2.56 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE. 



May 



We are now importing our tin direct from Eog-- 

 land, and hope to be able to give prices second to 

 none. 



Will our friends observe that we sell all goods by 

 tens and hundreds, instead of the old hard-to-reckon 

 style, of dozens? 



We have a fine lot of nice healthy one-year-old 

 Simpson roots now, that we can sell for 3c. each; 2.50. 

 for 10, or $1.00 per hundred. If wanted by mail, send 

 2c. each extra. » 



Parents, if you want a magazine that your chil- 

 dren will surely read, and one that will not teach 

 skepticism, either directly or by pointedly ignoring 

 God, subscribe for Artliu7's Home Magazine. Its 

 teachings are helpf u', and based on the solid Rock. 



We do not wish to purchase any queens, except 

 dollar queens, and we will, until further notice, pay 

 a dollar apiece for them, and sell them for a dollar 

 and a half. You can doubtless buy them cheaper 

 elsewhere: but at the above price we are going to 

 try to send them by return mail. 



Several of the friends have remonstrated be- 

 cause we have not replied to the unkind things that 

 have been said in regard to dollar queens, and those 

 who make a business raising them. It is because I 

 have a sort of feeling that the best reply we can 

 make is to keep on raising and sending out extra 

 nice queens, and //ley will do the talking, just as they 

 have done all along. 



Ouu friend "M.," assisted by George and mj-self, 

 has just gotten up a little book to enable everybody 

 to tell what all kinds of printing will cost, from a 35c 

 label up to the finest catalogue or price list. So far 

 as I know, it is the first time prices on job printing 

 have been reduced to a fixed rule, so every custom- 

 er will be charged a uniform price every time, and 

 any one can tell what that price should be. The lit- 

 tle circular will be mailed on application. 



OCR prices for bees by the pound in April were 

 high, and 1 think all will agree they should be, after 

 they have taken a pound or two from a colony and 

 seen how it woi-ks. In just a few days there will be 

 a decline; and with our 300 colonies we expect to be 

 able to fill every order as soon as received. We may 

 run short of dollar queens, but I think we shall be 

 able to supply any demand for any thing else. A 

 large lot of imported queens are expected this month. 



We would be glad of facts in regard to the Dzier- 

 zon Theory, but for the present I can not think it 

 worth while to arouc the case over again. Those in- 

 terested would do well to go over the first few vol- 

 umes of the American Bee Journal. After you see 

 how much has been said and written already, per- 

 haps you will agree that it is not best to take the 

 whole matter up again, unless we can have some- 

 thing that has not been gone over several times be- 

 fore. 



Our enterprising friend Bingham sends us a new 

 smoker which he calls the "Conqueror." It is not 

 only nicely made, and beautifully finished, but it is 

 a "great big smoker." In fact, the capacity of both 

 bellows and fire-pot is almost as great as that of our 

 50c. smoker. In this respect it is the first smoker I 

 have seen, of any kind, at any price, as large as our 

 50c. one. 1 filled them both with beans, so I know 

 exactly how much they hold. The price is $2 00, in- 

 cluding postage. 



Several of our advertisers are scolding because 

 their advertisements were taken out, when they 

 wanted them continued; and one or two have talked 

 unkindly about it. Dear friends, it pains me greatly 

 to find I have not conformed to your wishes; but 

 still more to have you intimate that I have been 

 uncourteous purposely, for I do not know of a single 

 one who advertises with us whom I am afraid to 

 trust. The whole trouble is, that you do not tell us 

 you wish it continued, and you certainly would not 

 wish us to do so without orders. When j-ou send it 

 in, say "until forbid," and I will assure you the 

 clerk will never take it out until you so direct. 



Beau in mind, friends, it is everybody's privilege 

 to go into the Square List or not, as they choose, 

 and in either case nothing unkind should be said be- 

 cause you differ in opinion. Let us look at it this 

 way ; During the past year quite a number of you 

 have eaid in your communications, in substance," If 

 anybody has been displeased with any business 

 transactions with me, will he please give menotieeV" 

 You know peop'e sometimes feel hard, but keep it 

 to themselves. Well, to give space to let a great 

 many say this same thing over again, would take 

 too much room, and yet it would be almost un- 

 courteous to refuse. The department brings f.ll 

 such friends together, and a single line tells it all. I 

 would gladly put it all in free of ch;u-gc, were it not 

 that it would fill the paper with matter of not very 

 great general interest. If it be thought advisable, 

 we may soon have it in a little book that will be sent 

 free to any one who wants it. It will thea be virtu- 

 ally a reporter of the standing uf the bee-men of the 

 world. We know the standing and habits already of 

 almost every one who advertises ' bee-flxins'." Shall 

 bee-men be graded, as merchants and grocers are? 



DECLINE IN PRICE OF FDX. MILLS. 



By far the greater part of the fda. now used for 

 brood-apartment is for L. frames, and the most of 

 this, of late, of the size for wiring. Now, to fill 

 frames in the way I have directed, and do a nice job, 

 we want the sheets at least ."'3 x IT^si as given in the 

 price list, or, if any thing, 1-16 larger each waj\ 

 Well, a 9-inch mill is hardly wide enough to work 

 easily with so little margin, and we have therefore 

 had a lot of mills made with the new cell described 

 on another page, with 10-inch rolls, that we can sell 

 for an even $25.00. They roll thin strips for starters, 

 as well as fdn. for the brood-chamber, and give such 

 a good wall, with so thin a base, for a sum of money 

 so little in advance of the cost of the rubber plates, 

 that we shall, for the present, drop the latter. If 

 you want my advice, it is to use the L. frame, and 

 have one of these $35.00 mills — nothing larger, noth- 

 ing smaller. One of them is worth more in our wax- 

 room to-day, than the old back-gcai-cd mills that 

 have cost toward a hundred dollars. It is the im- 

 provement in the cell that has made it possible for 

 so small and light a mill to do the work. 



•— « — • 



spectacles. 



A BIG trade has grown up in the 10 cent spec- 

 tacles; and to help you in ordering, I would say that 

 the number of the glasses has no direct relation to 

 the age of the weai-er, but they only indicate the fo' 

 cal distance of the lens. Thus, take a pair num- 

 bered 24, and you will find, by using it as a burning- 

 glass, that it collects the sun's rays into that bright 



