A MEBiCAN BEE JOURNAL. 



EDITED AND PUBLISHED BY W. F. CLARKE, CHICAGO, ILL. 

 AT TWO DOLLARS PER'aNNUM, PAYABLE IN ADVANCE. 



Vol. VIII. 



APRIL, 1873. 



No. 10. 



Novice. 



Dear Bee Journal. — It would appear from the 

 March number, just at hand, that if our aim in 

 •writing was popularity, we were decidedly going 

 down hill; but as it isn't anything of the kind, we 

 presume we had better try to be useful in our own 

 way, however imperfect it. may be. As to the con- 

 tinued charges of axe-grinding, we wish to make 

 this little defence. If having " things to sell" is 

 axe-grinding, we shall most assuredly "grind" so 

 long as we live. We believe everything we have 

 offered for sale was first described as fully, and at 

 length, too, as we knew how, with no thought or 

 intention of selling, as may be seen from back 

 numbers of the Journal. 



First, some one wanted us to make him a honey- 

 knife as we preferred them. Now, as we could not 

 afford to give them away, we were obliged to sell 

 'em, and at once used the advertising pages in so 

 doing, for we did not want to lay ourselves open to 

 such charges as have been made. Our readers can 

 decide whether our knives were a boon to the com- 

 munity or not, and whether the price was not a 

 fair, honest one. 



After recommending a hive that could be made 

 for a "dollar," some one said at once they could not 

 be made for that price, which stirred our " grit," 

 and again we said on the advertising pages, " Hives 

 for $1.00;" and for convenience of shipping, and 

 solely to save our friends extra expense in express 

 charges, "ready to nail" for ninety cents, if they 

 wanted a sample. 



Now the profit to us is quite small, and the 

 «xpress charges to our friends are heavy. It is much 

 the best for them to make their hives, extractors, 

 tea kettles, etc., at home, and to help them do this 

 all we can, we have gone to the expense of having 

 printed the fullest description, with accurate dimen- 

 sions of every part. This circular was intended to 

 avoid answering innumerable letters, over and over 

 again, and is always mailed free, and oftentimes 

 postage paid by ourselves, too. Are we not excusable 

 in having " things to sell?" Have those who abuse 

 us always paid for space, too, in the advertising col- 

 umns, as we have? We know it is spiteful, but we 

 don't care if we ain't " awful good," and so we can't 

 forbear enquiring, did we ever ask anybody for a 

 "dollar" for directions for making the hive we 

 preferred? or what is the same thing, for " rights" 

 to make, or use our ideas ? 



As to the tin corners, they were never mentioned or 

 referred to in the columns of the Journal until some 

 one "lugged " them in and we were obliged to answer 

 their questions. If they don't make their own way, 

 let 'em drop. If we have got any money from any- 

 body's pocket without giving a fair equivalent, we'll 

 hand it back as quick as if 'twas hot, if they will 

 only tell us where to send it. 



Please, Mr. Gallup, why don'tyou say " naughty" 

 things about friend Muth, who writes just below 

 you? He's got "things to sell." Some may think 

 they are a bother, too, for we were once obliged to 

 get over a barrel of honey out of the jars again, 

 after they were nicely labeled, before we could sell 

 it, and now we think it bettor to bottle it only when 

 it is ordered in that shape. If Mr. Muth can close 

 his bottles with the tin foil caps so that no honey 

 will ooze out in the candying process, we, for one, 

 will thank him most heartily. His goods are sold 

 at a fair profit, and we must confess that we really 

 like folks that have good things to sell and are 

 prompt and careful in their way of doing business. 



" Quilts and pillow cases ! " Well, if we never 

 told the result of our experiments when we followed 

 that subject " day and night," we will do so now. 

 The quilt must be so soft that it will not crush the 

 bees when pressed down on their backs ; must be 

 light, warm, and sufficiently porous to allow venti- 

 lation, and must be of such material that the bees 

 will not gnaw through it. We make the cases of the 

 strongest bleached cotton sheeting we can get, and 

 to save waste buy it eighty -four inches wide, at fifty 

 cents per yard. We get the finest quality of cotton 

 wadding, at forty-five cents per pound, of John 

 Bacon, Winchester, Mass., and when the quilts are 

 made exactly the right size, which is no easy matter, 

 they are just as nice as can be. As shrinkage of 

 the quilt makes trouble, the cloth should be washed 

 enough to shrink it before using, if the sample used 

 does shrink, which may easily be tested. Materials 

 cost about fifteen cents ; making, five cents ; so 

 there's a profit of five cents each in selling them at 

 a "quarter." (The dollar hive can't well be used 

 without quilt.) 



Friend Argo, how do you know that our opinion is 

 a mistaken one, that ten colonies should give a barrel 

 of surplus the worst season? If the ten colonies 

 are all powerful early in the season (and there is no 

 swarming,) and they certainly can be made so, is it 

 not possible for them to store thirty-seven and a half 

 pounds each more than enough to winter, even the 



