544 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE. 



Apr. 15 



Well, this was a great idea, and something 

 new to me, as I have usually bought my sup- 

 plies, or most of them, from neai'-by box- 

 factories, and sent my wax away to be made 

 into foundation. I was given to understand 

 that supply-dealers were charging more than 

 twice the actual cost of producing. If this 

 were so it certainly seemed as though a great 

 injustice were done; and I said within my- 

 self that, if some benevolently disposed indi- 

 vidual could be found, who had fine mechan- 

 ical ability combined with good business ca- 

 pacity, and his pockets well lined with gold, 

 and he would go into the supply business, 

 and charge us bee-keepers only five or ten 

 per cent above cost for his wares, I for one 

 would patronize him unless I found it more 

 convenient to bviy nearer home, or make 

 what I wanted myself. Then these wicked 

 railroads! I have been told that the actual 

 cost of moving a ton of freight over a rail- 

 road is but one-eighth of a cent a mile, while 

 I am charged thirty-five cents for moving a 

 hundred pounds five miles. Outrageous! 



There, too, are the telegraph companies, 

 and other monopolies. "Surely the big fish 

 are eating up the little ones." But as my 

 train carried me along, other thoughts came 

 to me. As I passed costly bridges or expen- 

 sive cuts or embankments, I was reminded 

 that enormous sums were spent in building 

 the roads. To this, other sums must be paid 

 for rolling-stock and a multitude of employ- 

 ees kept to keep the road in repair and do 

 the business. The actual expense of hauling 

 freight over a road is but a drop in the buck- 

 et compared with other necessary expenses 

 that make it possible to haul freight so cheap- 

 ly; and I have sometimes wondered if it 

 might not be something the same with the 

 supply business. The expense of a well- 

 equipped plant for manufacturing all kinds 

 of bee-keepers' supplies must be very large 

 for buildings, power, machinery, labor, to 

 say nothing of patents, etc. Much of the 

 machinery must be gotten up for this express 

 purpose, and, of course, is very expensive. 

 And the necessary capital to hold in stock 

 until bee-keepers are ready to buy is no 

 small item. 



I have said nothing of expensive corre- 

 spondence and clerk hire, or losses that come 

 to most people who do extensive business. 

 Speaking of these things reminds me that I 

 was, some fifteen or twenty years ago, in the 

 supply business in a small way. I had a 

 foundation-mill for making my own founda- 

 tion, and why not make it for my neighbors 

 too? But I soon had enough of it, for I 

 found that, unless the season was good, they 

 would not buy, and I must carry it over a 

 year. If the season was good, perhaps Mrs. 

 So and So would call at two o'clock p.m. 

 when I was the busiest. They had just had 

 a swarm, and she wanted 65 cents' worth of 

 foundation. Her husband would pay me 

 when he saw me. She said he was very busy 

 to-day getting up hay. Who could resist 

 such an appeal? But her husband never 

 saw me; if he did he conveniently forgot to 

 pay me. I remember one man who came 



six or eight miles after dark to get a few 

 pounds of foundation and a thousand sec- 

 tions. I supplied him as well as I could; 

 but really he didn't have the cash just then, 

 but would remember me later. When, some 

 months later, I suggested to him that I was 

 short of money, and that, if he could help 

 me, I should be very grateful, etc., he blush- 

 ed to think I should doubt either his ability 

 or willingness to pay me. He "would do so 

 just as soon as he sold his cheese." Alas! I 

 have not yet received my pay. I suppose he 

 has not sold his cheese. 



Now, I could stand an occasional loss; but 

 to have people come when I was the busiest, 

 and take up my time, was more than I could 

 stand, and I said that, if this was the supply 

 business, I had had enough of it. So, per- 

 haps, my friend Hershiser does not ask more 

 for his hive-bottoms than be should, nor the 

 supply-dealers charge more for supplies than 

 they should, in order to do an honest and suc- 

 cessful business. 



I have noticed, during the past forty years, 

 many supply manufacturers have gone out 

 of business without any one to take up the 

 business. For myself I much prefer to keep 

 bees to making bee-hives. 



w^pm 



WiTriii 



INTRODUCING VIRGIN QUEENS AT AN OUT- 

 APIARY. 



"Hello, Doolittle! It's a long time since 

 I have seen you." 



"Well, if that isn't F. H. Cyrenius! How 

 do you do ? Glad to see you. How are you 

 and the bees prospering?" 



"We are getting along about the same as 

 of yore, only time has carried us on so that 

 I am not quite as limber-jointed as I was 

 when we met in that Utioa bee-convention 

 away back in the early eighties." 



"Yes, surely time has carried us on at a 

 rapid pace; but I think you have stood the 

 racket much better than 1. I was obliged to 

 give up the greater part of the apiary work 

 to my partner, Mr. Clark, as my joints got 

 so stiff with rheumatism that they would 

 not move around with me as supple as in 

 years gone by, when we used to attend con- 

 ventions together." 



"I know I have not seen you at conven- 

 tions of late, and so I thought I would come 

 and see you (by letter), and we would have 

 a little convention all of our own. You 

 know it is always easy to hear from any one 

 when that one wants something of you." 



"Well, from the thousands of letters I 

 have answered regarding bee-keeping I am 

 inclined to think that you are right. But 

 what can I do for your wants at this time?" 



"The first question I want to ask is this: 

 If bees will accept queen-cells 24 hours after 



