458 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE. 



Sei't. 



may raise some one else up to do it, and that, 

 while Gleanings is loved by all who "do 

 righteousness." it may. at the same time, al- 

 ways be like the law, a terror to ('i-!l-doers. 



In the two above illustrations of righteous- 

 ness, the average mind would answer readily 

 what was right and what was wrong ; but I 

 am now going to cite you to some cases 

 where it is not so clear, i choose these plain, 

 practical questions, because it comes right 

 home to a great many of you, and I wish to 

 see how nearly we can agree on manv things 

 where, at present, there are wide differences 

 of opinion and much hard feelings, not to 

 mention the unkind words that come now 

 and then. As pretty much all of our readers 

 either buy or sell queens, often both, you 

 can all enter into the spirit of the case. 



Now, Mr. K., I have some thing to say about buy- 

 ing- queens. I commenced writing t*^ four or Ave 

 different parties for queens the first of May, seeing 

 our bees were malting ready for swarming. At last 

 I picked up an old Glkanings, and looked for the 



star-marked names, and settled on •. I 



wrote him, and he said he would send mc si.x in June 

 for $5.00. I sent him the money, and he said he 

 would send Italians in a few days. The Cyprians he 

 could not send yet. So in about a week after that 

 I commenced " tending olHcc," having three miles 

 to travel on foot. After traveling .srcciif// miles I re- 

 ceived three queens, mailed July I'.l. The other three 

 are yet to be traveled for. Edmunu Estey. 



Clarence, Shelby Co., Mo., Aug. 10, 1,S81. 



This is really too bad. Why, it is '' awful " 

 to travel 70 miles on foot for three dollar 

 ((ueens, after they have been paid for. Ihit 

 the worst of it is, that friend E. is not the 

 only one who has traveled for his queens. 

 We who sell (( ueens, by our advertisements 

 agree only to deliver them safely to the post- 

 office. If they lay there il day or two, I 

 Avould not like to lie held responsible for 

 them if found dead. 



No wonder hard feelings come up, and 

 that hard letters are sometimes written. 

 Those who send the queens out, know that 

 it is bad ; but they say they do the best they 

 can, and that it is i"mi)ossil)le to tell just 

 when they can be sent. One looks at it from 

 one standpoint, and the other from another. 

 IIow dilTerently we do see things in this 

 world! A few days ago, a young man was 

 unpacking a dozen barrels and boxes filled 

 with glassware. They were new goods, new 

 patterns, at lower rates than we had ever 

 seen any thing of the kind before, and I was 

 so eager to see them, as they came out nice 

 and clean, without a single one broken, that 

 I could hardly attend to my regular duties. 

 "Well, to the young man whose duty it was 

 to attend to this, there was no such attrac- 

 tion at all. It seemetl to him drudgery, and 

 when some of the hands asked to go "on an 

 excursion, the minute I gave permission he 

 was off without even taking care of his in- 

 voice, or putting a single thing away. Why, 

 I should have been happier in unpacking 

 and arranging those goods nicely on the 

 shelves, than in going to the greatest ex- 

 cursion that was ever gotten up. -' You see, 

 we are unlike in our tastes, and look differ- 

 ently at things. Well, the one who sells 

 queens, and the one who buys, are jierhaps 



not quite so unlike in their tastes, but they 

 see the transaction differently. What caii 

 be done to make them see alike, that they 

 may have more charity for each other? Of 

 course, the great obstacle in the way is self- 

 ishness, and thinking only of one's own 

 comfort and needs, to the exclusion of others. 

 Jesus, you know, i)leased not himself; and 

 if we can get a little of this Christ-like spirit 

 in humanity, we liavegot along a great way. 

 I would say to the Ijrother who rears the 

 queens, " l)o not advertise, until you have 

 quite a number of queens laying, or nearly 

 ready to lay. It is far better to have a few 

 ready to send out before you have applicants, 

 than to have it the other way. Cultivate 

 such a zeal for promptness, that you would 

 set up half the night, leave a good hive 

 queenless, or even sell a tested queen for a 

 dollar one, rather than disappoint one, as 

 you h'-ive friend E." 



To friend Estey I would say, "Do not 

 place so much dependence on getting your 

 (|ueens promptly ; but when you send the 

 order, start some (lueen-cells also, so if they 

 do not come, you will be only a little behind. 

 AVhy, the labor you expended in walking 

 woiild have reared a dozen queens, at a low 

 estimate, and almost every bee-man has at 

 least one queen that will do very well to start 

 cells from. If you get your queens right off, 

 you will be agi-eeably disappointed." You 

 see, we wish to — 



Look not every man on his own things, but every 

 man also on the things of others. Let this mind he 

 in you, which was also in Christ Jesus.— Phil. »•: i, .'). 



■Wliile each should Irve a broad charity 

 for the other, let each a so endeavor to do 

 better. I would not have you. my friends, 

 imagine I do not find a Christ-like and self- 

 sacrificing spirit among your letters, for I do 

 find a great deal of it; and vvhile it cheers 

 and lightens my pathway, it gives me faith 

 in God, and faith in mv fellow-men. Before 

 dropping the above illustration, I wish to 

 say, that we really ought to have some pen- 

 alty agreed upon for those wlio are slow in 

 filling orders. Who will put in an advertise- 

 ment closing some thing like tliis : "I will 

 forfeit one per cent per day, for each day the 

 order remains unfilled after the money is 

 placed in my hands"? If you held the order 

 lUO days, you would have to send back the 

 money and the goods too, which indeed you 

 ought to do. 



About going to the postoHice : Do not 

 people usually either go or send to the post- 

 otlice about once a day, any wayV and is it 

 really fair, to say all tliese" trips were made 

 solely for the sake of the queens they ex- 

 pected':* And, by the way, I do believe a 

 great many of you buy far mora queens than 

 you need to. liaise your own. I do not be- 

 lieve so very much in extra stock. Almost 

 every bee-keeper can raise for himself just 

 as good (pieens as he can buy, and without 

 half the bother, risk, or expense either. 



I told you some time ago T did not believe in pray- 

 er as you do. I confess I do not read the Bible as 

 much as I ought to, and I am a very poor scholar. 

 One thing that bothers me is the preachers who are 

 always telling how we should go, and then do not go 

 themselves. M:iy be this will hit you; if so, T can't 



