THE BEE-KEEPERS' REVIEW 



335 



of healthy bees held their own, and built 

 up just as well as the stronger colonies, 

 only they were longer, or later, in reach- 

 ing the same stage of strength. 



1 agree with Mr. Townsend that there 

 is such a thing as "young, old bees," that 

 is, bees that are old in days, but with 

 vitality unspent; and 1 have- believed that 

 1 would just about as soon have such 

 bees for wintering as those hatched in 



September or October, but my experience 

 of last winter and spring staggered that 

 belief— however, I am open to conviction. 

 Once more I must agree that it is better 

 to feed a plenty in the fall, and thus avoid 

 fussing with colonies in the spring: and. 

 in ordinary springs, we would not have 

 been compelled to add to the stores that 

 we gave in the fall, but last spring was 

 unusual.- Editor.] 



Some Vital Points in Building up a 

 Honey Market. 



M. V. FACEY. 



HILE this subject, on its i'ace, may 

 seem an easy one to write upon, it is, 

 in many respects, difificult. As I write, I 

 also realize that the capacity to excel as 

 a bee-keeper is much more .common than 

 to excel as a dealer, and yet I may be 

 able to give a few thoughts that will be of 

 general value. 



At the present time 1 have about 1,000 

 customers; but all my trade originated 

 with, and is based upon, my once, local 

 trade. 



□on't argue, but give the people what 

 they want. 



In building up this trade 1 have at all 

 times placed myself in the place of both 

 buyer and seller. You have, first of all, 

 to learn the tastes of your customers. If 

 you are building up a home trade, you 

 will, as you start out, find that one person 

 likes basswood honey, another clover, 

 another an amoer, and a fourth buck- 

 wheat. A great many salesmen will try 

 to persuade certain ones that their taste 

 is a mistaken one; that such and such 

 honey is better than the one their taste 

 calls for. This is a great mistake. No 

 man wants the salesman to dictate to his 

 tastes, as he knows perfectly well that 

 the honey he likes the best is the best for 



him; and this is what the wise salesman 

 should offer him. And right here I would 

 say that the idea of cultivating the public 

 taste for this or that kind of honey 

 is largely a mistake. People have their 

 tastes; they are largely fond of honey; 

 and, instead of cultivating a taste we only 

 have to cater to it. I find this is an art 

 that bee-keepers learn very slowly. We 

 are too apt to set up our own standard, 

 and expect everybody else to adopt it be- 

 cause it is ours; and thus, in the supposed 

 perfection of our own knowledge, we are 

 unable to detect our own defects. We 

 should rather, while we have an eye 

 turned upon the public, studying its de- 

 mands, have the other eye turned back 

 upon ourselves studying our own defects 

 of both trade and production. 



Therefore, instead of trying to build up 

 a trade by belittling your rival, you should 

 learn wherein his goods excel yours, and 

 bring your goods up to or beyond his 

 standard. See that your honey is the 

 best ripened, the best graded, and the 

 best put up, and then, as you go out and 

 sell this honey, people will appreciate it; 

 and when you havn a m.ar's honey trade, 

 and furnish Mm with such goods, he will 

 stick by you and will even give you a 



