144 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE. 



May 



ONE PRICE, AND NO DEVIATION. 



DEMAND AND SUPPLY. 



^a^OW Mr. Gleanings, I want to suggest that you 

 j^H write an article for Our Homes explaining- why 

 s^^ a poor person has to pay 25 per cent more for 

 Ills supplies, than one who is able to buy by the 

 quantity. Thos. F. Wilson. 



Milan, Ind., March 10th, 1878. 



I hardly see, my friend, how it should 

 come within the province of our homes, 

 this question of demand and supply. If you 

 were to come here and order a snigle section 

 box of some odd size, we could not well af- 

 ford to make it for less than 2-5c.; should you 

 order 100, Ave could make them for perhaps 

 3 cents each ; if 1000, at 1 cent each. Now 

 if you were rich, as you express it, had a 

 thousand colonies, and should order 50,000 

 sections, all at one time, I could get very 

 nice machinery for doing the work, set all 

 the idle boys and girls in our town at work, 

 and make them without trouble for a half 

 cent each. This same feature is manifest 

 in almost all kinds of business ; the larger 

 the order, the cheaper can the work be fur- 

 nished. Suppose we have the hives all 

 made up ready to sell. The man who buys 

 100, should have them at a less price than 

 the one who buys but a single hive. It is 

 often as much work to sell a single hive, as 

 to sell 100. When one of our customers 

 keeps extractors for sale, and advertises 

 them, we sell to him at a less price, even if 

 he buys a single machine, because he must 

 have some pay for his services ; and tliis is 

 a recognized law in trade, the world over. 

 The mere fact of a man's being rich, does 

 not give him better prices, but it is the 

 quantity he buys ; or at least such should be 

 the case. 



One other i>oint comes in just here ; friend 

 Doolittle has advertised Gleanj^stos for 

 7.5c., and every year somebody wants to 

 know why I cannot furnish it at 7-5c. as well 

 as he can. Some have sent T-lc, saying if 

 we could not send it a year at that price, we 

 must return the money. Of course the mon- 

 ey was returned, for I'had no right to charge 

 you $1.00 and then let another have it for 

 75c., even if others did do so. To illustrate: 

 a friend works hard and gets a club of 10 ; I 

 have worked hard to get up a good Journal, 

 and he, to introduce it. Should not the ijSlO. 

 be shtued between us V I think so, and I 

 feel it is about right tliat my friend should 

 liave .f 4. of it for his trouble. Very well ; 

 now if he sees that he can get many more 

 names by under-selling me, that is taking 

 75c. for single names, can I prevent his so 

 doing V I do not know how I can, and yet 

 I cannot do the same, for 15c. would be such 

 small pay, that people generally would not 

 try to get subscribers for so small a margin. 



I might reduce the price to 50c. in clubs 

 of 10, but then some one would undersell 

 again, and— ad infinitiuii. Now is it not 

 best for me to stand to my advertised \)rices 

 and conditions V Otherwise, I would soon ' 

 be a "jockey." 



I^)or i)eople oftentimes pay more for 

 goods, because they buv in small amounts 

 at a time, when by ;i little foretliouglit, they 

 could just as well buy in (juantites, and that 

 too, without having any more money. : 



AU^IOSX THE $25. CHAFF HIVE, AGAIN. 



WHAT A NATION OF INVENTORS WE ABE. 



tN accordance with your kind offer I present the 

 following plan for a two story chaff hive, hoping 

 — that it may meet the present want. 

 The lower story is to be about 6 in. wider than the 

 i upper, inside, thus giving more room for section 

 boxes at the sides of the brood, which I consider an 

 advantage In Itself. 



FOSTER S CHAFF HIVE. 



To remove the lower frames, take out the trough 

 shaped piece which is beveled on the upper edge to 

 fit water tight under the side of the upper story. 

 The first frame or two can be lifted directly out. 

 Slide the others along the rabbet to the opening. 

 By means of the wire hook the lower frames may all 

 be removed without even taking off the cover, while 

 with a few frames out above, they can be handled 

 easily. 



I think there is no necessity for chaff at the sides 

 Of the frames. If you make your division boards 4 

 inches thick, they will answer every purpose, and 

 give you room for tliirtii-two extra seetioji boxes. 

 However, my plan will work with chaff at the sides. 



1 think I have improved a little on your division 

 boards, especially where they are made 4 In. thick. 

 I nail my thin side boards, the size of my frames, to 

 the top bar, which is 4 in. wide, and as long as my 

 frame top bar. 1 tack a strip of tin across, at the 

 bottom, to hold the side boards the proper distance 

 apart. The cloth or duck is tacked to the edue of the 

 side boards, by turning under the edge, laying on a 

 thin strip of wood or tin. and tacking through both. 

 I leave the cloth U inches wider than the space, 

 and full at the corners. Fill with chaff when the 

 cloth is nearly on. These boards fit the hives better 

 and are more easily moved, because they have the 

 advantage of the elasticity of all the ehaff. They are 

 also more easily made. Olivkr Foster. 



Mt. Vernon, Linn Co., Iowa. 



Well, my friend, you certainly have struck 

 on something very ingenious, and were it 

 not for some objections, I should adopt it at 

 once. The possibility of being able to re- 

 move all the brood frames, without disturb- 

 ing the section boxes at all, would be a line 

 thing, as it would also, when the hive is 

 used for the extractor. Side boxes, and tof 

 boxes, would be perfectly accessible, and we 

 could remove either without interfering 

 with the other. 



Now, for the objections. We have three 

 places to be covered, and we must have 

 three well fitting covers, to exclude rain, 

 snow and frost. All three must be closed 

 by some kind of a cushion, and the cushion 

 should be protected by some kind of enamel 

 sheets. Tliese will make trouble in o])ening 

 and trouble in closing, and it will be almost 

 impossible to keep frost out as securely as 

 we do in tlie ustud chaff hive. It may be 

 that these disadv.intages can be so far over- 

 come, as to have tlie advantages over-bal- 

 ance them, but I am much in doubt in re- 

 gard to it. (_)ne roof could be made to cover 

 the wliole, by making it a very deep clumsy 



