TH® MMEKlCaj* MMM JOURIPtMS,. 



231 



■will be willing to meet their larger 

 brethren in a scheme of this kind. The 

 subsequent operations of the holder 

 must be influenced by his situation. 

 If he be an old stager he will have a 

 greater or less business connection 

 already establised. If this becommen- 

 surative with what he has in stock, he 

 can bide his time and let the buyer 

 seek him, instead of him seeking the 

 buyer. If it be necessary for him to 

 push sales to effect a clearance of his 

 stock, he may adopt the means success- 

 fully pursued by some people, and take 

 to the peddling wagon, If this kind of 

 traffic is distasteful to him he may se- 

 lect a few agents from among the shop- 

 keepers. 



It will be a mistake, however, on his 

 part if he seeks to put his honey into 

 every grocery and provision store in a 

 town. If he should succeed in placing 

 it in all, it will necessarily be in small 

 quantities, and when shop-keepers take 

 small quantities of an article they 

 make little or no effort to push sales. 

 If the article be honey, they will likely 

 put a " gem jar " or two filled with it 

 in the window, and stow the rest in 

 some out-of-the-way place where it 

 never meets the eyes of the customer. 

 I would rather sell 1,000 pounds to one 

 dealer than 3,000 to twenty dealers in 

 the snme town, at the same time, if I 

 wanted to establish a market in that 

 place, Better establish one good agen- 

 cy and stock it well than supply twenty 

 store-keepers with a little just to add 

 variety to their stock. 



Let the holder select his man. He 

 may be a grocer, a provision dealer or 

 a baker. He must be a live business- 

 man, occupying a prominent place on a 

 leading business street, with a showy 

 front to his shop. Make arrangements 

 for the entire use of one of his win- 

 dows and some space on his counter to 

 be exclusively occupied with your hon- 

 ey for a given time. Then with your 

 goods put up in attractive shop-bottles 

 and suitable boxes, dress, or cause him 

 to dress, his window in such a way that 

 the display will arrest the attention of 

 every passer-by, and I am free to say 

 that man will sell more of your honey 

 in a given time than 20 of his neighbors 

 will do, keeping it as it is usually kept. 



But do not stop here. Send a case of 

 your best comb honey to the editor of 

 the town paper and advertise the 

 "show" in its columns. If such a 

 display filled even one shop window in 

 every town and village throughout the 

 country, I am persuaded that we would 

 hear less of honey being a drug in the 

 market, for the jealousy of your agent's 

 neighbors would soon be excited by his 

 customers asking for that which he has 

 not got, but which might be seen in 

 such rich abundance in his competitor's 

 window across the street. 



In establishing such agencieSj care 

 should be taken to encourage their suc- 

 cess by charging no more than a fair 

 price to the agent, and by insisting 

 upon him selling your goods at no more 

 than a fair profit to himself. 



The above are some of the many 

 methods by which the local honey mar- 

 kets may be improved by the efforts of 

 local bee-keepers. The aid of this As- 

 sociation can only be of an indirect 

 kind. It can make its power felt, how- 



ever, and by its local aid it can at the 

 same time effect much general good by 

 keeping the industry and the product 

 of the industry prominently befoie the 

 public. To this end a portion of the 

 government grant should be set apa~t, 

 and may be employed in a variety of 

 ways. 



A good plitn, in my opinion, would be 

 for the Association to offer one or more 

 prizes for ttie best and most attractive 

 display of honey at the local horticul- 

 tural and agricultural shows, such aid 

 to be given only to those districts that 

 have organized local associations al- 

 ready amliated to the parent society. 

 How lamentably bare of such displays 

 are local and county shows generally! 

 Whereas if we were well represented 

 at them, a vast amount of good would 

 be done, in attracting attention and 

 promoting sales. 



Still another matter that the Associ- 

 ation should take in hand is, the gener- 

 al diffusion of knowledge pertaining to 

 our industry among the masses. Here, 

 again, the general meetings of the hor- 

 ticultural and agricultural societies 

 may be made to serve our interests by 

 our sending to each of them a represen- 

 tative of our Association to remove 

 the prejudices that are too common 

 amongst their members against the so- 

 called ravages of bees amongst fruit, 

 etc. 



In nearly every district within our 

 corporate limits there may be found 

 one or more bee-keepers who could 

 worthily represent our Association at 

 such meetings, and who would be gladly 

 welcomed and heard by them, if our 

 Secretary intimated to their officers 

 the fact of his intended presence as our 

 delegate. But to guard against disap- 

 pointment, in such cases we ought an- 

 nually to appoint one or more Associa- 

 tion lecturers to fill appointments in 

 case no local man was available. The 

 expenses of such would of course have 

 to be met out of the government grant, 

 and in no better way can a portion oi 

 it be employed. 



"The relation of bees to flowers" 

 might be dwelt upon by the lecturer at 

 horticultural meetings, and would in- 

 deed be a very good stock subject at all 

 such meetings, or the work of bees in 

 fertilizing and hybridization might 

 either be incorporated or made a sepa- 

 rate subject. Indeed, the subject-mat- 

 ter for lecturers is almost unlimited, 

 and I know we have more than one 

 man in our ranks capable of doing the 

 work in a way that would be at once 

 instructive to his audience, beneficial to 

 the industry, and creditable to this As- 

 sociation. 



Owen Sound, Ont. 



As "ive Constaiitly "Hear rumors of 

 a great war in Europe which, beKhiuing on 

 tlip Russian frontier, may hivolve all tlie 

 powers, it' is interesting to know how 

 France has prepared for the next struggle 

 with Germany. "France's Bulwarks," in 

 Frank Leslie's Popular Monthly for April, 

 is a remarkable and careful article, showing 

 the new lines of defensive works in that 

 country, evidently fro m~ca refur'and~cau- 

 tious study. The whole number is brigiit 

 aud interesting. 



BUSINESS MANAGER. 



gusiwiess ^0txx;jes. 



I< IfoH lA-ve near one post-office and 

 get your mail at another, be sure to give the 

 address that we have on our list. 



Hilton's new pamphlet on Comb Honey 

 Production has been reduced in price to 5 

 cents. For sale at this office. 



Ifyoia I>ose Bloney by carelessly en- 

 closing it in a letter, it is without excuse, 

 when a Money Order, which is perfectly 

 safe, costs but 5 cents. 



Please to get your I^eiglibor, 



who keeps bees, to also take the American 

 Bee Journal. It is now so citeap that 

 no one can afford to do without it. 



Preserve Voiir Papers for future 

 reference. If you have no IIINMER we 

 will mail you one for 60 cents ; or you can 

 have one FKEE, if you will send us 3 new 

 yearly subscriptions for the Bee Journal . 



Please -write America/n Bee Jowmal 

 on the envelope when writing to this office. 

 Several of our letters have already gone to 

 another firm (a comuiission house), causing 

 vexatious delay and trouble. 



Money Orders for $5.00 and imder, 

 cost 5 cents. As these are absolutely safe, 

 it will pay to get them instead of the Postal 

 Notes which are payable to any one who 

 presents them. 



Wc Club the Asierican Bee Journal 

 and the " Bee-Keepers' Magazine " for one 

 year for $1.40 ; or with " Gleanings in Bee- 

 Culture " for St. 7.5 ; or with the "Apicul- 

 turist " for S1.80 ; or the " Canadian Honey- 

 Proilucer " for $1.30 ; with the Bee-Keepers' 

 Keview, $1.40 ; or all six for $4.00. 



Xlie Convention. — The pamphlet 

 containing the report of the proceedings of 

 the Union Convention in Chicago, is now 

 published, and can be obtained at this office 

 for 2.5 cents. Or bound up with the history 

 of the International Society, and a full re- 

 port of the Detroit and Indianapolis conven- 

 tions, forSt- cents, postpaid. 



Home Markets for honey can be 

 made by judiciously distributing the 

 pamphlets, "Honey as Food and Medicine." 

 Sucli will create a demand in any locality at 

 remunerative prices. See list on the second 

 page of this paper. 



