THE bEE-KEEPERS' REVIEW. 



199 



tablishing an apiary. Of course, I should 

 look out for other sources of pasturaj^e 

 aside from that of basswood; and if the 

 basswoods should happen to be inter- 

 spersed with sugar maples, the location 

 \\ould be doubly sweet. 



Pr.ixT. Mich., May 20, 1S99. 



SELLING HONEY. 



H(»\v Primer's Ink can lie made lo help in 



the Matter. Securini; the Custom of 



Wealthy People. 



C. DAVENPORT. 



^HE editor has suggested an article 

 ^-^ from me upon the marketing of hon- 

 ey; but so much has already been written 

 upon this subject by others more able 

 than mvself, that I doubt if I can say 

 anything new in regard to the matter 

 that will be of much interest or benefit to 

 others. My own crop is disposed of in 

 various ways; and I have never found 

 nmch trouble in finding a market for 

 first-class honey, without the help of 

 commission men. What dealings I hive 

 had with commission men, however, 

 have been very satisfactory. 



One great difliculty that most of us 

 have to contend with, in regard to mar- 

 keting our product, is the great difference 

 in the amount and quality of the honev 

 we get in different seasons. If I could 

 get io,a)o pounds each season, of almost 

 any kind of honey, by once finding cus- 

 tomers for that kind of honey, I could 

 hold most of these customers right along; 

 but if I get that amount one season, and 

 the next only half the amount, and that, 

 ])erhaps, of a different kind, only half of 

 the trade previously worked up can be 

 held. So far as buying of other bee- 

 keepers, to hold the trade, is concerned, 

 I have not been able to make it pay; 

 that is, in a large way, when selling 

 again at the general market price. Two 



years ago, through the dishonesty of a 

 bee-keeper, I lost nearly fifty dollars in 

 one transaction of this kind. 



For the last few years I have not ped- 

 dled, nor personally asked any private 

 individual or family to buy honey. I 

 have quite a home-trade, however, sell- 

 ing annually at the house, about three 

 hundred dollars worth. Besides this, I 

 carry to families who have for years 

 bought of me a case or two of comb 

 honey, or anywhere from 20 to 100 pounds 

 of extracted. 



By far the most eflfective method of 

 working up or developing the home mar- 

 ket that I have found is that of advertis- 

 ing in the local papers; and my own suc- 

 cess in this line, if success it can be call- 

 ed, is largely due to this means. Of 

 course, it is easier to sell, and to hold 

 customers, if one has a first-class article 

 of white honey, but I find little difficulty 

 in holding m}* hotne-trade with either 

 white, amber or dark. Whatever the 

 kind, it is ahvays thick, and thoroughly 

 ripened or cured. Honev dew I never 

 sell; for such as is gathered in this local- 

 ity would ruin any kind of market if sold 

 for table use. When I get any of this 

 stuff, I .save it for spring and summer 

 feeding, and b}^ this means I am able, 

 some years, to convert it, as it were, into 

 many times its weight of white honey. 

 While it usually causes great mortality 

 among bees when used as winter food, 

 it appears to answer as well for brood 

 rearing as the best white honey. 



To show what can be done in selling 

 honey, by means of local newspaper 

 advertising, I will relate how I disposed 

 cf over 4,0a) pounds a few years ago by 

 this means. That year I ran quite a num- 

 ber of colonies for extracted honey. 

 .\fter the white flow there was considera- 

 ble amber and dark surplus gathered; 

 and I put extracting supers on a large 

 number of colonies that had been run 

 for comb honey during the white flow. 

 .\fter supplying my regular customers I 

 still had between four and five thousand 

 pounds of this mixed, amber and dark, 



