APRIL 1, 1916 



21 



The Eyes, Ears, and 



Mouth are Near 



Together 



To see birds, hear their 

 music, and taste honey 

 are a happy trio. 



There is a new and enlarged 



Bird Department 



in the 



Guide to Nature 



Send twent^-fiTe c«nti for ■ four- 

 month*' trial (ubtcription 



Address: ArcAdiA, Sound Beach, Conn. 



<r^ 



Next Door to 



Everything 



?!> 



Reads the advertisement of a great railway terminal. 

 " Next door to everything in Beedom " fittingly de- 

 scribes our location. In the bee-supply business 

 distance is mea.sured, not in miles but in hours and 

 minutes; and the house that gives first service is 

 nearest the beekeeper. 



Tho but a short distance from the geographical 

 center of Ohio we are yet so near to West Virginia 

 and Pennsylvania, and so closely connected by trans- 

 portation lines, that we are truly " next door." 



Some idea of our importance as a distributing 

 center may be gained from the fact that more than 

 iifty mails arrive and as many depart daily, and 

 iilinost ii hundred freight and express trains enter 

 iuid leave the city every twenty-four hours. 



Tlicii our location in the city is most accessible. 

 Our office and warerooms are just off the main bu«i 

 nos,s thorofare, iii tl'e heart of the wholesale dis- 

 trict, and only a stone's throw from depots, post- 

 office, and the large retail stores. Beekeepers and 

 tlieir friends are earnestly invited to make our store 

 their headquarters when in the city. 



The best goods and service justify us in promis 

 ing our customers the fullest measure of satisfac- 

 tion. 



Clover looks most promising for the coming sea- 

 son, and it is the part of wise foresight to anticipate 

 all possible requirements. 



E. W. Peirce, 



22 So. Third St. Zanesville, Ohio 



To Advertisers of Bees and Queens 



The following is addressed mainly to piesent or 

 prospective advertisers of Gleanings in Bke Cul- 

 ture who seek customers among the readers of our 

 columns ; and while it is addressed especially to 

 those who wish to advertise bees or queens, it may 

 apply in some respects to other advertisers as well. 

 It is prepared in this form so that any one who re- 

 ceives it may understand that its application is gen- 

 eral, and that he alone is not made the subject of 

 special requirements or conditions not required or 

 imposed on others. 



The supplying of queen-bees, and to a less extent 

 bees in colonies or nuclei or pound packages, is at- 

 tended with a. good many difficulties not readily un- 

 derstood by those who have not actually had one or 

 more seasons' experience in this trade. To explain 

 this, let us relate from our own experience as queen- 

 breeders, and from the correspondence which reaches 

 us both from our advertising friends and some sub- 

 scribers to Gleanings who have ordered bees and 

 queens from our advertisers or elsewhere. 



At the beginning of a season a queen-breeder may 

 Iiave on hand a fairly good stock of queens; but 

 hiiving been reared very late the previous fall he 

 has not had time to test. Another breeder may have 

 on hand a quantity of tested queens, or perhaps a 

 pretty liberal proportion of select tested, or a num- 

 ber of good breeding queens, worth anywhere from 

 $5.00 to $10.00. Now. unless the advertiser is very 

 explicit as to the stock on hand, and as to the 

 probable dates when he will be able to begin deliv- 

 eries, customers may be disappointed greatly in not 

 being able to get the grade of queen wanted from a 

 certain advertiser or on the date expected, and too 

 much care cannot be taken to make the advertising 

 clear and explicit. A number of new advertisers ev- 

 ery year get into serious difficulty because their fa- 

 cilities for raising queens being limited, and the 

 price quoted too low for safety they receive orders 

 early in the season which they expect to be able to 

 fill shortly, and accept the money for the same, hop- 

 ing to supply the stock within a reasonable time. 

 Unfavorable weather may ensue, and they find them- 

 selves unable to fulfill their plans, and their cus- 

 tomers are indignant and demand their money re- 

 turned. A good deal of this trouble, which often 

 assumes pretty serious aspects, could he avoided by 

 more care in the wording of the advertisements, oc- 

 casionally by taking more space. We therefore cau- 

 tion our advertisers to be explicit in their promises 

 as to grades and quantities, and dates when deliver- 

 ies can be made; and we caution our readers to 

 understand these things before placing orders. It 

 is amazing to learn that beekeepers will order queens 

 from points one or two thousand or more miles 

 away in lots of fifty or a hundred or more, cash 

 with order, without knowing these things. The 

 compliment is appreciated by the publishers of 

 Gleanings, showing the confidence in which our 

 advertisers are held ; but at the same time, where a 

 small breeder will occasionally make very low prices 

 to establish himself in the trade, careful discrimin- 

 ation should be made in the placing of large orders 

 between the breeder with very limited experience or 

 facilities, and those who have had years of experi- 

 ence and ample facilities for handling large orders. 

 It would be unfair for the publishers to refuse space 

 to a small but worthy queen-breeder simply because 

 his output is very limited, for he may have some 

 very fine stock, and it may be a decided advantage 

 to those who are wanting only a few queens to get 

 them from a small breeder at a moderate price. On 

 the other hand, among the small breeders are occa- 

 sionally found those who either are unprincipled or 

 so inexperienced that they are not worthy of the 

 confidence of our readers; and to make a distinction 

 between these we require of all advertisers the most 

 definite and explicit information in regard to their 

 plans. We must know of every one securing space 

 in our columns how large a yard he has from which 

 he expects to raise queens; what breeding stock he 

 has; when he expects to begin deliveries; and, more 

 than all this, we must have reliable information as 

 to the character of the advertiser; whether he will 

 properly take care of orders placed in his hands, 

 and promise to return promptly on request funds 

 which have been placed in his hands for certain 

 orders. Unless this information is fully supplied we 

 shall decline the use of our columns to any one un- 

 willing or unable to furnish it. 



THE A. I. ROOT CO., MEDINA, 0. 



