86 



GLEANIN^GS IN BEE CULTURE. 



Mar. 



you have the best extractor, I know, I am frank to 

 say that, I would rather pay three times as much for 

 the Bing-ham smoker as for yours. Four cheaper 

 phin is no advantage, and if bee-keepers knew the 

 real Bing-ham smoker, you would have, 1 believe, to 

 take back a g-ood many of yours, as per your promise. 



Mr. B. has spent much thoug-ht and labor on his 

 smoker, and I am sure every bee-keeper will say his 

 charges reasonable. Now he has no paj>er to aid him 

 to sell his wares, no chance to receive fair compen- 

 sation except we stand by him. I believe you will 

 agree with me, as you think of the matter, that we 

 should not only sustain Mr. B., but that if he is to be 

 treated as was Mr. Langstroth, we should, for him, 

 for the public, and for justice frown upon such theft. 



I hope the matter may not suffer litigation. If 

 such a course is taken I think bee-keepers generally 

 ought to be the defendants. 



I hope you will teach all to honor patents. This is 

 koepina- the law. " Keader to Ciesar, &c."' Teach all 

 to be wary how they buy. Never buy except they 

 kaow the article has value and is needed. But reas- 

 on dictates that we should never ignore a thing-, 

 simply because it U covered by letters patent. I be- 

 lieve the words of the Book which we both revere 

 will be no uncertain guide, if we catch its spirit 

 while interpreting its words. 



I write this onlv from a sincere desire that right, 

 aye, and righteousness should prevail. 



Lansing, Mich. A. J. Cook. 



I cannot think it my duty, friend Cook, 

 to encourage patenting such slight changes, 

 in the invention of another. A patent was 

 granted it is true; but according to the 

 A. B. J., at least three patents to as many 

 different persons, cov^ering the same points, 

 li'.ive been granted on the section honey 

 boxes ; does the A. B. J. respect such pat- 

 ents? 



I am selling a great many Bingham smokers 

 and they are giving good satisfaction, and 

 as Mr. B has no paper in which to advertise, 

 I will give him i a column for one year free, 

 and he may advertise in it as he chooses. If 

 his smoker is the best, the people will be 

 sure to find it out. If I am continually puff- 

 ing my own wares for the purpose of gain, 

 the people will be sure to find ine out. May 

 God bless you all, in any event, and help me 

 to better deserve the kind words you have 

 given me all along. 



OUH friend Snell, of Mill3dgeville, 111., also sends 

 out a neat circular of hives, &c. That is right, let 

 the people h-ave nice work, at many different points, 

 that the expensive shipping may be avoided. 



Frcevd Dadant has come to the front, and offers 

 imported queens for $t.OO. With his large experi- 

 ence in the matter, he can probably do this as well, 

 or better than anybody else; but friend D., I am 

 afraid those who happen to get the very dark col- 

 ored queens, will complain even at that price. 



^ ■■■ ^ 



Tin for separators and extractors. As we buy in 

 larg(! (luantities, I can perhaps give you better rates 

 than you are getting at home. Price per box of 113 

 sheets, size MxSO, $6.50; price per sheet, for less than 

 a box, 7c. IX tin for making extractors, 14x30, per 

 box, $9.50; price per sheet, 10c. We will ship it from 

 Medina, or from Philadelphia, as may be most con- 

 venient. 



^ >»' m 



Multum In Parvo. To-day is the first of March— We 

 have 3697 subscribers— The bees are working beauti- 

 fully on oats and corn ground togethei-, and grape 

 sugar -To feed grape sugar, fill a large wooden pail, 

 or even tub, with thin svriip, and place some bits of 

 dry shingles on the surfac- of the liquid. Tip the 

 pail until the syru-o just begins to run over one side, 

 and as thev lower it, tip it more ; they will soon take 

 a pailful -Chaff hives have all wintered beautifully 



I again ; no dead bees at the entrance, but very little 

 j stores consumed and no "tending" needed until the 

 I section boxes are to go on. 



I A NEW ruling of the P. O. department is that 

 knives and scissors, as well as queen baes, are un- 

 mailable. But our P. M. says if tbey are encased in 

 I a solid block of wood, so that it is impossible for 

 , them to do any injury to the mail matter, we have 

 complied with the spirit of the law, if not the letter, 

 and that tioods thus put up may be m;iiled until there 

 are p;)-iitive or'2ers to the contrai-y. Tiiat there is. 

 abundant noe/i of strict regulations in tliis respect, 

 1 am well aware, for we often have sticky packages 

 of honey, sent us by maiL I would never think of 

 sending honey by mail, unless soldered up tight, in a 

 strong- box, or encased in a block of wood. LTse can- 

 dy for queens, and never honey, and there will be no 

 trouble. 



My friends, you are certainly doing the R. R. and 



Express Co' s, a wrong, in one respect at least. It 

 I has been our habit, to submit all complaints of over- 

 , charges, &c., directly to them, as fast as received: 

 j and in no case, have they failed to hunt up the whole 

 i matter, and give bills of each separate charge. A 

 i few daj's ago, a customer wrote he had been swin- 

 ! died, by an express charge of $3. or $4.0!). After a 



lalK>rious tracing on the part of the Co., as it was 

 I quite a distance, a whole bundle of papers came, 

 ] showing that he had paid less than half the amount. 

 i The whole were mailed him for an explanation; hi? 

 I answer was, that a neighbor got the goods, and told 

 I told him of the excessive charge for a joke. The 

 I charges are, almost invariably, found correct, or at 

 ; their usual rates, but the difficulty seems to be ia 



passing over so many lines, to out of the way places. 



We have sent tracers, many times, when the party 

 t had not called for the goods, but only sent by a 

 I neighbor, and the goods were on hand all the time. 

 I Please be sure the cause of delay is not all your own 

 ; fault, before you trouble over-worked employes of 

 ! these great corporations; and when there is error, or 

 i even the appearance of fraud, state the case plainly, 

 I but gently. 



j AN APOLOGV. 



! It has been said that editors never make apologies. 

 I Perhaps I am not an editor; if being one would pre- 

 vent me from frankly owning up when I know I have 

 done wrong, I sincerely hope I may never be one. 

 I When I wrote the article last month entitled "Troub- 

 I le," I honestlv thought it would do good. Perhaps it 

 I has done good in the way I intended it should, but I 

 j am sorry I did not leave it out, as I came very near 

 I doing, several times. I was looking for an illustra- 

 tion to show how foolishly i^eople acted, when quar- 

 I reling. 1 thought I had found an excellent one, and 

 in my zeal to make my illustration a strongone, I had 

 so little mercy on the feelings of my friends, I am 

 afraid thev will never forgive me at all. I had no 

 unkind feelings toward them, for they simply acted 

 just as we all do, when we get into a strife. I thought 

 they would see it as we do, and let it drop, forgiven 

 and forgotten. I thought, too, I should have a letter 

 with 1 loth thoir names signed to it, for this issue. I 

 did get a litter from each of them. There is certain- 

 ly no doubt in my nlind in regard to that part of it. 

 But their letters agreed in so few points, I really 

 cantutt iniblish them. If they will both sign their 

 rames to the paper, they may have all the space they 

 I choose, even if I have to enlarge Gleani.vgs; and 

 they may say all they wish about my poor self too, 

 but I do' not wish tliehi to blame eadh other any 

 more. In three point* they agree exsictly. Both say 

 they have not quarreled; both say that the card on 

 the'Doolittle hiv(> was not changed, only a printed 

 one put beside the other bv Mr. B.; and both assui-e 

 me that the competitors did not pay any *T.()0, as I 

 stated it, but that Messrs Thurber & Co., paid (dl ex- 

 penses. I humbly beg pai-don of the above gentle- 

 men, and offer as an explanation, that the circular 

 they sent me reads: "One fee ($7,00) only will be 

 charged." In my usual blundering way, I g-ot this 

 mixed up with the $5<J.OO medal. 1 am sorry, but af- 

 ter all, 1 am afraid I do not feel as badly about it as 

 I did when I offered to pay my hotel bill to 'the man 

 who hitched up my horses. 



1 did not intend to question friend Doolittle's right 

 to the medal, but I wished him to state fully the 

 whole circumstances. The judges have since review- 

 ed their dc-cision iuid have re-awai-ded the medal to 

 friend D. 



