THE BEEKEEPERS' REVIEW 299 



rate, than if he uses only one. The car rate of freight is usually 

 about half what it is in small or local shipments. 



Then when it comes to liquifying and packing, the large packer 

 will do three times the amount of work with his fuel, and will not 

 have the waste, because his equipment is more perfect ; and he will 

 have his equipment in use all the time, while the individual bee- 

 keeper will have his lying idle most of the time. 



Then when it comes to selling, he has an advantage of about 

 five to one over the small beekeeper ; for the following reasons : the 

 beekeeper wants to sell honey when he has it, and all at once if pos- 

 sible; and the packer will sell honey when the trade wants it, and 

 in such quantities as they demand. The beekeeper builds up the 

 demand, then his stock is exhausted ; and by the time the next crop 

 comes, the demand has to be rebuilt. 



On the other hand, the large packer furnishes a steady supply 

 by careful grading of the same kinds of honey from various dis- 

 tricts thus furnishing a uniform run. 



The local beekeeper may have a large crop of fine white honey 

 one year, and the next his crop will be small and off grade, and this 

 tends to breed distrust and dissatisfaction among the consumers. 



Then comes the work of creating the demand. The small pro- 

 ducer can not afford to carry on a large and steady system of adver- 

 tising, while that is part of the packer's business. Then when the 

 beekeeper starts out to sell his product, he has but the one thing 

 to sell, and his sales will not be large enough to warrant his using 

 much money for railroad fare. He will also probably find that 

 there have been several beekeepers over the same territory and 

 for this reason he does not make nearly as many sales as he expect- 

 ed to. 



As he expects to make only the one trip, for as soon as his crop 

 is sold he is done, he places as large a stock as possible; with the 

 result that the greater portion of it granulates before it is sold by 

 the grocer, and that makes the grocer disappointed. 



The man selling for the large packer, is the traveling man for 

 the jobbing house. He makes his route every week or two, and as 

 he sells several hundred other articles, he is willing to place small 

 orders, which allows the grocer to keep a fresh stock. As this 

 stock is shipped with a large shipping order of other goods, and 

 from a central point, the freight to the grocer is of but little conse- 

 quence. 



And now for a few of the things that serve as a drawback to 

 the honey market. 



