1891 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE. 



935 



sides, with no disadvantage to either. In any 

 case, the same members will attend at Chicago, 

 and, with low rates so frequently available, and 

 such a central location, surrounded on all sides 

 by live bee-keepers, thei'e seems no good reason 

 to suppose that there will be any failure in al- 

 ways having a good convention in Chicago. 



That prince of secretaries and bee-reporters, 

 W. Z. Hutchinson, was busily engaged through- 

 out the session in pushing liis pencil, and we 

 shall undoubtedly have a full report in the 

 proper time and place. C. C. Miller. 



Marengo, 111., Nov. r.'4. 



AN OPEN LETTER TO A SUPPLY-DEALER. 



DK. MILLKK URGES THE IMPORTANCE OF SMALL- 

 ER PACKAGES FOR SHIPMENT. 



My Dear Friend — (for I consider the whole 

 multitude of supply-dealers as friends to bee- 

 keepers), you have shown yourself so accom- 

 modating, and have so carefully studied the 

 wants of your custoTuers, that I feel quite free 

 to suggest what I think might be still further 

 appreciated by your patrons. I don't mean to 

 say that I know more about running your busi- 

 ness than you do, but I know how it seems at 

 my end of the line better than you, and it will 

 do no harm anyhow for me to make sugges- 

 tions, and then yon can follow them or not. It 

 just occurs to me that you might profitably do 

 the same thing; that is. make suggestions to, 

 your customers, and, as I think more about it, 

 I believe that has been done to a considerable 

 extent. 



Your advertisements and price lists leave 

 nothing to be desired in that line; and when an 

 order is sent to you it is generally acknowledg- 

 ed by return mail, with some hint as to when 

 the order will be tilled, unless it can be tilled at 

 once. This prompt acknowledgment of the 

 receipt of our orders is appreciated by us bee- 

 keepers. 



But when the goods are received from the 

 railroad station, then the trouble begins. You 

 have plenty of hands to handle witli ease a lot 

 of large boxes as well as a large lot of boxes; 

 and, to make as little expense as possible in the 

 way of packing, you very often pack goods in 

 such large boxes that the bee-keeper who has 

 no extra help is almost unable to handle them 

 at all. You know that bee-keepers are very 

 likely to live out in the country, where they 

 can not readily get help on a lift; and a box 

 weighing some 300 pounds is rather a stumper 

 to be lifted out of a wagon and cari'ied into a 

 shop. I'm glad that sections have settled down 

 into packages of .500, even if 10,000 be sent at a 

 time. 



I know that it co.sts a little more to pack in 

 two or three small boxes than it does to pack in 

 one large one; and I know, too, very well, that 

 the extra expense, first or last, comes out of the 

 bee-keeper's pocket; but then, I'd rather pay a 

 little more, directly or indirectly, and have tlie 

 goods in shape so I can handle them. Some- 

 times I have had a drayman haul out a load of 

 supplies for me from the station just because 

 they were in too large packages for me to han- 

 dle alone, when the amount I paid the dray- 

 man would have more than paid the extra ex- 

 pense of putting up the goods in packages small 

 enough to be easily handled. 



Another thing that I would not lay so much 

 stress upon may still be woi'th considering. It 

 is, giving some little thought to what the pack- 

 ing-box may be good for after it is emptied. 

 Some goods are so packed as to need no box of 

 any sort, as hives are often packed. When 

 possible, that is decidedly the best plan. But 



sometimes a box is put together in such a way 

 that, when emptied, it is of no possible use but 

 for kindling-wood, when a mere trifle more 

 would have made it a good serviceable box. 

 Your customer will appreciate the box on the 

 same principle that extracted honey sells best 

 in packages that can be used otlierwise when 

 the honey is used out of them. 



Occasionally I have had goods so insecurely 

 packed that the railroad handling had broken 

 them open. That's bad, and it's almost as bad 

 to have them crossnailed oi" put togethei" in 

 such a fashion that the whole thing has to be 

 nearly dug to pieces in getting it ai)art. Fasten 

 them up just as you would if you had to open 

 them yourself on arrival. 



Sometimes I have studied over a package no 

 little to know the right side to open up, and 

 then perhaps opened it upside down. Possibly 

 it didn't make any material difference, and 

 possibly it did. The beginner who gets his first 

 box of ifoundation packed as I have often seen 

 them will be utterly in the dark as to where to 

 commence opening. Some word written or 

 stenciled on the right side to be opened, as, 

 '_^)pen here " would make all clear sailing. 



There is a still worse trouble, and I'm not 

 sure that there is any easy remedy. When s(^v- 

 eral packages are sent at a time, there being a 

 variety of articles, you study how to pack them 

 to the best advantage, and I often admire your 

 care and the ingenuity displayed in packing. 

 But I'd like to have you at the other end of the 

 line sometimes help to open. It may be that I 

 am in a hurry foi' some one tiling, and don't 

 need the others for days, perhaps not for weeks, 

 for it is getting more and more that bee-keepers 

 order in advance of their needs, and you en- 

 courage this by offering discounts for early or- 

 ders. But there is no way to know which box 

 contains the thing I want. I open one box at 

 random, and it may be that I have guessed 

 right; but the chance is one out of ten. If I 

 don't find it on top I must go to tlie bottom, so I 

 must empty every box till I come to what I 

 want. 



Once I got a lot of stuff for shipping-cases pack- 

 ed in nine boxes weighing about 200 lbs. each. 

 They were all piled up in one end of the room 

 of the shop where they were to be made. The 

 first box opened did not contain a full variety of 

 pieces to make a shipping-case, neither did the 

 second, third, or fourth, although I lacked only 

 tlie small strips for the fi'ont, or. rather, one 

 kind of them. I am stating a literal fact when 

 I say to you that I had to open every one of 

 those boxes, and found in the last one the pieces 

 I wanted. When opened, the boxes could not 

 well be piled up again, and so the floor was 

 nearly all taken up with them, and one by one 

 they were emptied as the stuff was used out of 

 them. 



I'm telling you a,bout this, not because I know 

 just liow to remedy it. but because I think the 

 difficulty at my end of the line has never occur- 

 red to you. and hoping that you may see some 

 way out. In the last case I mentioned, tlie 

 very best thing for me would be to have each 

 box contain all the kinds of pieces to make a 

 shipping-case, and the right number of each, so 

 that a certain number of complete shipping- 

 cases could be made before the second box 

 should be opened. I don't know just how diffi- 

 cult it would be for you to do that. Possibly 

 the remedy would be worse than the disease. 

 Perhaps you could mark on each liox what it 

 contained, or number the boxes, and then tell 

 in a letter what was in each box. 



Now, don't think that I am utterly unreason- 

 able, and that I don't appreciate the efforts you 

 have made in the past to study the convenience 

 of your customers. If none of the things I have 



