequent years, I apprise my 

 former patron of the fact, remind him 

 that I can supply his present wants, and 

 quote prices. In this way I have made, 

 and kept, not a few of the most satis- 

 factory kind of customers. 



The permanent extension of one's 

 trade is one of the advantages reaped by 

 the exhibitor, but it is not the only one. 

 The press takes note of his display, if it 

 be good, by which an extensive and 

 gratuitous advertisement is secured. The 

 bare publication of the prize-list brings 

 his name before the public, and keeps it 

 there as long as he continues a success- 

 ful competitor. 



While he may not be sufiSciently pub- 

 lic-spirited to wish a benefit to flow to 

 others from his displays, he is, neverthe- 

 less, doing that which promotes the sales 

 of his brother bee-keeper. Tens of 

 thousands of people may look upon and 

 admire his honey, and but few purchase, 

 or leave an order with him. As a rule, 

 he only sells to the people of the town or 

 city in which the show is held. The 

 thousands return to their homes with an 

 appetite whetted for that which before 

 they had not thought of indulging in, 

 and become purchasers from local bee- 

 keepers. I am convinced that exhibits 

 have done more to popularize honey and 

 promote its sale, than all other means 

 employed to this end. 



To be effective, exhibits must be im- 

 posing; and to be imposing they must be 

 large. Herein the honey exhibit differs 

 from that of many other things, in mak- 

 ing it serve the purpose which is in- 

 tended. In showing a good threshing 

 machine, the manufacturer's purpose is 

 just as fully attained as if he displayed a 

 hundred similarly constructed machines, 

 but the exhibition of five pounds of 

 honey, however good it may be, will do 

 little to increase sales. 



Such a display is no evidence of the 

 excellence of the exhibitor's honey crop, 

 any more than the display of half a dozen 

 big carrots and a monster pumpkin is a 

 guarantee that the general crop of 

 the man who shows them is better than 

 that of his neighbors. We are apt to 

 think that his pet pumpkin v/as grown 

 by the side of a sunken barrel filled with 

 liquid manure, and kept filled, so tliat 

 the vine upon which it grew had, through- 

 out it sseason of growth, all the stimulat- 

 ing food it could appropriate, and that 

 his bunch of carrots attained their ex- 

 traordinary size by similar treatment. A 

 wagon load of his pumpkins, or his car- 

 rots, on the market place would be, to 



