58 



THE AMERICAN BEE JOURNAL. 



[Sept., 



I have written this article in justice to Mr. 

 Alley, and could if necessary bring- any amount 

 of proof to substantiate it ; but thinking this 

 enough, I remain always for the right. 



J. E. Pond, Jr. 



Foxborough, Mass., Aug. 8, 1870. 



[For the Americiin Bee Journal.] 



About Italian Queens, &c. 



Mr. E. L Briggs seems to pitch into cheap 

 queen raisers, and Alley in particular { at least 

 so Alley understands it, ) although he mentions 

 no names). I cannot let such remarks pass un- 

 noticed. I would have Mr. Briggs vinderstand 

 that I spare no pains to procure the best breeding 

 queens imported into this country. I have paid 

 from $5 to $20 and upwards for Italian queens, 

 and have never as yet found among my pui-chases 

 when received any queens superior to those of 

 my own raising. My on'.y object in purchasing 

 queens, is to avoid in-and-in breeding. I am very 

 careful to select the largest, handsomest, and 

 most prolific queens to breed from, both for 

 young queens and drones. I do not doubt that 

 I ship queens now and then that are not up to 

 the standard, and so do all other breeders who 

 do not test their queens before sending. But in 

 every case, I will send other queens, or give satis- 

 faction in some way. The stock I now have 

 produce as large, prolific, and handsome queens 

 as Mr. B. or any other man ever saw. Any 

 queen that I send out is worth all I charge for 

 her, even if she has perchance mated with a 

 black drone. I pay the highest figure for my 

 breeding queens, and now have queens of my 

 own raising that I would not sell for fifty dollars. 

 If Mr. B. would like to purchase some Italian 

 queens, and thinks they would be any better by 

 paying eight or ten dollars for them, instead of 

 two dollars and a half, I can accommodate him 

 in that line ; and if he has any such queens as 

 he describes, I will take the lot at the price he 

 has stated, viz.: eight or ten dollars. Now here 

 is a chance for a trade ! I know that some bee- 

 keepers think that my queens are not worth 

 much, because I sell them so low : but if it will 

 do them any good to know how it is that I can 

 aftbrd to sell at such low prices, I will make it 

 known. 



I have all I can do in the summer to raise 

 queens and reply to all the letters I receive ; and 

 I find it quite business enough to keep two 

 hundred (200) nucleus hives in full opei-ation. 

 Talk about boasting of orders for four hundred 

 queens ! Why I have orders for more than 

 seven hundred on my books, and they are still 

 coming in by every mail. 1 was expecting to 

 raise and ship one thousand queens this season, 

 but cannot do it. My orders began to come in 

 as early as last December, and one man ordered 

 fifty as early as last March. Nearly all the 

 orders I have received this season came from 

 persons I supplied last season, and their friends 

 who have seen my stock in the apiaries of former 

 purchasers. I have plenty of letters speaking 

 in the highest terms of my queens ; and many 

 of them, like Dr. Barnard, say they are much 



better than those they paid twenty dollars for. 

 Let me say here that I sent Dr. B. his queens 

 last fall, and the first I heard from him since, 

 I saAV in the American Bee Journal — it was bf 

 course no pre-arranged plan for him to blow Mr. 

 Alley's stock of Italians. 



I paid a certain party in June last ten dollars 

 for a queen. A few days ago I received her, and 

 I may safely say I never shipped a queen as poor 

 in appearance. Nor was there any excuse for 

 the ])arty sending me such a qeeen, as she was 

 raised last season and was taken from a full stock 

 when sent to me. I guarantee lo send out just 

 as good queens for two dollars and a half. 



I do not want the reader to suppose that this 

 article is intended as an advertisement. That is 

 far from my design ; but I feel obliged to make 

 this statement in self defence. 



Last winter I read an advertisement in a 

 western paper, from the pen of a high-price queen 

 dealer, in which he said that he did not believe 

 that good queens could be raised and sold for 

 $2. 50 N()w, the same person has advertised them 

 at a figure even Tower than that. I can aftbrd 

 to raise and sell good pure queens for the yjrice 

 I am charging, and mean to do so as long as I 

 can find purcliasers for them, which judging 

 from the demand for them, will be some time 

 yet. 



Ihave, within a few weeks, bought seven queens 

 from some of these high-priced (jueen breeders, 

 none of which are any larger or handsomer than 

 the stock I now have ; nor do I believe that their 

 progeny will prove to be any better. Only this 

 morning I received three qiieens from such a 

 bre. der, two of which I returned by the next 

 mail. I do not want any stock of that kind. 



I do not know who Mr. Briggs is, nor whether 

 he is "blowing " for himself or not ; and I do not 

 understand his object in sending such an article 

 to the Journal as appeared last month over his 

 name. If he intends to build up a trade at the 

 expense of other people by underrating their 

 stock, I, for one, would like to know it. 



I have plenty of letters from purchasers, 

 "blowing up" some of the.se high-price queen 

 breeders ; and I presume they have some of the 

 same kind, giving Alley what he deserves and 

 perhaps more than is due to him. But let that 

 be as it may, all I have to say is this — if any man 

 has a queen purchased from Alley, that he does 

 not like, let him return her at once, or ever after 

 hold his peace. 



Mr. Langstroth has written to me several 

 times that they never yet imported a queen that 

 would invariably duplicate herself. AVho is the 

 best authority on this point — Mr. L. or Mr. B. '? 

 I have this information not only from Mr. L., 

 but from otliei- importers also. I know nothing 

 about Morgan mares nor of certain breeds of pigs ; 

 but I have several years' exijerience with Italian 

 bees, and profess to know something about them. 

 Those who breed Italian queens, and charge 

 high prices for them too, will acknowledge that 

 not more than one queen in fifty is as good as 

 those which Mr. B. has pictured in the last 

 number of the Journal ; and he may bet a high 

 figure that no worker bee in the country ever 

 showed four bands. This article has grown 

 pretty long, and I do wish Mr. B. would stir one 



