THE BEEKEEPERS' REVIEW 259 



but let it be planned, organized and conducted in accordance with 

 facts. To form a society along wrong economic lines might work 

 an injury to the honey business from which it would not recover 

 for years. 



The Development of the Home Market. — The selling of honey 

 directly to the consumer has frequently been advocated. Not all 

 beekeepers are so situated that they can do this, but where the 

 development of a home market is possible it is more profitable than 

 any other method of selling honey. Honey, unlike many other 

 agricultural products, is not a necessity. It never appears on the 

 tables of thousands of families, not because the members of the 

 family do not like honey, but because they never see it or hear 

 about it. Evidently there is no overproduction at present. Success 

 in selling directly to the consumer is based on the fact that under 

 normal conditions the amount produced is not adequate to supply 

 one-tenth of the demand which can easily be created. We buy most 

 of our food products through grocers, except that certain quickly 

 perishable products may be rushed to the consumer by the pro- 

 ducer or his agent. Honey is not perishable but for some reason 

 the house to house method of selling has proved more profitable 

 than any other. This may be due to the diversity in the honeys 

 put on the markets, which makes it difficult for grocers to sell 

 and to the failure of beekeepers to realize the desirability of blend- 

 ing honeys. 



The successful honey salesman combines the producer, the 

 blender, the advertiser, the traveling salesman and the grocer and 

 by doing the work of all he gets the profits of all, provided he 

 demands the proper price, which many beekeepers fail to do. Not 

 every beekeeper can or desires to do this work, but if through the 

 National Beekeepers' Association the beekeeper who wishes to buy 

 honey for his market can get in touch with the beekeeper who 

 has honey to sell but who has no home market both are benefited. 

 So long as the supply of honey is so meager it is still a question 

 whether the development of more extended markets will pay. 



The chief reason why beekeepers should advocate the develop- 

 ment of home markets is to keep honey away from the large honey 

 markets, where the prices are determined. At present extracted 

 honey is as low as ever before, because so much of it is piled up in 

 the honey market centers with no buyers. The American people 

 could eat in a couple of weeks, without indigestion, all the honey 

 now on these markets and would gladly pay several times the price 

 now asked if someone would only take it to them. 



The development of the home market is not in harmony with 



