19(3 



GLI::AXIXGS in IIEK CULTUKE. 



Mail 



of the magic cloth said, "All right; let us three just 

 sit down on this cloth, and we shall be there in- 

 stantly." They did so, and by the application of 

 the apple, the object of their love was immediately 

 restored. But the question, who the happy one 

 should be, was just as undecided as ever. The one 

 with the glass claimed if it had not been for it they 

 would have remained ignoi-ant of the sickness of 

 the princess; the one with the cloth asseited that it 

 was instrumental in bringing them to her assist- 

 ance, while the one with the apple of marvelous 

 virtue, claimed that the other things were good; 

 but if it had not been for his apple, the princess 

 would have died in their presence. 



So Heddon, Cook, and Doolittle are all entitled to 

 some credit, if we have at last found the truth on 

 this subject; but if we have not discovered it, there 

 is progress made. Let friend Heddon proclaim any 

 and every bold and novel view that his fertile and 

 imaginative mind can suggest. It will be tested in 

 the crucibles of hundreds of philosophical minds, 

 and purged from its dross. If it contains the mil- 

 lionth part of a grain of truth, it will bo eliminated 

 and carefully added to the already accumulated 

 and fast accumulr.ting treasury of bee-science. If 

 it does not contain a single atom of truth, it must 

 and will be rejected. ^Vyl. Rai.IjANtine. 



Sago, Ohio, Feb., 188."). 



Friend B., I like your reasoning, and I 

 pretty nearly agree ■uitli you, only it seems 

 to me the basis of some of your calculations 

 ought to be modified a little. For iustance, 

 pollen as the cause ol'ih.-entery was suggested 

 and discussed at cousiderable'leugth through 

 the A. B. J. over ten years ago. .Vgain, 

 bees are often hatched out in great numbers 

 In colonies wintered in the cellar, and live 

 without any pollen at all until they are a 

 month or six weeks old. and the colonies 

 come out strong and healthy. 



PYBACANTHA AS A HEDGE-PLANT TO 

 PUT AROUND OUR APIARIES. 



FRIEND OLDItOVD S EXPERIENCE WITH THE ABOVJ 

 FLOWERING EVERGREEN. 



N reading the article from the pen of your friend 

 .7. J. Lawson, in reference to pyraeantha as a 

 hedge-plant, if it is what I supi)0se it to be, I 

 hope no one of your many friends living north 

 of Mason's and Di.xou's line will be induced to 

 invest any money in it, as I did some eight years ago. 

 Seeing an advertisement in A. M. Purdy's '•Small- 

 Fruit Recorder," speaking of it as an evergreen, 

 with beautiful white flowers in the spring, and full 

 of red berries in the fall and winter, 1 invested five 

 dollars for enough plants to make a hedge about 201) 

 feet long on the east and south sides of my lot. All 

 failed but one plant which L keep as a "remem- 

 brancer." It is about 18 inches high, with a few 

 straggling branches, and it has ne\'er borne a (lower 

 or berry; and as to its being an evergreen, I inclose 

 a slip of the best I could find. Years before that, 1 

 liad often noticed in the front yard of one of the re- 

 sidences on Broad Street, with a southern exposm-e, 

 a small scrubby hedge, perhaits 40 feet long, and I 

 wondered why the owner should let such an un- 

 gainly-looking row of dwarf bushes occupy a space 

 in his front yard. After mine developed somewhat, 



I found they were brothers. The hedge in question 

 is not two feet high, if my eyes do not deceive me. 

 1 should surely be very much delighted to have a 

 hedge as described in the "Fruit Recorder" and in 

 Gi.EANiNCS, but there is nothing to be desired in 

 the hedge in this climate. Wm. Oi.droyd. 



Columbus, O., Feb. 16, 188.5. 



Thank you, friend 0., for your timely 

 caution ; but perhaps some in other locali- 

 ties may have had a different experience. If 

 so, will they please inform usV 



A WORD ABOUT PATENTS. 



" moral" and "immoral." 



! 171 D. GLEANINGS:-I notice lately that a good 

 deal is said bj' friend Heddon and others 

 about the sacredness of a man's right to con- 

 trol the manufacture and use of anj' article 

 ! he may have invented, and on which he has 



j got or may get a patent, and all seem to agree that 

 j such is according to truth and justice, and that 

 ] there is but one side to this question; but before I 

 can agree to this proposition it must be made out 

 by better reasons than I have yet seen. 

 j But some will say, " Is not a man's invention his 

 own property? has he not lain awake nights to 

 j work it out, etc.'?" and I reply there is not nearly so 

 j much original invention by any one man as is often 

 supposed. The fact is, inventions grow, and neces- 

 sity is the mother of them. The research and inves- 

 tigation of the former ages are our stock in trade, 

 so to speak, and we start to build where they left 

 off, and a large part of the patented claims are, 

 when thoroughly sifted, only what some one else 

 used long ago, but never thought of getting a pat- 

 ent. 



1 have quoted, that " necessity is the mother of 

 invention," and it is interesting to note the way 

 they are brought about. Let there be a demand for 

 an object or an article, such as getting the large 

 proportion of the early honey in the surplus sec- 

 tions, and we have Doolittle and Heddon and Hutch- 

 inson and Root and a thousand others lying awake 

 nights, and working out the problem, and presently 

 we shall have a dozen or more inventions with pat- 

 ents, either legal or moral, a large part of which 

 are alike, or nearly so, and quite likely will prove 

 to be what some one else has used years ago; and 

 if not, if some one really strikes something new and 

 valuable, what moral right has he to foi-bid for 

 seventeen years everybody else from inventing and 

 using the same thing, for it is well known that most 

 valuable inventions are made by different persons, 

 and often at about the same time, although neith- 

 er knows that any one else was working at it. 



I submit, that it is not right to give a man a mo- 

 nopoly of a valuable invention for 17 years, when it 

 is likely a hundred others would work out the same 

 thing without any heli) from the one who has the 

 legal patent. L. Beck with. 



Berlin, AVis., Feb. 10, 18S,-). 



Friend B., it is a fact that very few inven- 

 tions belong exclusively to any single indi- 

 vidual. Almost every thing that comes up 

 can be traced back tluough dill'erent hands 

 innumerable, and fre(iuent]y it transpires 

 that the one who calls iiimself an inventor 

 has done, oftentimes, little more than to 



