278 



THE AMERICAN BEE JOURNAL. 



[June, 



[For the American Bee Journal.] 



Natural Prolific and Hardy Queens. 



Answer to I\rr. Dadant's last blow. 



On pajies'^OG and 207, March No. of the Ameri- 

 can Bee Jonrnal, Mr. Dadant asks me to answer 

 his article — which should be headed "A Chapter 

 of voluntary mistakes," by Charles Dadant. 



For I find it composed entirely of such, and I 

 propose to prove them such. 



Voluntary mistake No. 1. On page 206, he 

 says, "yet nowhere did Novice say that his 

 queens were too old, but that he replaced hybrid 

 queens." 



Voluntary mistake No. 2. On page 206, he 

 says, "so little did I promise to replace her, and 

 so little did jMr. Price believe that I made such 

 promise," Szc. 



Voluntary mistake No. 3. On page 207, he 

 says, " I never refused to replace her." 



Voluntary mistake No. 4. On pnge 207, he 

 says, "but I did refuse to sell a second queen to 

 Mr. Price." 



Answer to mistake No. 1. On page 224, vol. 

 VI, American Bee Journal, April No. 1871, Nov- 

 ice gives his reasons for his purchasing twenty- 

 five queens from Mr. Grimm in these words : 

 "and last fall so many of our old queens failed, 

 that we purchased twenty-five queens from Mr. 

 Grimm to replace them." 



Answer to mistake No. 2 : (Extract of letter.) 



Hamilton, III., June 7, 1870. 

 Mr. J. M. Price, 



Dear Sir : — The qiieeu I sent to you is raised from 

 imported stock and is very prolific. 7 guarantee her 

 all right. 



In my letter ordering, I not only asked him to 

 guarantee her safe arrival, but that he guarantee 

 her pure — purely mated and prolific, and referred 

 him to my article " All Abroad," and told him 

 that if he thought he had a queen that would be 

 satisfactory, after he had read that article, to 

 send her to me C. O. D. 



That I did expect him to replace her is proved 

 by my writing to him, informing him of her un- 

 prolificness. 



He answered me as follows : 



Hamilton, III., Aug. 4, 1870. 

 Mr. J. M. Price, 



Dear Sir : — Do not s;ive her up before another sea- 

 son's trial. Tours respectfully, 



Chas. Dadant. 



As this was not replacing her, I wrote again- 

 He answered as follows : (Extract.) 



Hamilton, III. 

 Mr. Jno. M. Price, 



Dear Sir : — As soon as the bees can raise queens 

 1 will send one to you next spriuu;. 



Yours respectfully, 



Chas. Dadant. 



Beekeepers, have I not proved that he did ex- 

 pect to replace her, and clid know that he had 

 promised to do so ? 



I will give you an extract of his advertisement 

 in the Journal at the time he sent her to me. 



Advertisement from April to September, 1870 : 

 (Extract.) 



" Tlie queens will be seut from here safe arrival 

 guaranteed. Chas. Dadant, 



April, 1870, 6 mos. Hamilton, 111." 



In the spring I wrote him of her condition 

 and received not the queens, as promised, but 

 the following letter : 



Hamilton, III., April 31, 1871. 

 Mr. Jno. M. Price, 



Dear Sir : — You did so much fuss about the queen 

 I sent you last spring, that I am very little disposed 

 to let you {have) any more queens. 



Yours very respectfully, 



Chas. Dadant, 



Answer to mistake No. 4. His last letter to 

 me before his refusal : (Extract.) 



Hamilton, III. 

 " But I think your best way be to get one or two 

 imported queens. Chas. Dadant." 



Friend Beekeepers :— After reading the above 

 correspondence, and his advertisement, what 

 shall we call his Wilful Voluntary Mistakes ? 

 Also under what head shall I class his mode of 

 getting money ? But after wronging me out of 

 my money (which is a very small part of the dam- 

 age that the sending of that worthless queen was 

 to me), is it a sign of an honest dealer to go 

 back of his guarantee on an order, and keei3 the 

 money that he came into possession of by that 

 guarantee, and after beating me out of my money 

 in that manner '? Is it a sign of a gentleman to 

 try and add insult to injury and wrong by his 

 false " Wilful Voluntary Mistakes?" 



John M. Price. 



Buffalo Grove, Iowa, March 10, 1872. 



[From ShuckarJs' "British Bees."] 



Bees. 



It is very natural that the bees should interest 

 the majority of us, so many agreeable and attrac- 

 tive associations being connected with the name. 

 It is immediately suggestive of spring, sunshine, 

 and flower.s, — meadows gaily enamelled, green 

 lanes, thymy downs, and fragrant heaths. It 

 speaks of industry, forethought, and compe- 

 tence, — of well ordered government, and of due 

 but not degrading subordination. The economy 

 of the hive has been compared by our great poet 

 to the polity of a populous kingdom under mon- 

 archial government. He says : — 



"Therefore doth Heaven divide 

 The state of man in divers functions, 

 Setting endeavor in continual motion ; 

 To which is fixed, as an aim or butt, 

 Obedieuce : for so work the honey bees ; 

 Creatures, that, by a rule in nature, teach 

 The act of order to a peopled kingdom. 

 They have a kinii', and officers of sorts : 

 Where some, like magistrates, correct at home; 

 Others, like merchants, venture trade abroad ; 



