122 ADVANCED BEE CULTURE. 



of comb honey, says he prefers to sell it in a lump to some man who 

 wishes to retail it, while he will turn his attention to the production 

 of another crop of honey. But, even if a man does not retail his crop 

 of honey, there is no reason why he should not use care and good 

 judgment in selling it at wholesale. If the honey is to be sold on 

 commission, the most important point of all is that the commission 

 merchant be reliable. If in doubt, consult the editors of bee jour- 

 nals. Of course, they may sometimes make mistakes, but, usually 

 they are quite well informed regarding the reliability of the princi- 

 pal dealers in honey. After all, an out and out sale of the entire 

 crop, at the end of the season, is the most satisfactory, although so 

 high a price is not usually realized as when the crop is sold on com- 

 mission. Some bee-keepers make a business of wholesaling their 

 own honey, that is, selling it to the same class of buyers as patronize 

 the commission men. It requires some little time to work up such a 

 trade, but, once it is secured, it is easily held. The first thing is to 

 get a list of those men who use large quantities of honey. A local 

 druggist can usually furnish the namesof many of the manufacturing 

 druggists; the groceryman can give the names of the bakers; and an 

 advertisement in the journals will probably reach all of the bottlers 

 of honey. These lists of names should be arranged systematically. 

 Probably the Card system would be as good a form to have them in 

 as any that could be found. Samples of honey and prices should be 

 mailed out to these lists, and to those who inquire for samples. 

 Where a man has the time and ability to look after the matter, this 

 is really a very satisfactory method of disposing of large crops of 

 honey, year after year, at a substantial advance over what would be 

 secured were the honey consigned to commission merchants. 



