1887 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE. 



409 



afford to pay double price to have a book well illus- 

 trated, as a matter of ssiving in time, it nothing 

 else. I bave been asked how it is I should siiy the 

 book has but one fault, when there is so little mat- 

 ter (aside from the advertisements) for the price 

 asked. To which I reply, it I did not say it before, 

 that when I said the book was too short 1 meant it 

 was too short for the price asked. Friend Hutchin- 

 son gives Mr. Doolittle credit in two places for 

 having vehemently urged, for years past, this very 

 point of not using foundation in the brood-ehainber 

 for new swarms. It has occurred to me that per- 

 haps a little more credit should bave been accorded 

 to friend Doolittle; but Mr. Hutchinson has written 

 so brietly that he was compelled to only touch or 

 hint at a good many things. 



WHOM SHALL WE TRUST V 



One of our advertisers sends us a colony of Ital- 

 ian bees by express, and writes as follows: 



Friend Root:— I get many incniiries about iny bees that I 

 advertised for safe iix Gleaninos— such inquiries as ' Have 

 you foul l>roo(l '. Are tliey gootl Italians ! Why do you sell so 

 "cheap ; Where did you get your queens to breed from ? Send 

 nie ten swarms. C. O. D. ; and if tliey are all right, I will buy 

 more." Mr. Root, yovi will see that my bees are all right by 

 the ones I send you. I bought the original queens for golden 

 Italians of Darrow & Ross, and every one is .is good .is the one 

 I send you, and some better. 1 lan send no bees C. O. D. While 

 it might be all right \vith some, with others it would be differ- 

 ent. I have 40 swarms to sell. No foul brood. 



J. R. Reed. Milford, Wis. 



Friend Reed sends us one of the colonies he 

 sends out, to convince us that his bees are all right; 

 but, nay friends, Thomas Horn did the very same 

 thing. All we can sa.v is. that the bees are good 

 fair Italians, and are well worth the price asked for 

 them. I do not believe it is practicable to send 

 bees C. O. D. There are people who would order 

 them, and when the bees got to the express office 

 the customer would not have the money to take 

 them out. There seems to be no other way but to 

 ask for cash in advance, or references from the 

 nearest bank; and I was on the point of saying, 

 that advertisers ought to furnish a reference from 

 the nearest bank. But Thomas Horn did this very 

 thing also; and yet he has damaged trade by the in- 

 .jury he has done, in the way of spoiling confidence 

 in our fellow-men, more than any one can estimate. 

 The only real remedy I can see in this dilticult mat- 

 ter is for each one to take pains to establish a repu- 

 tation for promptness and fair dealing, and it takes 

 months and years to do this. References from 

 your postmaster, banker, or express agent, are al- 

 ways in order, and we require such from every ad- 

 vertiser before his advertisement is inserted. If 

 anybody advertises bees or queens for sale, while 

 he has foul brood in his apiary, he deserves the con- 

 demnation all good men, and should be held up be- 

 fore the people at once; but I don't think there are 

 any who would do it. Nothing pleases customers 

 so much as sharp promptness in filling orders. Our 

 large trade In bees and queens has been mainly 

 built up by this one thing alone. We get better 

 prices than many of our advertisers, and people 

 are quite willing to pay better prices, providing 

 they have the assurance that their bees and queens 

 come by return mail or express, without any apolo- 

 gy, delays, or evasions. 



M.\KINO THINGS PLAIN WHEN WRITING. 



Oftentimes, in looking over the piles of commu- 

 nications which are written for Gleaninc5S, we 

 find it a great temptation to pick out those articles 

 which are written in a clear, plain hand, and on 

 onlj- one side of the sheet. But the articles of our 



old correspondents are. of course, picked out first, 

 and handed to the printei-s. But a writer who care- 

 lessly puts down his ideas without much attention 

 to punctuation or capitalizing is often obliged to 

 wait some time before his communication appears 

 in prim. If it ever does. Said article, when the 

 thought is dug out and properly cloth<!d, is often 

 one of the valuat)le communications. Editors can 

 not always write these over when they have access 

 to good articles plainly written and well worded. 

 The reason is, they don't have time to wade 

 through, correct, and readjust the sentences, so 

 that an intelligent reader will not be obliged to 

 pause and re-read to see what the writer is trying 

 to get at. What we want is good plain handwriting, 

 devoid of all nourishes (or "spider-legs," as our 

 proof-reader calls them) or unnecessary " curli- 

 cues." These things make the world a good deal of 

 trouble, to say nothing of the vexation for the 

 poor compositors, who often " see their dinners 

 vanishing Into illimitable perspective " after wres- 

 tling with a " hieroglyphic," when engaged on 

 piecework. The chief difficulty with many writers 

 is, that they do not end a sentence with a round 

 period, and then begin a little further on with a 

 capital letter; but instead they make the last part 

 of one assertion the first of another, and often we 

 can not tell what they mean. This often makes 

 some feeling in advertisements. To show what we 

 mean, please read this sign, which a barber once 

 had in front of his shop. Here is how he wrote it: 



What do you think I'll shave you for nothing and give you a 

 drink. 



The first customer read it thus: 



Wh.it do you think; I'll shave you for nothing, and give 

 you a drink. 



After being shaved, and asking for the drink, he 

 was disgusted to know that the sign should be 

 read: 



Please tell us, friends, how to read your " sign- 

 boards." 



CONVENTION NOTICES. 



The next meeting of the Darke Co. Union Bee-Keepers' Soei- 

 etv will be held at Greenville. O.. on Friday. Slav 27. 1887. 



J. A. Roe, Asst. See. 



The next meeting of the Northwestern Illinois and South- 

 western Wisconsin Bee-Keepers" Association will be held at 

 Rockton. 111.. May 24. 1887. O. A. Fuller, Sec. 



Cherry Valley. "ill. 



Williams Evaporator For Sale. 



Used but little, good as new. F. O. B. on cars, 

 with parts numbered, for filOO cash. 

 Kid W. H. HART, Poughkeepsie, N. Y. 



During May and ,lune I will sell nuclei colonies in 

 Simplicity frames at the following prices. 

 Three frame, with choice tested Italian queen, $4.00 

 Two " '• " " " " 3.00 



These colonies are first class in every respect, and 

 1 guaranteo safe arrival and satisfaction. 



lOd F. W. MOATS, The Bend, Defiance Co., 0. 



CHAPMAN HONEY-PLANTS. 



We can furnish very nice little plants for 10 cts. 

 If wanted by mail, add two cents each extra for 

 postage and packing. These are good strong 

 plants that came up themselves near our old plants 

 of last season. They will make good strong plants 

 this year, but will probably not bloom until next 

 year, A. I. ROOT, Medina, Ohio, 



