1878. 



GLEAJ^INGS IN BEE CULTUKE. 



313 



|/j^ "'^reiUms-' 



[This department is to be kept for the benefit of 

 those who are dissatisfied; and when anything is 

 amiss, I hope you -will "talk right out." As a rule 

 we will omit names and addresses, to avoid being 

 too personal.] 



»[s|]HE Italian queen, which you sent me about 

 f\\ June 20th, must be a hybrid, fertilized by a 

 ^ black drone. I have no other Italian bees or 

 queens to compare her with, but I noticed that the 

 bees in the cage with her were hybrids, and now her 

 progeny are marked, some with two bauds, some 

 with one, and some are common blacks. It is a 

 bore to send clear to Medina for an Italian queen, 

 and, after nearly two months, find I have a hybrid, 

 fertilized by a black drone. 



The goods 1 have sent to you for, this season, 

 have not been sent promptly, nor have they been 

 satisfactory in all respects. Your plea of being 

 rushed with business and orders is reasonable, but 

 does not compensate your customers for their 

 losses and vexations. Under the circumstances, I 

 think it would be good policy for us to send our 

 money, for apiarian supplies, to some dealer who is 

 not so hurried by multitudinous orders as not to 

 know what he is doing. 

 Mo., Aug. 11th, '78. Yours "growlingly," R. M. P. 



The queen you mention was probably fer- 

 tilized by a black drone ; but is it not rather 

 unkind in you to say she must have been a 

 hybrid before being fertilized? All of our 

 own queens are certainly reared from an im- 

 ported mother ; and I have every reason to 

 think that those who have sold us queens 

 have been equally honest. If you order dol- 

 lar queens, my friend, you should be willing 

 to take your chances with the rest. If you 

 send all the way to Medina, and do not wish 

 to run any risk of being disappointed, why 

 do you not order tested queens, as per 

 price listV 



It is quite possible that those who have 

 less business will be able to serve you better 

 and quicker; I should be sorry to stand in 

 the way of giving others a fair share of busi- 

 ness, but if you will tell me where I have 

 failed to come up to my agreements, I will 

 try to make amends. Can we not talk 

 pleasantly about it, meanwhile? 



I received your postal, stating that j'ou had ship- 

 ped a queen to me, by express, Aug. 9th. I have not 

 received her yet, nor do I think I ever shall. They 

 tell me at this office, that she was never shipped, or 

 I should have got her before this. I shall not look 

 for her any more. I have to go 3 miles, on foot, to 

 the express olHce, and am crippled with the rheuma- 

 tism, so I can't go hardly, and it don't pay. 



N. Y., Aug. 12th, 1878. H. D. G. 



Why, my friend, according to the dates 

 you yourself give above, you have com- 

 plained in only three days after the goods 

 were shipped, and one of the 3 days was 

 Sunday, at that. You say, too, that ^ou do 

 do not believe the queen ever was shipped, 

 and that you shall not look any more. Do 

 you realize what a serious thing it is to tell 

 a person you do not believe his statements? 

 and how much pain such unkind words 

 give to those who are working hard, early 

 and late, to try to please you? We have two 

 mails a day. By 7 o'clock in the morning or 

 before, three clerks are in readiness to take 

 charge of the work, and, if an order for 

 queens has come during the night, one 

 counts and records the money, and sees that 

 atldresses are all plain and correct ; another 



addresses the shipping tags, and books the 

 transaction ; the express clerk computes the 

 charges, and decides the best route for the 

 queens to go; while a fourth goes to the 

 apiary and takes the queens from tlie hive 

 Avhere they are left until the last minute, to 

 have them as fresh as possible, and then 

 they are hurried to catch the train at a little' 

 after 8 o'clock. Thus you see we manage to 

 have your queens off by express on their 

 way to you, in less than 2 hours after your 

 money is in our hands. Now we all enjoy 

 this, and take pride in serving you almost 

 before you expect your queens; but, my 

 friend, it hurts keenly to get such letters as 

 the above, when we are doing the very best 

 we can. 



I received your queen yesterday, in the best possi- 

 ble condition. H. D. G. 

 N. Y., Aug. 15th, 1878. 



I am very glad you are now convinced that 

 she was sent, friend G., but I should have 

 been more glad for just one little word of 

 apology for the unkindness of the letter 

 written before. 



QUEE NS rOR SALE. 



Since queens have been entirely excluded from 

 the mails, I shall be unable to purchase any farther, 

 for the present, but will furnish you from my own 

 apiary, as follows: 



Queens reared from imported mothers, as soon as 

 they commence laying, each f 1.00. These are to be 

 taken just as they come, and no one is to be allowed 

 to pick them over, under any circumstances. Test- 

 ed queens of ordinary appearance, and ordinarily 

 prolific, will be $2.60. If we select the largest, yel- 

 lowest, most prolific, and that produce the finest 

 bees, the price will be $:5.00 



For such as are small, dark, or old, but that pro- 

 duce nicely marked bees, the price will be P.50. 

 Hybrid queens when we have them, will be 50c. 



All of the above, we gviarantee safe at your ex- 

 press office, and that they are as represented, but 

 can be responsible for them no farther. I do not 

 know what the express charges will be, but, from 

 what experience I have had, I fear it will be a 

 grevious burden for us all. On this account, and 

 because of the great number of losses that are being 

 almost constantly incurred, especially by beginners, 

 I would advise you to buy your queens in a nucleus. 

 This does away with all trouble or risk of intro- 

 ducing, and you can build them up into fair colonies 

 if purchased any time during this month. To make 

 the burden as easj' as possible, I will furnish a neat- 

 ly painted 2 frame nucleus full of brood and bees, 

 for $2.50; a 3 frame nucleus, $3.50. These prices are 

 for nuclei, without queens, and you can have any 

 kind of a queen you wish, by adding the prices as 

 above given. A nucleus hive should stand a 

 journey of a month or more. 



We have made arrangements with our Express Co., 

 the Union, to forward queens to all points on their 

 lino for 15c; when they pass on to other lines, the 

 charge is 25c more. ' We almost invariably, ship 

 queens by return Express. There is no advantage 

 in prepaying the Express. A halt-dozen queens can 

 be sent as cheaply as one. A. I. ROOT, Medina, O. 



ITALIAN BEES. 



Imported and home bred queens ; full colonies 

 and nucleus colonies ; bee-keeper's supplies of all 

 kinds. Queens bred early in the season. Send for 

 catalogue. 

 9tf DR. J. P. H. BROWN, Augusta, Ga. 



Cash for Beeswax! 



Will pay 25c per lb. for any quantity of nice, clean 

 wax, delivered at our R. R. station. 



A. I. ROOT, Medina, O. 



