65 



ADVANCED BEE-CULTURE. 



couragement is there to "develop the 

 home market?" Very Httle of my own 

 comb honey has been sold in the home 

 market. Many a time have I taken a case 

 of nice comb honey to some grocer and 

 "showed it up," with the hopes of mak- 

 ing asale: "Yes, that's very nice," would 

 be the comment, "How much do you ask 

 for it?" "Seventeen cents." "Whew! 

 Wh}' we are retailing honey at a shilling. 

 We buy it for ten cents and pay in trade 

 at that." I ask to see the honey. Then 

 some rough pine sections, daubed with 

 propolis and stuck fast in the receptacle 

 in which they were filled, are brought 

 forward. I call attention to the neater 

 and more tasty manner in which my hon- 

 ey is put up. "Oh, yes, your honey is 

 put up very nicely, but it isn't any sweet- 

 er than this." And the man was correct, 

 too; the honey itself fias, probably as good 

 as mine, but it lacked the dainty sur- 

 roundings. If I ventured to say that 

 such honey as mine was selling in Chi- 

 cago for eighteen cents, he would look 

 as though he doubted my word. If hon- 

 ey were selling at such figures in Chicago, 

 it would seem unreasonable that any one 

 would be fooling around home with it. 



The most of my honey that has been 

 sold in the home market has been of a 

 low grade — either dark, or the combs un- 

 finished. These lower grades of honey 

 bring almost as much in many home 

 markets as the choicest honey put 

 up in "gilt edge" style; while the 

 commission market of a large city is a 

 poor one for "off" grades of honey. To 

 many grocers in country towns, honey is 

 honey, much the same as butter is butler. 

 To me, it seems that there is a class of 

 consumers in large cities that concerns 

 itself very little about the price of an 

 article, provided the fancy is struck. 



The point is just here: the best honey 

 producing fields are far distant from the 

 best markets; the best place to produce 

 honey is not the best in which to sell it. 

 Such being the case, I have never seen 

 any great encouragement in trying to de- 

 velop a home market, particularly for the 

 finer grades pf comb Jjoney. When a 



man can send off his honey all in one 

 shipment, and done with it, and get an 

 advanced price, with the money all in a 

 "lump," again I ask what encouragement 

 is there for him to develop his home 

 market ? 



I am not writing in this way for the 

 purpose of discouraging the marketing of 

 honey near home. I am simply stating 

 facts as I have found them, and as I be- 

 lieve many of my readers have found 

 them. It must be admitted, however, 

 that no set rules can be given upon the 

 choice of a market. All must be greatly 

 governed by circumstunces. No doubt 

 there are many excellent home markets^ 

 and many more that might be "develop- 

 ed" until they were good, if a man with 

 plenty of time and patience should take 

 hold of the matter in the right way. If a 

 man is determined to build up a home 

 market, he will often be compelled to 

 leave his honey with grocers to be paid 

 for when sold. Comb honey must be 

 graded, and crated in crates with a glass 

 to show the honey, and dealers must be 

 visited regularly and kept supplied with 

 honey. In short, the customers must 

 be followed up and looked after faithful- 

 ly, the same as commercial travellers 

 look after their customers. Grocers must 

 be educated until they know that honey 

 must be kept in sight to be sold. If a 

 handsome display can be made in a front 

 window it will be a drawing card. There 

 should also be some convenient arrange- 

 ment for giving each interested visitor a 

 "taste" of honey, accompanying it by a 

 "honey almanac," or some other attrac- 

 tive, printed matter setting forth the de- 

 sirability of honey as a food. 



After all, an out and out sale of the en- 

 tire crop, for cash, at the end of the sea- 

 son, is the most satisfactory method of 

 marketing; but, only once, in my four- 

 teen years of bee keeping, have I been 

 thus fortunate. Although honey is a 

 luxury, it is not perishable like small 

 fruits, yet there are few wholesale dealers 

 who buy it out and out. The great bulk 

 of honey passes through the hands of 

 commission merchants. Are there any 



