STATE BEE-KEEPERS ASSOPIATION. 133 



< 



. Like all other problems in connection with bee-keeping, 

 that of establishing and maintaining a home market is a sub- 

 section of the question supreme from a business standpoint — 

 How to secure the best profits or the highest returns for the 

 investment of money, time and brains. In the matter of -sell- 

 ing his product, shall the bee-keeper become wholesaler, or 

 retailer, or both, or neither? If he is neither, he may put his 

 honey up in large packages and sell to a few firms, possibly 

 only one. He has few packages to fill and handle, few sales 

 to make and few shipments. This requires small expense of 

 money and time, and time is money. Let me repeat, time is 

 money ! Always money to those who do not lack either 

 health or ambition to attain the highest business success. To 

 sell to the wholesaler direct, then, cuts down the expense 

 account. It has this advantage: It also brings a low price 

 because the other two sellers must have their respective mar- 

 gins. It sends more honey to the large cities and tends to 

 reduce the retail price there. If it leaves a shortage at home 

 there if a double loss. Does the advantage counterbalance 

 the disidvantage ? Every man must answer for himself. 



If^the producer becomes wholesaler he saves the latter's 

 profit lo himself, provided his reputation is good and he 

 knows enough to ask the right price. He also keeps the honey 

 nearer home, avoids the glut of large city markets, and 

 saves freight-rates. On the other hand, more time must be 

 spent in canvassing for sales, putting honey up in smaller 

 packages, and collecting small accounts. 



When the producer becomes retailer the price is again 

 increased, and usually also the expense. The small producer 

 may be fortunate enough to sell his entire crop at the house 

 with little expense. Further sales must be made by a house- 

 to-house canvass. This takes time and travelling expense, 

 but honey is thus taken into houses where it might never 

 be used, and the increased consumption and gain in price 

 will probably pay for the extra expense. The farther one 

 gets from home in retailing honey the greater the expense, 

 until a point is reached where the expense eats up the profit 

 and wholesaling must be resorted to. In this also a point 

 is reached where it will pay to ship the balance to wholesale 

 firms or commission men in the large cities. These are a 

 few of the points to be considered in deciding how best to 

 dispose of the honey. 



The home market depends largely upon the bee-keeper 

 himself. He must put up a uniformly good article at a uni- 

 form price. Supply honey in whatever form the trade de- 

 mands, but use every effort to educate people to buy it in the 

 cheapest form, that is, extracted honey granulated, in tin, 

 wood or paper. Push the sale of large, cheap packages. Do 

 not sell a pound bottle, hoping that the next order will be a 

 lo-pound pail. Families will take a S-pound pail every Satur- 

 Ji^l^J' , , ; .; day when, if shown a 2-pound package, they would probably 

 cut down their weekly order to that. Last season a local 

 dealer showed in his window a 6o-pound cake of granulated 

 white-clover honey, having removed the tin with a can- 



^{^m^ 



■^>^;iz- 



