1884 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTUKE. 



463 



by that time, we usually have quite a dropping-off ; 

 notwithstanding', we have gained ten, as you see, f or 

 which I at least am thankful. I thank you, ray 

 friends, for your suppoit and patronage. 



This issue has been delayed by the crowd for our 

 revised and enlarged ABC book. They are done 

 now, and j-eady to mail ; 20 pages have been added, 

 and over .50 new illustrations, some of them quite 

 expensive ones. Almost every subject that has 

 been brought up in the last year has been noticed. 

 The book as it is now is a large and handsome vol- 

 ume for the price. 



In our last issue we gave the price of the combus- 

 tibles for our ten-cent balloons at 3 cents each. We 

 find wc can furnish them, howevci-, for 1 cent each. 

 Tf wanted l;y mail, postage and packing Avill be 2 

 cts. on each single one, luit only "> cts. on ten; that 

 is, ten combustibles can be sent postpaid for only 

 15 cts.; and if you are careful with the little balloon 

 you can send it up ten times with these. 



The hexagonal apiary (or five apiaries combined 

 in one, rather) is now full, and we have nearly 5G0 

 colonies devoted to supplying our customers with 

 queens, while Neighbor H. has toward 300 more. 

 Since we have been sending out queens taken di- 

 rectly from our own hives, we have had much less 

 trouble in mailing them than where they have been 

 purchased at a distance. Another thing, with the 

 great number of drones that such apiaries send out, 

 a queen that turns out hybrid is almost unknown; 

 therefore, as I told you in the spring, I think if I 

 were to have my choice I would prefer a dollar 

 queen raised from these apiaries to a tested queen 

 bought of some one who reared her last summer. 



REDUCTION IN PRICES. 



The flve-gallon iron-jacket honey-cans are reduc- 

 ed to .58 cts, and the ten-gallon to 1*4 cts. Discount 

 as heretofore, in lots of 10 or 100. The paper boxes 

 for one-pound sections are getting to be so much in 

 demand that we are enabled to give better figures, 

 as follows : Package of £5, 35 cents ; package of 100, 

 $1.20; 1000, $11.00; 10,000, iflCO. If wanted by mail, 1 

 cent each exti-a. Colored lithographic labels for 

 putting on the sides, two kinds, one for each side, 

 $3.50 per 1000. A package of 25, labeled on both 

 sides, as above, 00c. By mail, 30c more. Broom- 

 holders, formerly sold on the 10-cent counter, are now 

 on the 5-cent counter. Wire-ring pot-cleaner, re- 

 duced from 15 cts. to 10 cts. The dish-rinsing pans, 

 retinned, of which we have sold so many, are all re- 

 duced one counter; that is, the 10-quart pan on the 

 50-cent counter, is now but 35 cts., and so on all the 

 way down. 



IMPORTED QUEENS. 



Our first importation for the season was delayed 

 somewhere by somebody's half heartedness, I pi-e- 

 sume, and all of the queens starved to death but 

 four. The express charges on the lot were about 

 $24.00; so we cei-tainly did not make any very big 

 speculation on the bees. The next lot of 59 wc ex- 

 pect very soon; but the delay has obliged us to dis- 

 appoint many customers. Friend Hutchinson pro- 

 poses to begin now to get ready for the next season, 

 and that is just what wo have been doing, for all 

 these queens were ordered last tall, and we told 

 friend Bianconcini to send them just as soon as he 

 could get yeung queens to laying. It looks as if the 

 only way to have them in time to fill orders were to 



import them in the fall, and I think we will try win- 

 tering from 100 to 200 this next season, in order that 

 we may be prompt on imported queens as well as 

 other things. 



A WORD TO THOSE WHO GET OUT PRICE I-ISTS. 



It always makes trouble to raise prices on things; 

 but nobody feels bad when you charge him less than 

 he expected to paj'. I once saw a street auctioneer 

 raise quite an excitement by selling goods for a cer- 

 tain price, and when the purchaser came to hand 

 over tlie money he would reply, "Well, friends, I think 

 I can afford that a littleless, after all, so here is ten 

 cents back again." Of course it was a ruse, but it 

 took wonderfully. Now, friends, why not, in fixing 

 our prices, use a little more care in not getting 

 them too low? I know, where there is great com- 

 petition, the temptation is often strong to make 

 startling offers. Will it not be better (and I mean 

 this advice for myself) to put a good fair price on 

 our things, furnish good honest goods, and then, if 

 we discover there is a margin, we can do a little bet- 

 ter than we had agi-eed to do, and this always pleases 

 people; intact, it almost always pleases me to see 

 prices lower than I expected, and it almost always 

 vexes me to be charged more than I had expected 

 to pay. 



SOME OF THE DIFFICULTIES YOU WILL MEET IN 



STARTING IN WITH ODD-SIZED HIVES, FRAMES, 



AND SECTIONS. 



You will have to have your hives made to order, 

 and stand a great chance of getting them wrong. If 

 you have iron gauge-frames made for nailing them 

 up, you will find it a difticult matter indeed to get 

 your gauge-frames accurate. If you want a comb- 

 bucket to carry your frames, it will have to be made 

 to order. You can not oi-der regular boxes of fdn. 

 (which may be easily shipped by first train), for the 

 fdn. has to be cut to order, and a box has to be made 

 expressly for it. If you want your frames wired, a 

 special machine has to be made to drill them and 

 prepare them. You have got to have an odd-sized 

 foundation-fastener. An extractor will have to be 

 made to order. Division-boards and mats or enamel 

 cloth must be made to order. You can not use the 

 glass already in stock, but will have to have it cut 

 to order, and you will usually have to take a box 

 of 50 feet, even though you do not want half that 

 much. In ordering sections, you can seldom get 

 them promptly. If you want a few more sections, 

 frames, or upper stories, etc., you have the same 

 difficulties to contend with; you can not use regular 

 shipping-crates, but some will have to be made at 

 an increased expense, and an increased chance of 

 not being a fit. Spacing-boards won't fit unless 

 made to order. Frames of brood won't go into your 

 hives without transferring. Transferring-wires 

 won't fit, unless made to order. You can not sell 

 goods to other people, because they are out of joint 

 with what other folks use. If you want to buy 

 machinery, it must be made expressly to match 

 every thing of yours that is different from what is 

 already in the market. Now, the only reason for 

 saddling yourself with all these troubles is generally 

 only a notion or whim of your own. If you think I 

 have overestimated it, go ahead your own way a 

 while until you are satisfied. 



SENDING GOODS UV EXPRESS, WITHOUT PKKJIIS- 

 SION TO DO SO. 



I SHALL have to remind the friends again, to be 

 careful in this matter. We frequently have some- 



