232 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE. 



Apr. 



that bees can have the diai-rhcua in its worst foi-m 

 where no pollen Is present in the hive. 



Last fall, when preparing- my bees for winter, I 

 noted the exact condition of each colony on a piece 

 of honey-section, which note told how much honey 

 and pollen each had, and how much sug-ar S3rup 

 they were fed, as all but ten were fed from 3 to 25 

 l)Ounds. This piece was secured to the hive it be- 

 longred to, so that next May, or at this time as for 

 that matter, I can tell, without g-uessing, just what 

 the condition of each colony was 6 months before. 

 By this means I expect to gain some knowledge re- 

 g-arding how best to prepai-e bees for winter after 

 this, the most severe winter for many years, has 

 passed away. Ki— O. M. Doo little, 40—80. 



Borodino, N. Y. 



P. S.— 16 years at beekeeping; 4'J colonies spring 

 18S4; 80, fall of 1884, is the interpret?-tion of above 

 figures. 



Thanks, friend D., for the report of your 

 experiment. I know bees will do a little 

 soraetliint? at lirood-rearino- without pollen; 

 but they have always- seemed to me to act as 

 if it were like scraping the bottom of the 

 tlour-barrel, when the pollen was all gone in 

 the hive, and they could not get out to gath- 

 er any more; that is, tliey seemed to scrape 

 u]) enough material of that ]iature to go a 

 little way, but they also seemed to suffer 

 when being made to do it, just as yours did, 

 although I never knew dysentery Avhere 

 their stores were entirely of sugar syrup. 

 You say you took away all their r.omhs. and 

 gave tliem only live frames. We suppose 

 these frames contained empty combs, al- 

 though you do not say so. If it were a less 

 careful o])server than yourself, friend D.. I 

 shotdd supposa there was a little pollen to 

 be scraped up in these live empty combs. 

 Twenty or twenty-five pounds of syrup 

 shoidd have been ample for good wintering, 

 but I should like to know how late it was 

 when this quantity of syrup was given them. 

 Did the bees have dysentery badly enough 

 when they flew out so as to spot the snowV 

 and if so, did those spots have that dark 

 reddish iwlJen color which we are so familiar 

 with y 



MORAL PATENTS. 



FIUEND EWING GIVES US SOME THOUGHTS ON 

 THE SUBJECT. 



fHE number of applications for " moral pat- 

 ents" that are being filed with Gleanings 

 bids fair to rival the applications for legal 

 patents at the Washington office. The title 

 to these special privilcg-es would be more 

 expressive if changed to "sentimental" patents. 

 The best morals of the community in all civilized 

 nations are backed up by strong supporting laws 

 behind them. The claimants of " moral patents" 

 for Mr. Hcddon's bee-flxturos are asserting their 

 rights of prior discovery with so much assurance 

 that it begins to look as if he would have to "step 

 down and out" while somebody else steps up and in. 

 Some one has thought of or seen a cover, case, or 

 honey-board like those Mr. Ileddon has perfected 

 and brought before the public, and perhaps has 

 made a model and sent it to the publisher of a bee- 

 paper to examine and report upon. The publisher 

 noticed its reception, and j)laced it in his museum 



of curiosities of the same class, and that is the last 

 heard of it. This miscellaneous species of discovery 

 benefits no one. Suppose Mr. Langstroth, Mr. Hed- 

 don, or any other prominent bee-keepers, had done 

 no more than this towai-d placing their systems and 

 fixtures before the public, of what advantage would 

 they have been to bee-keepers, and what moral 

 right would they have had to claim those discover- 

 ies, and the benefit fi-om them, if, in after years, 

 other parties in their search for improving the sys- 

 tem had hit on the same plans, and, working out 

 the ideas, developed a system of management, and 

 by persistent effort introduced its many advantages 

 to the woi-ld? These are the world's benefactors, 

 and are entitled to any advantages accruing from 

 their labors, and not the parties who have con- 

 ceived something similar at some previous period 

 and dropped it, no more to be named or used by 

 them. A claim to royalty might with the same pro- 

 priety be made on all bee-keepers who use a revolv- 

 ing- window in their honey-houses, as on a reversi- 

 ble frame hinged at the middle. 



The manufacture of bee-keepers' supplies has be- 

 come quite a business throughout the country, and 

 many parties who keep no bees, and care nothing 

 for the industry, but having mills with wood-work- 

 ing machines, have, at trifling expense, fitted some 

 part of it for manufacturing supplies. The fixtures 

 most suitable before the public are appropriated by 

 them, and run off, much of it shoddy -work. They 

 care not a rush who invented them. If they find 

 the articles not covered by patents, they go ahead 

 and manufacture, giving no thought or care for 

 the moral right any other person may claim. 



Government has enacted laws for the protection 

 and encouragement of those who make and apply 

 valuable discoveries in the mechanical arts, well 

 knowing that the moral right is a rope of sand. 

 When inventors of improvements in bee-keepers' 

 fixtures patent their discoveries, and follow the old 

 system of exclusiveness, the brotherhood are apt 

 to let them sevei-ely alone. The bee-journals 

 publish their advertisements, and remain silent 

 about their peculiar merits. Few know any thing 

 about them, few purchase them, and they fall vir- 

 tually still-born. But suppose, in place of the 

 " moi-al " patentee requesting supply-dealers not to 

 manufacture his inventions, while he gives the 

 privilege to all who make supplies for their own 

 use, he procures a legal patent on his discoveries, 

 and accoi-ds similar privileges to individuals. The 

 bee-journals would admit his articles in commenda- 

 tion of his system as freely as they do those which 

 are shorn of all legal safeguards, and for a similar 

 reason. Their readei-s are given the privilege of 

 making- use of them free from various exactions. 

 Supply-dealers who care little for the moral right 

 would keep hands off, and the number who make 

 their own supplies being comparatively few, the 

 inventor -would reap the reward of his labors. 



I'lLTEHS FOR CISTERNS. 



The briek-wall filter mentioned in Gle.\nings is 

 better than no filter, but a very imperfect affair. 

 It will keep back the coarse dirt, but let through 

 the fine. 1 have tried them. E. E. Ewing. 



Rowlandsville, Md. 



Friend E., I know there are difiiculties in 

 the way of the j)io?-fl/-patent business. There 

 are also many and great difhculties in the 

 ?C(/a?-patent business ; but I think, too, there 

 are very f/oo(? things about both. Shall we 



