142 



THE BEE-KEEPERS' REVIEW. 



in the ends. It should lit as closely as pos- 

 sible, yet be so arranged that it can be 

 easily lifted. 



Keep these cases well painted. I find a 

 dark, bright blue most satisfactory. Have 

 all alike and with your name on them. 



Now comes something difficult. You are 

 to decide, from the prices now paid, the 

 amount and kind of honey raised in your 

 neighborhood, and the general prospect of 

 the honey market, what will be the probable 

 average price, for the next six months, of 

 such honey as is usually sold in your mar- 

 ket. If you can possibly avoid it. you 

 should make no change in prices during the 

 season. We will suppose that this price is 

 twelve cents. Now, with a sample case of 

 honey, call on all the merchants you can 

 reach, showing all the grades just as they 

 run. Tell them that the price of No. 1 is 14 

 cents ; No. 2, 12 cents ; and No. 8, 10 cents 

 per pound. Stick to these prices and treat 

 all alike. If compelled to lower prices, 

 give a corresponding rebate on all honey 

 any of your customers may have unsold at 

 that time. Do not try to sell a big lot of 

 honey at once, neither try to get the cash for 

 it at once. Tell each mercliant that you 

 will leave him a case of honey which he need 

 not pay for until sold, and wliich you will 

 take back at any time if he cannot sell it. It 

 is surprising to see how many will buy on 

 these terms, who would mt on any other. 



Establish a reputation for fair and square 

 dealing, and see that it is most thoroughly 

 understood that your price is the same to all 

 and that there will be no. deviation from it. 

 If grocers talk to you of honey being offered 

 them at lower prices, try to rejoice with 

 them over their good fortune in securing 

 such a bargain, but keep a " stiff upper lip " 

 and don't allow yourself to be scared into 

 lowering your prices until you. are sure you 

 must. Very likely, the laext time you come 

 around, this same grocer will take a case of 

 honey at your own figures. If grocerymen 

 say they can send to Chicago and get honey 

 cheaper of commission men, agree with 

 them. Very likely they can, but after they 

 have tried that plan, with its honey of 

 uncertain character, paid freight or express 

 charges ori it, and had some experience with 

 l)reakage, they will be willing to buy at 

 home, if honey in No. 1 condition is offered 

 tliem at their doors 



Above all things, have your honey thor- 

 oughly neat in appearance. Have it thor- 

 ouglHy ripened and without a particle of 

 leakage. Nothing will tend more to give 

 confidence in you and your naethods than the 

 knowledge that there will be no waste from 

 leakage and no more trouble than in hand- 

 ling other goods. 



You will find that a carefully selected No. 

 2 grade will sell well in competition with the 

 average mixed lot brought in by the non- 

 professional bee-keeper, and you can afford 

 to sell your No. 8 grade at a consideral)ly 

 lower price, if necessary. 



There is a time in the developement of a 

 market when making a big display, as advo- 

 cated by the editor, will accomplish won- 

 ders, but when nice honey is for sale, as a 

 regular thing, in every grocery, it does not 



amount to so much ; though much will de- 

 pend upon circumstances. 



The principle reason, as I believe, why 

 large dealers do not oftener buy large 

 amounts of honey for cash, is the insane de- 

 sire so many bee-keepers show to get the 

 honey out of their hands somehow, which 

 leads them to crowd it upon the commission 

 men, when, oftener, a very little labor would 

 find them a much better, surer, and alto 

 gether more satisfactory market at home. 



My dealings with commission men, for 

 several years past, have been very limited. 

 Not that I have any special distrust of them, 

 for I believe they have always, or nearly al- 

 ways, dealt with me honestly, but because I 

 found that I could do much better to sell my 

 honey myself, in the way I have indicated, as 

 well as in various other ways to suit circum- 

 stances. 



I firmly believe that, if more would adopt 

 the same methods, the demand and price for 

 honey would be very noticably increased. 



Dayton. III. .July 2!», 18iK). 



The Great Influence That Circumstances 

 Have Upon Marketing Honey. 



DH. C. C. MILLEK. 



I HERE'S as much difference in 

 folks as in anybody." There 

 are men who take as much, if not 

 more, delight in peddling out 

 their crop of honey, pound by j)ound, as 

 they do in raising it. Others dislike exceed- 

 ingly anything of the kind ; and experience 

 a feeling of relief when the crop is off their 

 hands, even if lumped off to a wholesale 

 buyer at a price that would be considered a 

 sacrifice, compared with what might be ob- 

 tained for the same honey among their neigh- 

 bors. 



Taking these things into account, rules 

 cannot be layed down for all alike. A makes 

 a success of retailing his own honey, and 

 rather sneers at B for selling his in large 

 quantities at two cents a pound less. But 

 B is not a good salesman, and can make 

 more WO) king at his trade than he can sell- 

 ing honey. He is wise to work at his trade, 

 and let some one else do the selling. 



In the same way, circumstances alter 

 cases as to places. '• ('ultivate the home 

 market" has been rung through all its 

 changes, and in general is good counsel. 

 Even in this, however, cases may differ 

 greatly. I have known a bee-keeper to have 

 a home market in which honey was retailing 

 in the stores at a cent and a half a pound 

 less than he could get for his honey, all in a 

 lump, from an outside buyer. What could 

 such a bee-keeper do towards cultivating his 

 home market ? Neither will it answer to say 

 the difference in (luality made t'le differ- 

 ence in price, as the quality was the s;iine 

 and the difference in ap[)earance Imt trifiing. 

 All that such a bee-keeper could do was 1>> 

 let his own market alone until such time as 

 he could do his cultivation at lc!ss expense. 



What shall gui'e us in placing a price uiioii 

 our product 'i The quotation.s given in the 



