1880 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE. 



21 



m <%rci»km? 



[This department is to be kept for the benefit 01 

 those who are dissatisfied; and when anything if 

 amiss. I hope you will "talk right out." As a rule 

 we will omit names and addresses, to avoid being 

 too personal.] 



¥OU will remember I ordered the queens the 4th 

 of June, and you kept me waiting- for them 

 . till almost the last d»y of the month, which 1 

 do not think right. I should have hern better satis- 

 fied, if you had sent enough only to cover the money 

 received, and that at once. Your way of dealing 1 iV 

 not .hist the thing - , anil you need not' be surprised 

 when I tell von, I am done with you, and cannot 

 read your silly bosh with any gusto. 



Yours in disgust, E. M. G. 

 Oct. 30, 1879, 



Are you not a little hard on a body, friend 

 G.V It is true, we did not fill all orders for 

 queens promptly in June, and as we have 

 never been able* to do so, I have advanced 

 the price for that month, on purpose to give 

 us a little better chance to be prompt. You 

 remember you did not send money in accord- 

 ance with our advertised prices, and. judg- 

 ing from former cases of the kind, I thought 

 best not to attempt to fill the order, until I 

 had heard from you. Your reply unfort- 

 unately never reached us, but just as soon as 

 you informed me you had written, I sent the 

 queens at" once, without the money. Would 

 you, my friend, want to fill orders for queens, 

 from utter strangers, without the money in 

 advance ? You wrote once, I believe, that 

 they had done you but little good, for you 

 had lost 3 out of the four we sent you. Yon 

 surely did not mean to urge this as a reason 

 why you should not pay us? I know it is 

 very natural to want to' feel cross at some- 

 body, when we have had such losses, for it is 

 one'of my worst besetting sins, but have you 

 not noticed that we feel a great deal better 

 when we consent to bear our share, or a lit- 

 tle more, thus closing the matter up pleas- 

 antly, and then resolve to look out next time ? 

 If, in your judgment, my ways of dealing 

 have not been fair and honorable, tell me 

 what amount will make it so. and I will try 

 to pay it. I am sorry my writings have not 

 pleased you, but. as people's tastes differ so 

 widely, it would be rather strange if I should 

 succeed in pleasing everybody. As I seem 

 to please a great number, shall we not shake 

 hands pleasantly, as it were, as we bid each 

 other that final adieu you speak of ? 



Dear Sir : — J do not know as your patrons will 

 complain, but J think you are a little seUish in not 

 giving; O. E. Coon's full address until you secure all 

 of that brag seed to sell to us at a good profit. Now, 

 I should like some seed of him, or I will go without 

 it. And, still fmther: is it right for you to advertise 

 and recommend tbins-s that are of no earthly use to 

 anyunet for instance, that /iiv with the notch in it, 

 lor setting- saws, it was g-ood for nothing-; it crum- 

 bled all to pieces the first time f used it. Then that 

 Adams' Horse-Power, price $50.00, now piled with 

 thp waste lumber. When F wrote you to advise me 

 about getting- it, not one word did you answer. Now, 

 in your destroying- H. Alley's reputation in doing- 

 business, do you not think it will increase yours? 

 Friend Alley is a very honest man (I judge), and ex- 

 pats everyone to lie the same, and has trusted peo- 

 ple all over the different Mates. You try for one 

 year, and see if you can fill your bills more prompt- 

 lyffhan he does. .1. ChUiDS. 



Amherst. Portage Co.. Wis., D ( f V s, 1879. 



^ Steady, my friend. If you will read O. E. 

 Coon's letter over again, you will see he re- 

 fers to page 34(3, Avhere his full address is 

 given. I did not know until this minute that 

 the address was not on both letters. How 

 could we know your file was a poor one, 

 when you had never complained? We send 

 you another to-day. Tut, tut, friend C. ; I 

 gave a picture of the Adam's horse power, 

 it is true, but I did not, in so doing, guaran- 

 tee that you could make one that would be 

 satisfactory to you. Because you threw 

 yours away, does it follow that the idea was 

 a bad one? 



I beg your pardon if any letter or postal 

 was allowed to pass by unanswered; but, 

 friend C, as I have never had any practical 

 experience with horse powers, I don't know 

 how I could answer. I am very much oblig- 

 ed for the confidence the friends seem to 

 place in my judgment, but even though I do 

 know a little about bees, and machinery in 

 general, there are a good many things (yes, 

 and more too) on which my judgment would 

 not be worth a straw. Are you not a little 

 rough, about my trying to get friend Alley's 

 business? If I wanted to sell all the queens 

 myself, I should hardly be trying so hard to 

 have others help supply the demand. I cer- 

 tainly do not wish to destroy friend Alley's 

 reputation, but I do wish to have him take 

 better care of his customers. To prove it, I 

 will make this offer: in our May No., I will 

 ask for the names of those with whom friend 

 Alley has not settled satisfactorily. If none 

 reply, I will give him an advertisement of 1 

 inch, one year. This is worth $25.00 cash, 

 and he has 4 months time, in which to settle 

 up old accounts. 



i'adiez' ( 4k)mrin\enL 



•yjfteERHAPS, as I told you last spring how I started 

 v^£ with my bees, you would like to know the re- 

 — j j suit. I had twenty-five fair colonies when 

 white clover came into bloom. I increased to 38 

 colonics, all in good condition for winter, and took 

 about 1,780 lb. surplus — 400 lb. extracted, and the re- 

 mainder comb honey. I think even Mr. Muth, who 

 seems so particular, would be satisfied with the 

 straight combs of nice white honey, packed in my 

 honey room, waiting removal to market. 



COLOR FOB SHirPING-CRATES. 



By the way, I find pink an admirable color for 

 shipping--crates. It gives a fine appearance to the 

 honey. I do not think my bees gathered much from 

 white clover; but they worked like little beavers on 

 Alsike and red clover. Basswooddidnot yield much 

 here, on account of the high winds which prevailed 

 at the time it was in bloom, and, altogether, do not 

 think it has been an average year for honey here. 

 Mns. Rose Thomson. 



Cowlesville, N. Y., Nov. 25, 1879. 



Very well done, indeed, Mrs. T., for a sea- 

 son that everybody is complaining of. If 

 you succeed as well during good seasons, 

 you will soon be among the veterans. I am 

 very glad indeed to hear you have succeeded 

 in getting nice honey in the sections. I 

 wonder if getting nice comb honey is not es- 

 pecially woman's work ; I believe the nicest 

 filled sections I have ever seen were from an 

 apiary belonging to one of our women bee- 

 keepers. Will Mrs. T. please send us a bit 

 of wood painted with the shade she prefers ? 



