890 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE. 



Dec. 1. 



From a letter I received from your company, dated 

 Dec. 27, 1897, I take it they paid no attention to my 

 explanation, but simply copied the order on the in- 

 voice. "1000 14-inch iabbet.s. ' and they admit they did 

 not specify Fig. 24, as that was their regular style 

 then; and this may all be; but the new style was in 

 that cut, and I marked it with a pencil, and there is 

 no sound excuse for any mistake, as the whole expla- 

 nation was thorough. The above letter, written by 

 your clerk, also stated that either kind can be used in 

 the same place, which is not so. I can not use the 

 rabbets with the back on. I have tried to dispose of 

 these goods rather than to ship them back, as the 

 freight charges would be heavy, but have not succeed- 

 ed in doing so. I used .some by making changes, and 

 sold some, and have .>50 still on hand. The A. I. Root 

 Co. seems to have dropped the matter. I see now that 

 I did not do the right thing in sending the money be- 

 fore receiving the goods. Kindly investigate, and ad- 

 vise. Yours truly, H. F. DoLSON. 

 Phoen ix, Arizona, Nov. 7, 1898. l^»:,<Sfea 

 P. S. — I need these goods now for making up sup- 

 plies, as business with bees commences in March, 

 when a person has no time to make bee-hives. 



H. F. D. 



There are several things about the above let- 

 ter that give me pain. First, the writer in- 

 forms me that he purchased an apiary belong- 

 ing to my good friend T. K. Elvey, who drop- 

 ped business and spent two weeks with me oif 

 in the mountains and deserts on that trip to 

 Camp Verde that I have written to you about ; 

 and it hurts me to think that any thing should 

 occur to mar friend Elvey 's opinion of my- 

 self and of The A. I. Root Co. As soon as the 

 letter was received I called for the order, and 

 here is the way it reads : 



One thousand (1000) tin rabbets, 14 in. long, for 

 frame-rests. I want the new pattern as shown in Fig. 

 24, March No. 1897 catalog; see cut from catalog in- 

 closed. 



Along with the above was a slip from the 

 catalog, giving a cut of the rabbet he specially 

 wanted the whole thousand to be like. There 

 was no possible excuse, surely, for sending 

 him any thing he did not order. Now, to ex- 

 plain how he got the old style when he so 

 plainly ordered the new, I shall have to go 

 back a little. Some years ago Mr. Calvert, 

 Ernest, and others in our establishment decid- 

 ed that it would save us a very great amount 

 of trouble, delay, and anxiety if a letter con- 

 taining an order for goods was not submitted 

 at all to the packer, who picks the goods up 

 and boxes them ready to ship. There are 

 many reasons for this. First, if the original 

 letter goes to the packer during the confusion 

 of the busy season the letter is liable to be 

 lost; and if we have not the address down in 

 a book somewhere we are in a bad fix sure. 

 Again, a great part of our orders for bee-sup- 

 plies are strung all along through long kind 

 letters. A. I. R. or Ernest is evidently ex- 

 pected to read these kind letters, which is 

 done, and we are always glad to receive them; 

 but experience has shown that it is out of the 

 question to get our friends to tell just what 

 they want and nothing more. In fact, some- 

 times they do not know themselves. They 

 describe what they want, and then we use our 

 best judgment in boiling it down and making 

 a plain order in black and white. For this 

 reason our letters have been turned over to 

 some competent manager who makes out the 

 invoice, telling all the packer needs to know, 

 and nothing more. I warned the boys there 

 would be trouble, and there was trouble very 

 soon. But there has been trouble both ways. 



During the past season it would have been 

 entirely out of the question to ask our pack- 

 ers to read long letters to decide what was 

 wanted. Of course, the long letters are all 

 right ; but only one person should be expect- 

 ed to wade through them all. The way I used 

 to manage, two, three, and sometimes even 

 four clerks had to read letters all through ; 

 and even with our present management at 

 least two people have to read every word that 

 is written. To ilhistrate: 



The lady who opens the mails (Mrs. Root's 

 sister) is expected to read every word in all 

 letters that are addressed to The A. I. Root 

 Co. She must do this to be perfectly sure 

 the writer does not somewhere allude to mon- 

 ey inclosed, and also to be sure it reaches 

 every clerk who needs to see the letter. By 

 the way, may I stop long enough here to re- 

 quest urgently every one of our friends who 

 sends us money, to tell at the very outset just 

 how much he expects us to find inclosed?' 

 Then while the letter and envelope are both 

 before Mrs. H. — in fact, in her fingers, she 

 can instantly detect any discrepancy. Some- 

 times we find a part of the money and not the 

 other part. For that reason, if you inclose 

 stamps you had better tell how many and of 

 what denomination. A great many times let- 

 ters are submitted to me because I have had 

 so much experience in the matter. They 

 come to me, because no one else can tell posi- 

 tively what amount the sender said was in- 

 closed. Let us now go back to friend Dol- 

 son's order: 



The clerk who received the order was so 

 certain that they were sending out the new 

 style and nothing else, at the time the order 

 came, that he simply made out an invoice to 

 go to the packer for 1000 14-inch rabbets; but 

 by some unexpected state or affairs that he 

 did not know any thing about, the packer 

 sent the whole thousand of the old style. 

 When friend Dolson received the old-style 

 rabbets, of course, he was a good deal put out; 

 but it seems our clerks, instead of telling him 

 that, under the circumstances, we would send 

 at once, freight prepaid, a new lot, they ex- 

 plained how the mistake happened, and sug- 

 gested that he could use the old ones without 

 much inconvenience. Now, this latter may 

 be true ; and it is also true that a good many 

 people have notions — peculiar notions, if you 

 choose. I am one of that sort myself. Some- 

 times I do not know but my particular likes 

 and dislikes are only notions. I think I will 

 stop long enough to tell you of one of my 

 notions right here. 



We have in our home some very light (and 

 I think neat) cane-bottom chairs. When I 

 am tired out it is quite a task for me to move 

 a heavy chair to the place where I wish to sit. 

 Then the cane-bottom chair is most perfectly 

 ventilated. In hot weather this is quite an 

 item to me if to nobody else. I do not want 

 an upholstered chair to sit in. I do not want 

 a rocker. A chair with a whole wooden bot- 

 tom I would not take as a gift. I would not 

 have it, even if it co.st $25.00 ; and a chair 

 with a cushion is an abomination. Other 

 folks may have a cushion if they want, but no 



