_Foxborough, Mass._, Aug. 8, 1870.
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[For the American Bee Journal.]
About Italian Queens, &c.
Mr. E. L. Briggs seems to pitch into cheap queen raisers, and Alley in
particular (at least so Alley understands it, although he mentions no
names). I cannot let such remarks pass unnoticed. I would have Mr.
Briggs understand that I spare no pains to procure the best breeding
queens imported into this country. I have paid from $5 to $20 and
upwards for Italian queens, and have never as yet found among my
purchases when received any queens superior to those of my own raising.
My only object in purchasing queens, is to avoid in-and-in breeding. I
am very careful to select the largest, handsomest, and most prolific
queens to breed from, both for young queens and drones. I do not doubt
that I ship queens now and then that are not up to the standard, and so
do all other breeders who do not test their queens before sending. But
in every case, I will send other queens, or give satisfaction in some
way. The stock I now have produce as large, prolific, and handsome
queens as Mr. B. or any other man ever saw. Any queen that I send out is
worth all I charge for her, even if she has perchance mated with a black
drone. I pay the highest figure for my breeding queens, and now have
queens of my own raising that I would not sell for fifty dollars. If Mr.
B. would like to purchase some Italian queens, and thinks they would be
any better by paying eight or ten dollars for them, instead of two
dollars and a half, I can accommodate him in that line; and if he has
any such queens as he describes, I will take the lot at the price he has
stated, viz.: eight or ten dollars. Now here is a chance for a trade! I
know that some bee-keepers think that my queens are not worth much,
because I sell them so low: but if it will do them any good to know how
it is that I can afford to sell at such low prices, I will make it
known.
I have all I can do in the summer to raise queens and reply to all the
letters I receive; and I find it quite business enough to keep two
hundred (200) nucleus hives in full operation. Talk about boasting of
orders for four hundred queens! Why I have orders for more than seven
hundred on my books, and they are still coming in by every mail. I was
expecting to raise and ship one thousand queens this season, but cannot
do it. My orders began to come in as early as last December, and one man
ordered fifty as early as last March. Nearly all the orders I have
received this season came from persons I supplied last season, and their
friends who have seen my stock in the apiaries of former purchasers. I
have plenty of letters speaking in the highest terms of my queens; and
many of them, like Dr. Barnard, say they are much better than those
they paid twenty dollars for. Let me say here that I sent Dr. B. his
queens last fall, and the first I heard from him since, I saw in the
American Bee Journal--it was of course no pre-arranged plan for him to
blow Mr. Alley’s stock of Italians.
I paid a certain party in June last ten dollars for a queen. A few days
ago I received her, and I may safely say I never shipped a queen as poor
in appearance. Nor was there any excuse for the party sending me such a
queen, as she was raised last season and was taken from a full stock
when sent to me. I guarantee to send out just as good queens for two
dollars and a half.
I do not want the reader to suppose that this article is intended as an
advertisement. That is far from my design; but I feel obliged to make
this statement in self defence.
Last winter I read an advertisement in a western paper, from the pen of
a high-price queen dealer, in which he said that he did not believe that
good queens could be raised and sold for $2.50. Now, the same person has
advertised them at a figure even lower than that. I can afford to raise
and sell good pure queens for the price I am charging, and mean to do so
as long as I can find purchasers for them, which judging from the demand
for them, will be some time yet.
I have, within a few weeks, bought seven queens from some of these
high-priced queen breeders, none of which are any larger or handsomer
than the stock I now have; nor do I believe that their progeny will
prove to be any better. Only this morning I received three queens from
such a breeder, two of which I returned by the next mail. I do not want
any stock of that kind.
I do not know who Mr. Briggs is, nor whether he is “blowing” for himself
or not; and I do not understand his object in sending such an article to
the Journal as appeared last month over his name. If he intends to build
up a trade at the expense of other people by underrating their stock, I,
for one, would like to know it.
I have plenty of letters from purchasers, “blowing up” some of these
high-price queen breeders; and I presume they have some of the same
kind, giving Alley what he deserves and perhaps more than is due to him.
But let that be as it may, all I have to say is this--if any man has a
queen purchased from Alley, that he does not like, let him return her at
once, or ever after hold his peace.
Mr. Langstroth has written to me several times that they never yet
imported a queen that would invariably duplicate herself. Who is the
best authority on this point--Mr. L. or Mr. B.? I have this information
not only from Mr. L., but from other importers also. I know nothing
about Morgan mares nor of certain breeds of pigs; but I have several
years’ experience with Italian bees, and profess to know something about
them. Those who breed Italian queens, and charge high prices for them
too, will acknowledge that not more than one queen in fifty is as good
as those which Mr. B. has pictured in the last number of the Journal;
and he may bet a high figure that no worker bee in the country ever
showed four bands. This article has grown pretty long, and I do wish Mr.
B. would stir one up when the weather is cooler, and we have more
leisure for rejoinder--say next winter.