1909 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE. 



73 



signee lives in a city,the opportunity for inspection 

 is very limited. He may not have the car side- 

 tracked, possibly, for several days. He can not 

 very well get at it except in a big freight-yard, 

 vrhere there are hundreds of other cars closely set 

 in together; and even when he gets into the car 

 there is but very little opportunity for him to 

 look over the contents. The fact of the matter 

 is, even in large or small towns the honey can 

 not very well be looked over without removing 

 the entire shipment; and that, of course, means 

 acceptance; and even when removed, he finds the 

 front cases of comb honey sometimes faced with 

 the best goods, leaving the inferior out of sight. 

 Such examination as the consignee may make in 

 a car fails to a great extent to give an idea of the 

 contents of the entire shipment, and right here is 

 where the jangle comes. The shipper retorts to 

 the complaint of the consignee something in this 

 way: "The honey was shipped to you with the 

 privilege of examination before paying the draft. 

 The fact that you accepted it and paid the draft en- 

 titles you to no consideration. If it is not up to 

 specification you should not have accepted it." 



The consignee has very little redress in law if 

 the shipper is not disposed to arbitrate. He has 

 the whip hand and the law'^ on his side, and he 

 can do just as he pleases about making any al- 

 lowance for short weight, for improper grading, 

 or badly filled or off-colored sections. 



The great trouble with this sight-draft bill-of- 

 lading manner of doing business is that it begets 

 carelessness, not to say dishonesty, on the part of 

 the middleman who makes up the shipment, be- 

 cause he knows that the consignee will have very 

 little chance to examine the goods. If, further, 

 he puts the poorest down in the bottom or in the 

 back end of the car, and the best goods near the 

 door, he has the consignee at a great disadvan- 

 tage, for the latter may assume that the first run 

 will hold up clear through the car, accept the 

 shipment, and pay the draft. The result is a 

 nice little row; threats to show up the other fel- 

 low through the journals; lawsuits, etc. 



We know of no reason why carloads of honey 

 could not be shipped to a responsible house, and 

 paid for in ten days, like all other goods. This 

 puts a check on the shipper; and if the house is 

 responsible, and has a reputation for fair dealing, 

 a producer or middleman who collects the ship- 

 ment runs very little risk in getting his pay. He 

 will see to it that the noney is up to representa- 

 tion clear through the car. If it is not, the con- 

 signee can well afford to pay the expense of the 

 shipper to come and examine the goods and the 

 two appoint a referee to settle the difference. 



It may be said, however, on this kind of deal, 

 that some of the commission houses that are not 

 honest would take advantage of the fellow 

 at the other end of the line. Perhaps; but a lit- 

 tle inquiry will usually reveal who can be trust- 

 ed. Shippers would do better to deal only with 

 known and responsible houses rather than to be 

 attracted by glittering high prices from an un- 

 known concern. 



It would seem to us that a possible solution of 

 the whole difficulty, f)erhaps, would be, in the 

 case of unknown firms, to ship the honey freight 



• We showed thii to ocr atlorney since the above was written; 

 and he sayi if the consignee can ihoiv that the shipper misrepre- 

 sented the erading or weights he can recover, even thoagh he did 

 accept the car. 



c. o. d., but instruct the bank that the goods are 

 to be unloaded and examined thoroughly before 

 the draft is paid. It might take a week's time to 

 go through the shipment. In case the honey is 

 not accepted, the shipper should be notified by 

 wire, and either be asked to come on and take 

 charge of the goods or instruct some other house 

 to take them. 



There are two other objections to the general 

 plan in vogue of sight draft with the privilege of 

 inspection. If consignee rejects the car, the 

 shipper must immediately find another buyer. 

 Perhaps he can do it at once, but more often he 

 can not, in which case demurrage will be charged 

 up to him. Suppose it is cold weather; then the 

 honey in the mean time suffers irreparable dam- 

 ages. Suppose the car is bumped into by anoth- 

 er car and the honey broken. The railroad com- 

 pany is responsible; but it is not an easy matter 

 to prove and collect for damages. On the other 

 hand, if the consignee is allowed to unload the 

 car, the points of difference between the parties 

 to the sale can be settled while the honey is in 

 safety. 



The real seat of the whole trouble, after all, is 

 carelessness in grading, or, perhaps, we had bet- 

 ter say, in some cases dishonest grading. If the 

 goods are carefully packed, and up to standard 

 as to weight and for each grade, there will be no 

 trouble, even on the present basis. Such a policy 

 is bound to be a winner in the end; for more cars 

 can be sold at the same place, and probably at 

 higher figures, than the other fellows who are 

 known to fall below the grades called for. 



We have had so many complaints in the last 

 few years of these carload shipments that we feel 

 tempted at times to give all the facts, with the 

 names of the parties to the deals, and let the bee- 

 keeping public judge for itself. A little airing 

 is a good thing sometimes, and we may be oblig- 

 ed, for the good of the fraternity at large, to open 

 things up. But we much prefer not to do so if 

 matters can be adjusted between the parties. 



A POINTER TO THOSE BUYING QUEENS. 



We have been having some correspondence 

 with Mr. G. C. Greiner, one of the writers of 

 Gleanings, regarding queens for next year. We 

 sent him one lot of queens from a choice breeder 

 which proved to be satisfactory; but the second 

 lot did not come up to the first by considerable. 

 After some little investigation it developed that 

 the latter were from another breeder. We then 

 stated that the breeder of the first lot had died, 

 but that we had a few of her tested daughters 

 which we would sell for $5.00 apiece. But he 

 replied by saying he would much prefer to pay 

 $30.00, the amount he has appropriated, for 30 

 untested queens from an extra-choice breeder 

 than for six extra-select queens from that same 

 breeder at $5.00 each. His argument was this: 

 That out of the 30 untested he could himself se- 

 lect at least five or six queens that would be the 

 equal of our $5.00 queens; and, besides, have all 

 the others, two dozen, ranging in valuation from 

 $2.00 to $3.00. No, it did not pay him to buy 

 high-priced queens; but he thinks it is a good 

 practice to lay in a good stock of choice untested 

 queens from a fine breeder, and Mr. Greiner i-S 

 right. 



