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ITtli daj-, no swai-m need be expected. 

 When it is lieai-d, which will be in 

 nineteen cases out of twent}-, on the 

 8th day, 1 go early in the morning and 

 take every frame out of the hive, shak- 

 ing the bees off of each (in front) as I 

 take thera out and return them again, 

 so I shall be sure and not miss a queen- 

 cell, but cut all off, for we know that 

 a queen has hatched. 



This is a sure plan, while I have 

 found by experience that none of the 

 other plans given are sure of the pre- 

 vention of after-swarms. The colony 

 is now boxed to its full capacity, and 

 if the queen gets to laying all right, 

 it will produce a larger amount of 

 comb honey than the swarm will. In 

 21 days from the time the swarm is 

 hived, young bees will begin to hatch 

 so as to reinforce that colony, so on 

 the 23rd to the 25th day after hiving, 

 I give the full capacity of surplus room 

 to this also, which teuds to keep thera 

 from having a desire to swarm again. 

 In this way the very best results are 

 secured, the same being what I have 

 practiced successfully for years. 



Borodino. N. Y. 



BUSINESS. 



Pertinent Suggestions About 

 Ordering Bee-Supplies. 



Written for the American Bee Jawmal 



BY A SUPPLY DEALER. 



address, he states so plainlj- in a few 

 words on a separate line. When she 

 finds nothing on tliat sheet, except that 

 plain, complete and comprehensive 

 order, she draws a sigh of relief ; and, 

 when looking into the envelope, hnds 

 no other sheets, no talk about the bee- 

 keeper's bees, nor his flora, nor chick- 

 ens, nor his admiration for some of 

 our theories or goods, she draws 

 another and still longer and pleasanter 

 breath. The order is soon made out, 

 and always without an error. 



The next letter is withdrawn from 

 the envelope, and a sheet of note-paper 

 is written .all over the four pages with 

 a lead pencil, and reads something 

 like this : 



luclosed please find $6.00 for one of your 

 beehives. I have read about them, and I 

 think they are the best hive there is. I 

 have got your circular, but I do not know 

 as I know just what I get for the $6.00. 

 Send me the best you can, because I am a 

 prominent bee keeper here, and a good 

 many people will come to look at the hive. 

 I had a big swarm yesterday. My bees are 

 mostly pure Italians. I think the pure bees 

 are the best. Oh, yes, I add another 80 

 cents for one of your bee-veils, and if you 

 can send a Parker foundation fastener by 

 mail, send it right away, and I will remit. 

 My little boy, 13 years old, loves bees, but 

 he got awfully stung yesterday. Send 

 directions how to use the hive, and it you 

 can send two hives in the fiat iastead of 

 one made up, you can do that. Direct the 

 same as you did before. There are a good 

 many other things I would like to write 

 you about, but I am in a hurry, so good-by. 

 Your friend— who loves the honey-bees, 

 Johannes Fikes. 



I have been thinking of the fact that 

 bee-keepers are compelled to enter the 

 field of commerce. They have to sell 

 their honey and buy supplies, and very 

 many do so by correspondence. Would 

 it not be a good plan if we should learn 

 something of each other through the 

 medium of the American Bee Jour- 

 nal, concerning . commercial business 

 as well as honey-producing? 



I am a supply ilealer as well as a 

 honey-producer, and during the last 

 two months my mail has averaged 

 about forty letters per day. Let us 

 now imagine my clerk at the desk, 

 opening these forty letters, answering 

 them, copying orders, etc. — a work 

 which I am compelled to hire done, as 

 I cannot alw.ays find the time to do it 

 and superintend three apiaries and as 

 much other business of a different 

 character. 



With an opener the clerk opens the 

 forty letters ; the first one contains an 

 order for 2.0(10 sections. 15 pounds of 

 comb foundation, etc. The letter is 

 short, plainly written, especially the 

 address, the shipping-point, and the 

 name of the remitter ordering the 

 goods. He tells how to ship (by 

 freight or express), and if his pos',- 

 ofiice is different from his shipping 



Now this friend may "love the 

 honey-bees," and he may be a good 

 " friend," although it is the first time 

 we ever knew that we had such a 

 friend, or that such a man as Mr. 

 Fikes lived, but the clerk is not in love 

 with his letter at all. She would about 

 as soon open a dynamite bomb as such 

 a lettei". 



Many dealers have suggested that 

 all orders for goods should be on a 

 separate sheet from all talk, and every- 

 thing else not pertaining to business. 

 I desire to cirry this further still ; I 

 want to suggest to every bee-keeper 

 that when making an order for goods, 

 put nothing else in the same letter. Let 

 the envelope carry nothing else. If 

 you want to write to some man who is 

 a central figure in the apicultural 

 world, send him your talk in another 

 envelope, at another time, and under 

 another stamp ; and when you do not 

 receive any answer to it, wisely and 

 pleasantly come to the conclusion that 

 he did not have time to answer it. 



What do you think of a bee-keeper 

 who will ask a dozen questions and 

 not even enclose a stamp or return 

 envelope ? No better nor more honest 

 rule could be made among bee-keepers 

 than to enclose ten cents in stamps for 

 every question asked ; then a lot of 

 useless questions would not be a.sked. 



and those wisely selected and wisely 

 answered, would be worth ten times 

 ten cents per question to the seeker 

 after knowledge. 



A good business man, having a large 

 trade, will not depend upon his 

 memory for anything — not for five 

 minutes ; so those ordering goods 

 should remember that if their order is 

 the forty-ninth one of the season, it 

 should be just as full and clear 

 as though it was the first time the 

 dealer had ever heard of him. Do not 

 take it for granted that the recipient 

 of your letters remembers anything 

 about any former transaction — make 

 your reference full and complete. Do 

 not tell h,alf of the story and think he 

 remembers the other half. Tell it all. 

 Do not write and say : "I have not 

 received the goods I ordered from you 

 yet. Did you ship them according to 

 my directions, and if so, why are they 

 not here ?" Write in this way : 



On or about June 4 I ordered 3,000 sec- 

 tions of you, remitting S8.00 for the same 

 by way of post-office order on the Fair- 

 haven post-office. I asked you to ship to 

 my address by freight to Fairhaven, and as 

 twenty days have elapsed, and the goods 

 do not arrive, I would suggest that you 

 have a tracer sent after them. 



Then comes a letter from Peter 

 Funk, without any money In it, sug- 

 o-esting that we send him one of our 

 hives for trial, and if it suits him he 

 will pay for it, and besides all this, he 

 is such a central figure and " mowing 

 such a wide swath" in the apicultural 

 line for miles around, that it will be 

 largely to our advantage to ship him a 

 hive. This is an easy kind of letter to 

 dispose of, and greatly facilitates get- 

 ting through with the day's work. It 

 is answered with just one motion, and 

 that consigns it to the waste-basket. 



Let us do business on business 

 principles, and let all remember that 

 the dealer in bee-keepers' supplies who 

 has any considerable trade, has hun- 

 dreds of others besides ourselves to 

 deal with. That if we bungle our 

 letters with side-talk, it makes him lota 

 of extra work, and subjects ourselves 

 to danger of loss from mistakes. Be- 

 sides that, there are very few dealers 

 in the busy season, ready to consider 

 anything in any one's letters except 

 the order itself. Can we not have an 

 improvement in this direction ? 



[We give place to the above because 

 there are many good suggestions in it, 

 which thousands of apiarists should 

 ponder over. The name of the writer 

 is withheld, so that it shall not give 

 offense, or seem to be a personal com- 

 plaint—instead of suggestions for the 

 general good. We are glad to say 

 that there has been a very marked im- 



