THE BEE-KEEPERS' REVIEW. 



329 



siiuiers, have bought two carloads of 

 bee-keepers' supplies, killed two bears in 

 one of tny apiaries, been President of two 

 local bee-keepers' societies; and if this 

 article appears in print it will be the 

 first from my pen ever printed in a bee- 

 journal. 



I have just read your editorial, in the 

 September Review, on commission men; 

 and that is what has aroused me to say a 

 few words on the subject of marketing 

 honey. 



I think that, for the beginner, the 

 conmiission man is a nece.ssity. When 

 my honey crop first went be}'ond the lo- 

 cal demand, I found it very convenient to 

 send my surplus to a connnission house; 

 as I was not known as a honey producer, 

 and was not acquainted, so as to be able 

 to submit samples and sell in that wa}-. 



I first wrote to some well established 

 and trustworthy firm, saying: I have some 

 honey for sale, can you handle it for me ? 

 If not, will you kindly refer me to some 

 reliable dealer who will ? ( We have no 

 honey specialists among our Southern 

 dealers. ) 



I would get the address of a general 

 produce firm that would get nearly its 

 entire stock from various points in the 

 morning, and be almost sold out at night; 

 and when I shipped my honey it was 

 soon sold at a good price, and I got my 

 nionej-. 



I have had mv losses; but they gener- 

 ally came at a time when I was busy and 

 not looking closely after my shipments. 



In the fifteen years that I have been 

 selling honey, the whole aggregating hun- 

 dreds of tons, selling in a single season 

 27 >i tons, I think 5150.00 will cover my 

 losses. 



Mv e.xperience has been quite varied; 

 amusing at times; at others aggravating. 

 I once shipped a small lot of beautiful 

 sections to a commission house and they 

 sent me c|uick returns at Ji.oo per case of 

 12 sections; saying "We can handle more 

 at the same price." I promptly replied 

 that I had no more to sell at that price. 



In a short time I went to their city to sell 

 honey, my crop having increased by this 

 time so that it payed me to take .samples 

 and make selling trips, and on my round 

 I found the man that had bought this lot 

 of honey; and he told me he had paid 

 J^i.50 per case for it; wanted more at same 

 price, but was told "the shipper has no 

 more." 



The expense on this shipment was, ex- 

 press, IOC. per ca.se; commission, 10 c; 

 sfea/age, 50c; total, 70c.; net tome, 80 c; 

 grand total, 1^1.50. 



Did I quit these people? No sir; for 

 they were good sellers. I went around 

 and told them that I would not have any 

 more honey sacrificed in that way; and in 

 the future I would name the price, and 

 they could sell at that price or hold goods 

 subject to my order; and they have since 

 sold hundreds of dollars worth for me in 

 this way. 



On another occasion I shipped 60 buck- 

 ets of chunk honey to a firm; and, in a 

 few days, taking my wife and child with 

 me, I went to their city to look after my 

 interests. The depot was near this firm's 

 place of business; and I went there before 

 taking my family to a hotel. When we 

 got near the place I could see the buckets 

 stacked up conspicuously on the pave- 

 ment, with a sign, "fresh honey," over 

 them. 



I said to my wife, "Let's have some 

 fun by wanting to buy." We stopped 

 and curiously looked at the honej*. A 

 young man stepped out and asked if we 

 would like some honey; and opened a 

 bucket. I asked where it was raised. 

 He promptly replied, "California." 



"What is the price ?" 



"15 c. per lb. for the small buckets, \2^ 

 for the large ones." 



I asked if that was not very high. He 

 replied: 



"\o sir; it .sells readily here at that 

 ])rice. We got in 500 buckets last week 

 and have only 50 left." 



I then felt the weight of some of the 

 buckets, and said: 



