Marketing of Honey. 



C/^ fx^O RAISE a good crop of honey 

 cheaply, and to sell it to the 

 best advantage, are two quite 

 distinct processes, requiring 

 greatly varying qualifications. Seldom 

 do we find all these qualifications in the 

 highest degree combined in one person. 

 I believe the majority of bee-keepers are 

 better bee-keepers than they are business 

 men; or, perhaps, salesmen is more nearly 

 the proper word to use. Many of them 

 can't get far enough away from a bee 

 hive to sell the honey that has been stored 

 in it — or think they can't. Every energy 

 is bent to the securing of a great crop; 

 having secured it, many a bee-keeper is 

 actually puzzled as to how to put it up- 

 on the market in the best shape, or how, 

 or where, to sell. Mr. McKnight, of 

 Canada, says, "The product of no other 

 industry is put upon the market in such 

 a cumbrous, uncouth and slovenly form." 

 This may seem a little over-drawn, but it 

 is worth thinking of. The improvements 

 in the last few years, however, have been 

 very great, and I think the remark of Mr. 

 McKnight could not be applied to the 

 honey put up at present by many of our 

 bee-keepers. 



Let's suppose that the honey is all ready 

 for the market — put up in the most ap- 

 proved style, considering the market to 

 which it is to go — how shall it be sold and 

 who shall sell it ? Some men are born 

 salesmen. To these there is no question 

 as to Z£/Ao shall sell their honey; that is, 

 if they are so situated that they can visit. 



personally, the market in which they wish 

 to sell. If a man is a poor salecsman , the 

 best thing he can do, unless he can learn 

 to sell honey, is to employ some expert to 

 sell his honey for him. This means that 

 some commission man will handle it, or 

 else that it will be sold so cheaply that 

 the buyer can afford to spend his time in 

 finding customers. 



Dr. A. B. Mason, of Ohio, once told, at 

 a Mich. State Bee-Keepers' Convention, 

 how two men and a woman sold thousands 

 of pounds of honey in large cities. One 

 man, provided with a map of the city, 

 systematically canvassed, with samples 

 of honey, taking orders and marking up- 

 on the map the location of each sale. 

 The other man, guided by the marked 

 map, delivered the honey. When not de- 

 livering honey, he assisted the women 

 in liquefying and putting up honey for 

 delivery. . Here was a work entirely dis- 

 tinct from honey production. Here was 

 specialty. Not only the specialty of sel- 

 ling honey, but each had a special part 

 to perform, learning it to perfection. 



Much, both wi e and unwise, has been 

 said about developing home markets. 

 Much depends upon the kind of home 

 market there is to develop, and the kind 

 of honey there is to be sold; yes, and up- 

 on the man. When the market is sup- 

 plied with "farmer honey" — that raised 

 with a lick and a brush — that is sealing 

 at retail for two-thirds what a first class 

 article will net when sold by a commis- 

 sion man in a distant city, how much en- 



