62 ALEXANDER'S WRITINGS ON PRACTICAL BEE CULTURE 



honey into general use. Then when the poorer classes get into the habit 

 of using it on their bread in place of butter we would surely have a 

 large demand tor all we could produce. Most children are very fond 

 of honey, and will nearly always prefer it to butter if they have a 

 chance. This fact I often noticed in bringing up my family of four 

 children. Here is a tender spot with many parents. They will buy tor 

 their children many things that they would hardly think of buying for 

 themselves. 



This is where the sample package would count big. The child would 

 have some, then it surely would want more; and the indulgent parents 

 would commence to buy, and they too would soon like it and buy often; 

 but don't make your sample package too small. I would advise about a 

 pound. Be sure to have it large enough to do for a meal or two. A 

 mere taste would amount to nothing. Some may think to give away a 

 pound of honey is rather expensive in order to induce a family to pur- 

 chase some, so we will do a little figuring along this line. 



We will suppose a man has 10,000 lbs. of extracted honey for sale. 

 This at wholesale will bring him about $600. Now, if he gives away 

 1000 lbs. to as many families, and in so doing he finds 500 tamiles that 

 commence to buy his honey at 10 cents, this shows his customers have 

 cost him two pounds apiece or 12 cents each, and if they buy on an 

 average 18 lbs. apiece during the season he comes out $300 ahead, or 

 in other words, he receives $900 for the honey he would otherwise have 

 sold for $600. This $300 would pay for all expenses of selling, and he 

 would have a nice lot of customers to supply another year that had 

 really cost him nothing. This is a case where it is necessary to sow 

 before you can reap and like nearly all other cases you will reap accord- 

 ing to what you have sown. So I repeat, don't be afraid to give away 

 some honey in order to advertise your business. 



There is one thing we should all bear in mind; and that is, when 

 we get customers try hard to please them so as to supply them with 

 whatever honey they may want year after year. No business man can 

 afford to lose a customer if he can help it. First furnish a good article, 

 then offer it at a fair price, and always be square in your dealings. If 

 there is anything about your honey that is not as it should be, call 

 the purchaser's attention to it. Don't wait until after it is sold, and 

 then let him find it out as best he can. If you do, it is only natural that 

 he will be a little careful about buying of you again. It might be of 

 some help to have a circular go with each sample telling the value of 

 honey for many purposes, and how the children were delighted to have 

 it on their bread. 



I sometimes think that we as honey-producers have never taken 

 just the right course to bring our honey Into general use. It is all 

 right to teach the public as to its purity and healthfulness, but that 

 is not enough. We must go still further and show them that they can 

 save money by using it. When this is once accomplished we can then, 

 and not until then, let this question rest. I have retailed in small lots 



