STATE EEE-KEEPERS' ASSOCIATION. lOI 



pecially children, and from that form of an advertisement I 

 increased my sales in two days from $6 to $34- 5o. I had signs 

 painted and nailed upon a tree, and I had very curious ques- 

 tions asked in regard to the honey produced, whether I got 

 it out of the trees, etc. ; but I took that as a form of advertise- 

 ment to introduce and sell honey, and found it very satis- 

 factory. 



KEEPING BEES ON A FLAT ROOF. 



"How many here have ever kept bees on a flat-roof 

 house ?" 



Pres. York — Mr. Purple here in Chicago used to keep 

 about twenty-five colonies on the roof. 



Mr. Muth — No, there is no objection at all. We produce 

 just as much honey in the city as you do in the country. 



Mr. Horstmann — Do I understand Mr. Muth to say that 

 you can produce as much honey in the city as in the country? 

 I think if he was in the center of Chicago he would find he 

 was mistaken. 



Mr. Muth — In Cincinnati you can take a hoj), skip and a 

 jump to go over the city, but that is much smaller, and we 

 have hill-tops where there is lots of sweet clover. In early 

 spring it is yellow, and in a week or two or three it is all 

 white as if a frost came; and we can produce as much honey, 

 near those hills as you do out in the country. I believe orie 

 man had there 350 pounds of honey to the colony, right in 

 Cincinnati. Of course, here you would not get the same r^T 

 suits. 



SELLING HONEY BY THE POUND OR CASE. 



"Should honey in the comb be sold by the pound or by 

 the case?" 



Dr. Miller— Yes. 



A Member — Whichever way you can get the most. 

 ■ Mr. York — I prefer to buy it by the pound. 



Mr. Niver — I prefer to sell it by the piece. I think mer- 

 chants prefer that, and greatly prefer it. My trade was in 

 the anthracite region of Pennsylvania, and I worked it for 

 10 years there, and found that it was much handier that way, 

 and my customers -got so they insisted on buying it that 

 way. There is no figuring for the merchant. He buys for 12 

 and sells for 15, and he knows just what his profit is. If 

 he buys by the pound it takes a good mathematician to tell — 

 he can't get it exact, and that is not pleasant for the mer- 

 chant. My idea entirely was to do the, best thing for the 

 merchant — pack the honey for him so that he will have as lit- 

 tle trouble as possible, and we work for that idea steadily, 

 arid that was one point I made : Pack in a case all exactly 

 alike ; if it was No. i, put everything in there that was No. i : 

 No. 2 do the same, and charge in accordance with its quality. 

 If the merchant had a fancy trade he was willing to pay a 

 fancy price ; if he had a cheap trade he took the cheap 

 quality. 



A Member — If the merchant buys by the pound, can he 

 figure by the piece ? 



