1882 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE. 



47 



not rear a queen like the one you mention, 

 although I confess I have never met one 

 that so persistently refused to start cells. 

 While reading your account, I was at Jirst 

 satisfied that the hive had some sort of a 

 wingless or imperfect queen ; but after you 

 said they received the black queen, I was 

 rather inclined to give iip that position ; but 

 still, they may have had such a queen, and, 

 finding her "'no good,*' gladly took up with 

 a fertile queen when presented to them. 

 Cases like yours are so rare I hardly think 

 we should consider them to sjioil the gener- 

 al rule, that, when no cells are started. Ave 

 are to presume a queen of some kind is 

 present. 



FRIEND ALIiEV'S EXPIi.lNATION. 



S REGRET very much to be obliged to appear in 

 print in defense of myself; but as Mr. Neads, of 

 Canada, did me great injustice by making the 

 statement he did in the December number of 

 Gleanings, I feci compelled to make some reply. 



The facts in the case are these: Mr. Neads, it 

 seems, ordered a queen through a friend. She was 

 sent him, but died in the mail. I think it was rather 

 too late in the season to replace her. Mr. Cornell, 

 the person who ordered the queen, demanded the 

 $1..50 returned to him. I replied that I did not ad- 

 vertise to send queens and money too, and think I 

 offered to send him 75 cents or send him another 

 queen In the spring. I wrote Mr. Root that I would 

 remit half the amount sent me, and am quite sure 

 that he thought I was right, and should not do more. 

 Well, I heard nothing more about the affair till 

 some time last September, when Mr. Neads stated 

 the case to me, and I promptly mailed him a queen. 

 I think he must have had his queen in the 7 days 

 from the time he penned his postal to me. Now, It 

 takes 6 or T days to get a reply from Canada in all 

 cases. Now, friend Neads, are not the above facts? 

 And further, did you notify me before September 

 that there was a queen due you? I do not send out 

 queens in such cases till the parties notify me they 

 are ready for them; then I will fill all such orders as 

 promptly as the thing can be done. I will say here, 

 that if any person has any claim on me for queens, 

 either for impurity or dead ones, when received, I 

 will send them queens till they are well satisfied, and 

 get what they pay for, if it takes $100 to till the bill. 

 All I ask, is for such ones to notify me in Maj-, or at 

 any time they are in need of queens. 



Now, friend Root, give all such parties a chance to 

 show me up in Gleanings. If all is not made satis- 

 factory, don't blame me for It, for I am ready to do 

 more than my part. I have been doing this business 

 for 20 years, and never have cheated or swindled 

 any man, so far as I know. Some complain because 

 I do not reply to their letters promptly. Friends, it 

 is Impossible for me to do so. I have more than one 

 man can do from May to October. I do not do much 

 in the bee business from October to January. I am 

 away from home much of the time during these 

 months,asI get no chance to go during the warm 

 weather. 



About 75 queens were stolen from the mails that I 

 had shipped; that caused some trouble, and was 

 very annoying to me; $25.00 in queens or cash will 

 settle any account against me. If those who would 

 rather have half the amount in cash than another 



queen, lot them saj- so, and they won't find it neces- 

 sary to write Mr. Root about the matter. 

 Wenham, Mass., Dec, 1881. H. Alley. 



I hope, friends, this matter may be drop- 

 ped now, even if something does still re- 

 main to be said. Friend Alley agrees to 

 make all claims on him good ; and if he does 

 this, is not that enough ? As I have before 

 said, it is my opinion, where a queen-rearer 

 has lost a queen in the mails, he should have 

 the privilege of making it good by sending 

 another. If his customer demandthe mon- 

 ey back instead of letting him try again, I 

 should say, as a general rule, he should be 

 entitled to no more than half of it. This is, 

 of course, subject to conditions, and a rea- 

 sonable degree of promptness should be one 

 of them. 



TIN BOXES FOR RETAILING HONEY 



IN SMALL "DOSES." 



M T the convention, friend Jones exhibit- 

 J^^ ed tin cans, or boxes, for honey, for 



' not only 1 lb., but also for i, I. and i 



of a pound. I believe they were to be re- 

 tailed for 25, 15, 10. and 5 cts. respectively. 

 If I am correct, friend Jones sold 40,000 lbs. 

 of honey this season, put up in these pack- 

 ages. You carry to your grocer the tin 

 boxes and nice labels, and let him fill them 

 himself from cans of honey sold him in the 

 bulk. Or he can sell for a commission, as 

 you find most agreeable. The little boxes 

 can be used for a lunch, and this serves to 

 give people a sample and a taste for the 

 honey. We are making arrangemiints for 

 making them all at the following prices : — 



White labels in one color, one-half the 

 above prices. Names and address can not 

 be put on the labels, unless 500 or more are 

 taken at one time. These labels are to go 

 round the can, and cover the joint where the 

 cover goes on. A nest of all four, neatly la- 

 beled, as samples, will be furnished for iOc; 

 if wanted by mail, 20 cents. 



Now, there are almost always two sides to 

 every question, and our good practical friend 

 Mu til has just sent in the objections to this 

 manner of selling honey : — 



I have had a very good honey trade this fall and 

 winter. My sales during 3 weeks in October were 

 about 23,000 lbs. of extracted honey; about 15,000 lbs. 

 of it, 28 barrels, were sold by the barrel, and almost 

 all the remainder in our 1-lb. square jars. All of 

 these 1-lb. jars were sold to my city customers, part- 

 ly in shipping order, and partly in open crates for 

 city trade. Only about 10 gross were shipped to 

 neighboring cities. These one-pound jars of honey 

 have become quite an article of trade. You can see 

 them in every one of our business houses doing bus- 

 iness in that line. Our clover crop having been 

 short, we had to bottle darker honey than our cus- 

 tomers were in the habit of getting. But, consura- 



