CHAPTER XIV 
MARKETING THE HONEY CROP 
Tue first essential to the successful marketing of any com- 
modity is to have a good article put up in attractive shape. One 
of the worst drags on the honey market is the quantity of honey 
that goes to the store in propolized and unscraped sections, with 
travel stain, dirt, and leaking honey. It would require a custo- 
mer who had a confirmed honey taste to even think of honey after 
looking at the article too often offered for sale. It is a for- 
tunate thing for the business that honey production is rapidly 
passing into the hands of specialists who know how to prepare 
their product for market in attractive condition and that the 
small farm apiaries are rapidly passing away in most places. 
There is no good reason why honey in small quantities might 
not be as well cared for as large quantities. Too many who have 
but a few colonies of bees regard whatever honey is secured as 
that much velvet, and are satisfied to take it to the store in the 
easiest way possible and to accept such a credit on the grocery 
bill as the merchant is willing to give. 
COMB HONEY 
Grading.—The bee-keeper who wishes to establish a per- 
manent market cannot place too much importance on carefully 
grading his product so that every package will be uniform with 
others of the same grade. 
There is more carelessness, as yet, in the preparation of the 
honey crop for market than any other staple food product. For 
some reason the bee-keeper has not kept pace with other enter- 
prises in the marketing of his crop, and to this he owes, to a 
great extent, the fact that honey does not bring as good prices 
as some other commodities. 
Some confusion has resulted in the different grading rules 
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