1871.] 



THE AMERICAN BEE JOURNAL. 



61 



[For tha Amorican Bee Journal.] 



Alley's Eejoinder, 



The Journal for August is at hand, one day 

 ahead of time, as it was received on the 31st of 

 July. I find my name handled rather roughly, 

 and feel that I must make a reply to the statement 

 made by Dr. Austin, on page 33. In the first 

 place, I have not had his money or order on my 

 books for a year. If I remember right, his order 

 came to hand late last fall, and I gave him no en- 

 couragement that I could send him a queen. I 

 offered to return his money, but he never called 

 for it. I do not deny that I promised him his 

 queen as many times as he says ; but I can say 

 til at he was not oftener disappointed than myself. 

 I struck out for two hundred (200) queens in May, 

 but did not gee fifty (oO), as a cold storm set in 

 and lasted three days. In some, nuclei qvieens 

 had to be started several times before I got any. 

 Now, I wrote Dr. Austin the reason why I did 

 not send his queen, and the only reply I have 

 seen, I found in the Journal for August. I won- 

 der whether the Doctor thinks that his order 

 was the only one sent in for queens ? But he re- 

 ceived his queen before his statement appeared 

 in print, and I hope this will do him good. I 

 wish also to give notice to others who have 

 sent me money, and do not now want queens, 

 to send for it ; and if I do not send it back in 

 due time, I will agree to have them report me 

 through the Journal. Customers will under- 

 stand that I cannot raise a thousand queens in 

 a few days. I must have months. Nor can I 

 fill orders in rotation. My business is to raise 

 queens, and accommodate as many customers as 

 possible. One man has ordered a hundred (100) 

 queens. Now, suppose I fill his order at once, 

 and let the smaller ones go. How could I do 

 business in that way ? A man who has sent in 

 an order for ten or more queens, finds it most 

 convenient to have a few sent at a time, thus 

 dividing the lot. 



I must also suit my own convenience in ship- 

 ping queens. Queens that must be four or five 

 days in the mail bags, should be sent on Mon- 

 days or Tuesdays. When they are not ready 

 to go on those days, those orders must be passed 

 till another Monday comes round, and the 

 queens shipped to parties who can get them in 

 two or three days. And then, when the next 

 Monday conies round, if no queens are ready to 

 ship, or the weather proves unfavorable for fer- 

 tilizing, they must again wait another week. 

 And so it goes. I wish my customers would un- 

 derstand, that I have been doing the best I 

 could, under the circumstances, to fill their or- 

 ders seasonably. Most of my customers treat 

 me courteously, and give me all the time I de- 

 sire to ship queens in. Now and then, it is 

 true, I get a rough letter from a patron ; and 

 such correspondents usually wind up with 

 " yours respectfully," but really, I cannot see it. 



Well, now, one woi'd about the season. I do 

 not know how other breeders have found it, but 

 this has been the hardest season here for queen 

 breeding that I have experienced. I have two 

 huiidred and fifty nucleus hives, and have fed 



them continually since the last day of April. I 

 trust no one will think that we shall get very 

 rich this year by raising queens. If we can get 

 a living, and get back the money we have paid 

 for bees, sugar, &c., we shall find no fault. I 

 have on my books the names of two hundred 

 and thirty-eight (238) customers ordering queens, 

 and have no fear that Dr. Austin's statement 

 will aftect my business in the least, many of my 

 customers returning their thanks for being ac- 

 commodated so soon, in so unpropitious a sea- 

 son. When a man sends me my advertised price 

 for a queen, and says he needs one to supply a 

 queenless colony, he shall have one if I have one. 



My friend Silsby speaks of my " self-reliance 

 and pluck." Well, if a man is foolish enough 

 to put his experience of several years into a bee- 

 hive that he knows must work well, and will 

 write articles to bring it into notice, thus setting 

 himself up as a target for people to shoot at, 

 who think they know more than he does, he 

 must just know whether he has the " pluck" to 

 back up what he says, or else he had better not 

 try his hand at the business. 



Halifax 2d got his gun off in a hurry, I think. 

 As his article plainly shows his ignorance of 

 what is going on in the bee-hive, and of what is 

 published in the Journal, let me inform him that 

 Mr. Alley is not at all apprehensive that Novice 

 will hit him a rap across the knuckles, but is 

 confident that if he should at any time do so, it 

 would be done in a gentlemanly way. Halifax 

 thinks that there ought to be a fair trial given 

 to the hives introduced, and that the one which 

 proves to be the best, should have the credit. 

 Have I not made this ofl'er to the Journal within 

 a few months? Why did not Halifax pass along 

 his " top-box " hive? No man took up my chal- 

 lenge, but Mr. Langstrotli requested Rev. E. 

 Van Slyke, of West Farms, N. Y., to send for 

 the hive and test it. We shall no doubt hear 

 from him when he gets ready to report. I have 

 not yet heard a word about it, and do not wish 

 to, till he has thoroughly tested the hive. But 

 I have reports from other parties, and as I do 

 not wish to "blow my own horn," I will let 

 them report. The readers of the Journal well 

 know that I have always given Mr. Langstroth 

 credit for all that is due him. I use the Lang- 

 stroth frame in my hive, and Mr. L. has the 

 credit of the frame. 



Halifax seems to have "top-box" on the 

 brain, and wants them on top and nowhere else. 

 Well, who objects to his putting them where he 

 pleases ? And should he not be willing to let 

 other people enjoy the same liberty, by jjlacing 

 them on the sides, if they prefer doing so ? He 

 charges us with blowing our own horn. Had 

 he read the Journal as carefully as he should, he 

 would know that the last time we described our 

 hive, we were invited to do so by the editor. 

 Let me advise Mr. II., when he writes again, 

 to post himself and then pitch in. Let him 

 examine our advertisements. He will not find 

 that we ever advertised a "moth-trap," or 

 any kind of "trap." We do not sell or use 

 anything of the kind. When he lets us hear 

 from him again, will he let us know wherein the 

 Bay State hive is not as good as it has been rep- 



