76 FOURTH ANNUAL REPORT 



Mr. York then read the following paper on 

 SELLING HONEY THROUGH GROCERS. 



The methods of selling honey through the grocery trade, 

 whether in cities or small towns, must be pretty much the 

 same in all essential respects. It will hardly pay to attempt 

 to sell honey from house to house, especially in cities. There 

 is~ already too much of the peddling or canvassing business 

 done there. It is becoming an unbearable nuisance to the 

 house-keepers. So I take it that the best way for the honey- 

 seller is to work through the grocers who are already 

 established and are supplying families with other things for 

 their tables. 



At present honey is considered by consumers a luxury, 

 or else is not bought on account of fear of its adulteration. 

 In either case it will be necessary to do considerable educat- 

 ing. Honey should be used more, and will be when once 

 the people come to know its value as a food, and also when 

 they can be assured that they are getting the absolutely 

 pure article every time they buy honey. 



But one of the main questions is, How put up honey so 

 that grocers will be induced to handle it? Of course it must 

 be in suitable or convenient packages. Comb honey will 

 always be retailed by the section, which usually weighs about 

 one pound. And the price should be for the best grades, 

 from 18 to 25 cents, depending upon the locality — or ability 

 of the consumers to pay. People who think they can afford 

 to pay 10 cents or more for a useless cigar certainly should 

 not object to paying 25 cents a pound for honey. 



Extracted honey, put up in neat labeled jars holding a 

 pound each, should retail for at least as much as a section 

 of honey. 



It is very important that honey of always the same grade 

 and flavor be bottled. If these characteristics are varied, 

 the consumer's suspicions are at once aroused, and he thinks 

 he is being swindled by an adulterated or mixed article. He 

 does not know that different kinds of flowers produce dif- 

 ferent flavored honeys. Where a bee-keeper or honey-dealer 

 has a mild-flavored honey, but of insufficient quantity to 

 supply his demand year in and year out, he can buy a 

 stronger-flavored honey to mix with the mild kind, and 

 thus increase his supply, and with about the same flavor. 



In order to do a bottling business of any magnitude, 

 or where one bottles several tons of honey a year, it is nec- 

 essary to be equipped to do it rapidly and well. A full 

 equipment will cost about $100, which includes hot-water 

 heater, a metal melting-bpx for 60-pound tin cans, and a 

 combined mixing and filling tank with jacket for holding hot 

 water. A firm with which I am familiar has such an outfit, 

 and can bottle about a half-ton of honey a day. 



This concern's melting-box holds 18 60-pound cans at 

 one time, and the bottle-filling tank about 100 gallons. It 

 also has a second filling tank holding about 50 gallons. This 

 latter tank is used mainly for melting granulated honey that 



