1885 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE. 



431 



Another thing, such a veil can not be handled as 

 veils usually arc, or the jilass would be brol«en. If 

 you are very noat and tidy in your habits, however, 

 may be you will think the fflass front is a very great 

 iraprovcnicnt. Friend Capehart will mail you one 

 per terms in his advertisement in last issue, if you 

 wish to try it. 



KEDUCED HATES BY KREIOH T ON BEE-HIVES, EX- 

 TRACTED HONEY, AND IMPLEMENTS GKN- 

 ERALLY, USED IN THE APIARY. 



At the Bee keepers' Congress in New Orleans, 

 the matter of freights was talked over pretty 

 thoroughly; and as we had a railroad man among 

 us, Mr. S. C. Boylston, General Freight Agent, of 

 Charleston, S. C, I suggested that wo instruct him 

 to properly present the matter before the proper 

 railroad officials. He has done so, and has accom- 

 plished enough, at least, so that he should have the 

 thanks of every bee-man north or south. Honey in 

 barrels or kegs can now be shipped as fifth-class 

 freight, or at the same rate of classification as 

 syrup and molasses. The rates on hives in the flat 

 and set up are about the same that wc had been ob- 

 taining from most of our large lines; but friend 

 Boylston has succeeded in securing a general class- 

 ification, so that, hereafter, railroad men need not 

 say they do not know what rates ought to be 

 charged for bee-hives, and so put them in as double 

 first-class (that is the rate they charge for shipping 

 looking-glasses), so as to be sure to get it high 

 enough. Friend Boylston is a fair typo of a real 

 live Southerner, and h<; is Just the man exactly for 

 the place he fills. Friend B. can doubtless furnisli 

 printed leaflets containing this classification, which 

 you are to get and submit to your own railroad 

 agent, if he is not posted. The new classification 

 took effect.Iune 3, ]88,5. We will publish a letter from 

 Mr. B., in the next issue. 



WHO SHALL BEAR THE LOSS? 



Suppose A ships B ten pounds of bees, with a 

 (lueen with each, and they arrive at their destination 

 dead. In such a case, the usual way has been for A 

 to send another lot, and so on, until he succeeds in 

 getting the whole to the destination in good order. 

 If A is so unskillful that ho loses money badly be- 

 fore he gets through, he had better give up ship- 

 ping bees and (lueons. But suppose, friends, aft- 

 er the first lot arrives at the destination dead, B 

 says he does not want any more because it is so late 

 in the season, or something of that kind. Shall he 

 receive his money back, and leave A to shoulder 

 the whole of the heavy loss? This question comes 

 up almost every season, and I do not know that a 

 decision has been made in regard to it. Of course, 

 a good deal would depend on what A advertises to 

 do. If he simply advertises to replace all lost in 

 transit, I can not see whj^ he should be asked to re- 

 fund the money, unless he chooses to return a part 

 of it, rather than to undertake further shipments; 

 and my decision would be, that in no case should A 

 be asked to return the full amount, shouldering 

 the whole loss himself. Shipping bees and queens 

 is necessarily a risky business; and in view of this 

 I would caution new hands to beware about making 

 their printed prices lower than tUey can stand, in 

 case of such contingences as the one I have men- 

 tioned. Of course, A should be prepared to send 

 more bees promptly as soon as he knows his first 

 shipment was a failure. If he can not do this, he 

 should discount on the prices in accordance with 



the amount of time that elapses. Of course, the 

 later in the season bees are sent, the less would be 

 their- value. 



BEINO IN HASTE TO SHIP OOOMS BACK THAT DO 



NOT PLEASE YOU, BEFORE YOU HAVE HAD 



ORDERS TO DO SO. 



There arc few things in business that so vex and 

 try my patience as this fashion that has, by some 

 means or other, got h6ld of some of the friends. I 

 suppose it is sometimes done because of ill humor 

 in being disappointed; and things that arc done in 

 ill humor are seldom wisely done. Let me explain 

 to you how it works. We do an immense trade in 

 scales for bee-keepers, for instance, and may be 

 furnish them at prices that have been hitherto un- 

 known. We are enabled to do this by buying large 

 shipments of the manufacturers; and then comes 

 the question, " How small a margin can we work 

 on?" Perhaps we could handle the goods with a 

 margin of only 10 per cent, if wc could be safe from 

 losses in the way of goods injured in transit, mis- 

 takes in addresses, and other incidentals. To guard 

 against defective goods being sent out, we make ar- 

 rangements with the manufacturer that he is to 

 make good all defects at his own expense; then 

 when a complaint comes we direct the complaining 

 party to ship it straight to the factory, and we send 

 him another one from here. This all goes nicely 

 unless our friend gets vexed in finding his scale de- 

 fective, and shii)s it to us by express, without ask- 

 ing for orders in regard to its disposal. When it 

 gets here by express the charges arc more than the 

 profit we make on half a dozen scales, and it has to 

 be shipped again, may be to some of the Eastern 

 States. What should he have done? Why, he 

 should have written on a postal, "Mr. Root, this 

 scale does not weigh right, and we can not fix it. 

 What shall we do?" Our answer would have been 

 almost equally brief, "Get it repaired if you can, 

 and we will pay charges. If you can not conven- 

 iently, ship it to , and notify us by return mail, 



and we will replace it at our own expense." 



Sometimes goods are returned to us by express 

 when the nature of the break nuikes them entirely 

 worthless; and charges toward a dollar or such a 

 matter have to be paid in express charges, or else 

 the innocent express companies suffer. I have 

 heard of shipping back dead fruit-trees, instead of 

 informing the shipper that they had been delayed 

 so long on the way that they were perfectly worth- 

 less. Have you any legal or moral right to burden 

 one of your fellow-men in the shape of charges on 

 any kind of goods before he has had an opportunity 

 to even consent to your act of re-shipping? Has 

 anybody any right to send any one any thing by 

 express, unless he has been ordered to do so? If 

 you pay charges to destination, that is another 

 thing, to be sure; but even then I think it best to 

 get permission before you ship the goods. It is a 

 trouble and bother to us to have goods sent here that 

 we do not want here, even if the charges are paid. 



DP WITH ORDERS 



I am up with spring ordei's, and can send queens 

 by return mail. If you want untested Italian 

 •lueens, reared from imported mothers, send !?1.00 

 for one; f 1.90 for two; -55.00 for six : .•?!MK( lor i;:. 



Address W. S. CAUTHEN, 



12 13-Ud Pleasant Hill, S, C, 



