■2m 



GLEANINGS I2s BEE CULTURE. 



Aug. 



'late exoneration. Perhaps, this is one of the tri- 

 als consequent iip>on showing- up Humbugs and 

 Swindles. 



Below, I give you a copj- of the recent ruling in 

 regard to queens by mail: 



* * * "When packages containing bees are found 

 in the mail car, the employe in charge thereof should 

 deposit the same at the terminal oiffice of his run, 

 and the postmaster thereat should notify the partv 

 addressed, by letter, that such package isj held sub- 

 .iect to his order, and that the same will be forward- 

 ed, at the expense of such party, bv such means as 

 he laay indicate other than the malls. 



James H. Mark, 

 Act. 1st Ass't P. M. Gen'l." 



We stopped sending them out about Julv 24th; 

 but they have been coming in to us, bv everv mail, 

 and the number now piled up that will have to die, I 

 fear, before provision is made in regard to them, is 

 enough to make a cheerful person look sober, and I 

 am not naturally a cheerful person. In sending by 

 express, we shall gain nothiiisr bv having our cages 

 weigh less than 10 oz., as the charge will be 10c. an ,- 

 way, and therefore we would better use larger cag- 

 es. As the queens will be much better cared for, it 

 may be that this ruling, which now seems so unrea- 

 sonable and unjust, mav be a blessing in disguise 

 •Jfterali. Let us try and think so. The burden will 

 fall heaviest, I fear, on those who live a great ways 

 from the express offices. If queens are received 

 dead. I will take your word for it; do not think of 

 gmng to the expense of returning them bv express. 

 Please remember the 10c. to prepay express charges 

 over the lines mentioned in our ad. 1 have lost so 

 heavily on queens that I feel almost discouraged, 

 and, I expect 1 feel a little bit cross, about the great 

 number of burdens I have to bear, in the shape of ! 

 money to make good losses. 1 



One more thing ; pkaftr do not accuse any body of 

 dishonesty, when things do not look just right at the 

 fii-st glance. I do not doubt your word, and I do not 

 believe there is a single one among our 3 or 4.00(1 

 readers, who would want me to send them another 

 queen after they had received one all right ; I have 

 asked you to return the dead queens, that 1 might 

 examine their cages, and find out, if possible, what 

 made them die; not because I was afraid to trust 

 you. Nor do I refuse to send you goods without 

 pay because I am afraid to trust you, but because 

 of the great expense of keeping "accounts with so 

 many people scattered all over our land. One friend 

 said he did not believe an Impf)rted queen which we 

 sent him had ever been fertilized; do you think I 

 whuld send j-ou a queen of any kind until she had 

 been laying y If I did. I should have more "troubles" 

 yet, I fear. 



DRONE r.EE. 

 At the time I wrote the article on drones, I did 

 not give an engraving, because no drones were to 

 be found. As they have been very plenty for a 

 month or two back, 1 have had one engiaved for the 

 ABC boik. What do you think of him? If any of 

 you can make a pencil sketch of one, more accurate 

 than this engraving and tf about the same size, I 

 will pay for your time and trouble. But remember, 

 these sketches are to be taken from the drones 

 themselves. I know there are some excellent art- 

 ists among our readers, and if anv of vou are dis- 

 posed to help in the work on the A B C, I am quite 

 \vllling to pay you for it. It is an easier matter to 

 get the engraving done, than it is to get an acciirnte 

 drawing of these restless little friends of ours. The 

 engravers are now at work on a queen, of about the 

 same proportion as the above. 



A STORY WITH A MORAL. 



A GREAT many troubles occur in business from 

 imperfect addiesses, or none at all. It has been 

 most especially trying this season, with our great 

 masses of correspondence, to waste our precious 

 time, in hunting postal guides, writing to P. M's, 

 and guessing at the hand writing. To illustrate: an 

 old friend and customer, sent some time in May, for 

 a lot of corners, but closed his letter, without a 

 single mark in the shape of a name on it. Oii the 

 euA-elope, we deciphered Columbus, Ind. We turned 

 at once to our subscrivjtion list, and wrote to every 

 name there, but our fi-iend had allowed his subscrip- 

 tion to expire, and none of them had sent for any 

 corners, or could tell us who might have done so. 

 Of course we could do nothing, but wait. In time 

 came a letter, if I recollect aright, telling us we had 

 better stop business, if we could not till an order in- 

 side of a month, or even write a fellow a postal card 

 to say what we were going to do. I at once recalled 

 to mind our friend Coates when I saw his name at 

 the bottom, and felt sorry that I should not have 

 guessed it was he, before. To make sure of no 

 more delays, I called the shipping clerk and told 

 him to be sure that the corners went by the very 

 first express. Some time afterward, word was 

 brought me that a tracer had been sent for goods, 

 which were lying at the man's express office un- 

 called for, and yet he kept writing that they had 

 not come. 

 "Who Is the man?" 

 "Coates." 



"Is it possible that Coates has not yet got his cor- 

 ners?" 

 "He won't go to the office after them." 

 "Let me see the tracer." 

 It was Irought. 

 "Why this is Columbus, Ohin!" 

 The order was next hunted up, where he told what 

 his name was. When examined, it showed that 

 when he sent his name, he had omitted the state, and 

 the shipping clerk took it for granted it was the 

 Capital of our own state; Columbus is such a 

 household word to us. By the time he got his goods 

 the honey season was pretty much over. The ship- 

 ping clerk was to blame, it is true, for taking anij- 

 thiitii for gi-anted in regard to addresses, but the 

 principal blame attached to our friend for not put- 

 ting name, state, and town on everj- letter he 

 writes. People will not do this, I fear, even if we 

 should talk until we are gray. In fact I am quite 

 sure I should forget it myself once in a while, if I 

 tried ever so hard.' Well, what shaU we do? Steady 

 boys; this story has got a moral to it. What is the 

 moral? Let everybody who does business, have 

 their full name and address printed in some shape, 

 on everything they send out by mail. Printing on 

 envelopes is done very cheaply, but there is still a 

 better waj". It is often almost as important to have 

 dates as to have addresses, and the new rubber dat- 

 ing stamps will fix it all nicely. Have one right by 

 your writing materials, and stamp it on every thing 

 you mail; yes, even your books ahd papers, models, 

 seeds, samples, etc. We have a great big basket, 

 for things that are sent us, and a great many times 

 they lie around and are lost, waiting for something 

 to identify them. Many of them, we never find out 

 about at all. Why, it niakes me really feel happy, 

 when I catch sight of the purple ink used in these 

 dating stamps, to indicate where things came from. 

 I want to please .vou, and to get you your goods at 

 Ihe very caiiicxt minute possible, arid you cannot 

 think how it would help us, to have your crooked, 

 funny names and residences all printed out in plain 

 English on your letters, or somewhere else. 



