1884 



GLEANLNGS IN BEE CULTUllE. 



245 



ant. I know you say you are willing to trust me to 

 do the right thing; but, friends, I do net want to be 

 trusted. Put your name on your box of wax, then 

 write a card telling just how many pounds you send, 

 and how you sent it. 



BVRON' walker's IMPROVBMENT IN OrE-PIECE 

 SECTIONS. 



ABOtJT a year ago, friend Wallier told us in an ar- 

 ticle about his plan of making the Gray section so it 

 would fold in the right place itself. We neglected to 

 say that we have used the plan ever since, and our 

 machines haveallbecn sent outwith the saws sharp- 

 ened in such a way as to cut the proper side of the 

 groove a little deeper. I believe the plan is now in 

 use by nearly all manufacturers of one-piece sec- 

 tions. Whether they struck upon the idea them- 

 selves, or whether the hint in Gleanings was what 

 started them that way, is more than I can say. In 

 any case, the thanks of the bee-keepers in general 

 are due friend W. for his timely suggestions. It is 

 true, that when the sections are folded up they are 

 inclined to be a little more out of square; but when 

 they are put up in their respective wide frames or 

 cases, they are held true, and readily sit of their 

 own accord after thej^ have been a little time in 

 that position, or become filled with honey. 



SELLING RECIPES. 



An objection has been raised to my remarks last 

 month, on the ground that lawyers and architects 

 and others frequently charge five, ten, and even one 

 hundred dollars, for.the contents of a single sheet 

 of paper. It seems to me it should be generally un- 

 derstood that I was not speaking of work prepared 

 for a single individual, but rather of something 

 needed by so large a class of individuals that a 

 printing-press would be required to strike off the 

 copies. After the matter and drawings are pre- 

 pared for the press, the expense of 1000 or 10,000 is 

 but a small naatter; and if 1000 or 10,000 people 

 would be benefited by it, to act in accordance with 

 the spirit of the present age the price should not be 

 ?1 00, nor even 25 cents, for that matter, for the con- 

 tents of a single sheet of paper. This is my opinion 

 in the matter, and I do not mean to let any thing go 

 into Gleanings that would encourage or foster, di- 

 rectly or indirectly, the plan of selling secrets, to 

 which I have alluded. Anotherthing: Suchacourse 

 would involve a promise "not to tell;" and when I 

 know any thing that is valuable, 1 shall always tell 

 it. If I had a neighbor who knew something that 

 would save me great pains and labor, in a few 

 words, and wouldn't tell it, I should feel he was not 

 very neighborly. Of course, I do not want anybody 

 to break promises that have been made: but I would 

 avoid making promises in such a matter. 



LONG LETTERS. 



Until wilhin the past few months I have been in 

 the habit of reading every letter addressed to me. I 

 am sorry to say, dear friends, I can do it no longer. 

 In my new desk is a large apartment, labeled 

 " Letters not Head." They have ; been waiting 

 months until I could get time to consider them more 

 fully.^I think it no more than fair to tell you that I 

 shall probably never get to them. More letters are 

 going in there daily. I glance over them as they 

 come out of the mail, to ascertain, as well as I can, 

 whether they contain any thing of sufficient import- 

 ance to be read carefully. If there is important 

 matter for print, they are laid aside as matter for 



Gleanings; but this department is also so full that 

 it can never be used. Business letters I look through 

 briefly, much the same way, and then give them to 

 the proper clerks to read carefully. You may ask 

 why I do not have somebody else read carefully 

 these unread letters. It would require a very expen- 

 sive hand ; and, worst of all, I do not know of any- 

 body in the world who could read them and give 

 such answers to them as I should like to have given. 

 The moral that stands before us, friends, is, to be 

 hrief. Where there is so much to be done, we shall 

 have to get over wasting words on unimportant sub- 

 jects. A large part of these unread letters are from 

 beginners in bee culture, asking my opinion of tht 

 new hive they have just got up. Many of the letters 

 are from those who never read the ABC book, and 

 very lik*ely never read a bee- journal of any kind. 

 Long pages are devoted to describing things already 

 known, and oftentimes fully described in our books 

 and journals. Another thing: Many times where 

 something is wanted, a page cr more is occupied 

 with a sort of preface. Go right into the matter at 

 once, friends, and tell me as briefly as you can what 

 it is you wish, and I will try to give you a prompt 

 answer. I feel sad to write this; but the duties I 

 owe you all, I think, demand it. 



ORDERING THINGS DIFFERENT. 



1 KNOW this is a world of many men and many 

 minds; and I know, too, that if people did not have 

 different tastes and wants, we should not only lack 

 variety, but we should lack progress. Still, where 

 one wishes to economize time and meney, much 

 might often be saved by endeavoring to use regular 

 goodg in the regular channels of trade. I was re- 

 minded of this by an order from a friend who wanted 

 acr.uple of our tents for setting over bee-hives, all 

 but the sticks. I told him they would be 23 cents 

 less, sent thus. Now, we make these tents but once 

 each year. The materials are brought together, and 

 one has it his business to do the whole. Had I only 

 thought of it, our cheapest way would have been to 

 have sent our friend two regular tents, telling him 

 to get out the sticks, and throw them away. But 

 we attempted to pack all the different parts, except 

 the sticks. After trying three or four times, getting 

 clerks out of temper, as well as our customer, we 

 came pretty near giving up that there was nobody in 

 our establishment who could tell how or who could 

 himself put up a bee-hive tent all but the sticks. 

 First, the cloth only was sent; then our friend com- 

 plained that he did not have the cords. The cords 

 were measured off, sent by mail; then he did not 

 have the rings nor the bolts nor the washers nor the 

 screws. A great many times some friend has want- 

 ed a certain part of our uO-cent smoker, not adver- 

 tised in the list. Had he ordered a whole one, we 

 should have had nothing to do but to write his name 

 on one from the great heap already piled up beside 

 the mailing clerk; but to get the part wanted, a 

 clerk must go to the smoker room, and thence per- 

 haps to the tin-shop, thence to the machine-shop, 

 stopping workmen, calling in others to help de- 

 cipher just what was wanted, and even after all this 

 trouble and hindrance, sending the wrong thing, 

 perhaps, and then getting a long letter about it for 

 me to read and answer. If you ask for something, 

 advertised in our price list, it ought to go promptly, 

 like clock-work. But something a little out of the 

 beaten track or channel results as I have told you 

 above. 



