1887 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE. 



207 



THE HOME OF THE HONEY-BEES FOR 

 1887. 



A GLIMPSE INSIDE AT THE WOUKERS. 



fROM time to time we liave given onr 

 friends notice of the imjirovemeiits we 

 have been making- We have recently, 

 as you know, erected another brick 

 bniidins.!'tix44, two stories and a base- 

 ment, to ac(U)mm()(Uite the increase of l)usi- 

 ness. We presume all the readers of 

 Gleanings will be pleased to take a view 

 of the Home of the Honey-Bees, where from 

 15,000 to 20.000 hives, and millions of sec- 

 tions, are made and shipped annually. 



That you may get a better view of the 

 place where the busy workers are laboring 

 in the interest of apiculture, we will get otf 

 a little way on an elevated spot and look 

 down upon the Home of the Honey-Bees. of 

 which the iloor room aggregates an acre or 

 more. Our view, then, is as seen on the 

 next page. That we might have a good 

 view of the surroundings, we told our en- 

 gravers to spare neither pains nor expense 

 in the execution of the picture, and our 

 readers are to judge for themselves. Dur- 

 ing our busy season things look very much 

 as in the engraving. There is, in the left, a 

 new freight depot where all our freight is 

 put, ready to be placed on the cars. This 

 building was erec^ted by the railroad com- 

 pany largely because the increase of our 

 busi'jiess demanded it. "We also load heavy 

 shipments directly on to box cars run down 

 on our side-track, right about where the lo- 

 comotive is standing. It is just pulling out 

 some flat cars which had lieen loaded with 

 lumber for hives. The main building in the 

 foreground you will recognize as the main 

 factory that'we have previously shown our 

 readers. The structure just below is our 

 new building. There all our sections, crates, 

 hives, etc.. are cut out by automatic machin- 

 ery, and there, too, all our tinwork is done. 

 Just over the main building you see our 

 barn and the top of the house apiary, the 

 former shown on page 984, Gleanings for 

 Dec. 15, 1886. 



We will suppose, dear reader, that you 

 have come for the purpose of making the 

 Home of the Honey-Bees a visit. You 

 know that our bee-friends are always wel- 

 come, and, entering the main building, you 

 pass up the stairway into the main office. 

 We will suppose that you have come, fortu- 

 nately, just when we have a little leisure. 

 After a little preliminary we begin by de- 

 scribing the room we tirst And ourselves in, 

 which is our office, 40x60, where all our 

 correspondence is conducted. Here are 

 from twelve to fifteen clerks at work, busily 

 writing. Yonder is the book-keeping de- 

 partment, where two or three ladies are 

 constantly at work on accounts. One of 

 them has the large index-book that contains 

 the names of over 20,000 different people 

 with whom we have had deal. This book 

 alone cost over .$75.00. "With so many names, 

 do yon wonder that once in a great while 

 our girls get the same man on two different 

 pages— that is. they have two accounts with 

 the same person, without knowing itV The 

 consequence is, he may get a statement, say- 



ing there is so much due him; and then a 

 few days later on, another to the effect that 

 he is owing us; and this time he gets mad ; 

 and when the girls get a " blowing-up " they 

 hunt the matter up and find where the 

 trouble is. 



At the right of the book-keeper is the lady 

 who oi)ens the letters and counts the cash. 

 This is one of the most important posts 

 in our business, for it requires some one 

 who can so apply the mind to the work that 

 nothing that is going on can draw awav the 

 least attention. When somebodv say's he 

 put so much money in a letter, and the clerk 

 who opens the mail declares there was a 

 different amount, or no money at all, there 

 is a chance for a quarrel, I tell you. Now, 

 if you will stop a moment I think I can ex- 

 plain to you right here why the friend who 

 sends the money is much more liable to be 

 mistaken than the clerk who opens the let- 

 ters. Now, if you don't wait until I ex- 

 plain, you will be inclined to say that one is 

 just as lial)le to be mistaken as the other. 

 I)ut you are wrong. See here : Bight under 

 her hand is a little drawer. In this drawer 

 is a printed postal card. This postal card 

 reads, '"My friend, your lettei', saying, ' In- 

 closed find 75 cts.,' is now in my hands, and 

 there is positively only 25 cts. in it instead 

 of 75. Both the letter and the envelope are 

 now in my hands while I write this card, 

 and there is no possibility of a mistake." 



The card does not read exactly like the 

 above, but it is the same in effect. If I am 

 piesent, the clerk often calls me to witness 

 that there is no more money, no postage- 

 stamps, and nothing inside of "the envelope, 

 or stuck on the other side of the letter, or 

 dropped out on the desk. The desk is a large 

 one, arranged expressly to avoid the possi- 

 bility of any thing being dropped : and the 

 clerk who presides makes it her every-day 

 business to watch over every copper witli 

 the utmost care. In fact, she has nothing 

 to do but to look after this one thing that 

 often makes so much hard feeling. Most of 

 the time, it is true, the friend who receives 

 the card writes back, saying that he trusted 

 it to his wife or neighbor, or somebody else, 

 and they put in the 25 cents in stamps, and 

 brought back the 75 cents in change, instead 

 of doing the reverse, or something of that 

 sort. At other times the friend who sent 

 the money declares positively there was no 

 such thing as a mistake on his i)art. and we 

 have to settle it as best we can. 



"We must get along, however; for if we 

 stop to talk about the other clerks' work as 

 we have this one. it will take a good while. 



There is Gle;anings desk ; here, the mail- 

 ing-desk ; there, a stenograplier's desk ; and 

 just back of him is the letter-press. There, 

 again, is another stenograjther. By the way, 

 we have now three shorthand writers, with 

 two type-writers and one caligraph. and the 

 whole are kept pretty busy, I tell you, and 

 even then some of our friends feel hard be- 

 cause our answers are so brief and unsatis- 

 factory. I assure you it is a pleasure, though, 

 to lie able to have every word you say in an- 

 bvver written down, especially when you 

 liave had experience by being overburdened 

 with business correspondence. Here is a 



