626 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE. 



May 15 



goods, fancy and No. I. The general hard 

 times, which will probably last for some months 

 to come, will probably make prices on comb 

 honey ease up somewhat; and we desire, there- 

 fore, to suggest that some producers raise less 

 comb honey and more of extracted, because ex- 

 tracted always has a market, but at lower prices. 

 Where one has white table honey, and can pro- 

 duce 90 per cent No. 1 and fancy comb honey he 

 will have no trouble in selling it at good prices 

 providing he markets early; but if, on the other 

 hand, much of his crop is dark or off-flavored, he 

 should produce extracted largely. Or if he has 

 light honey, but is likely to have a sudden stop- 

 page of the flow, leaving on his hands a large 

 number of unfinished sections, he had better pro- 

 duce both comb and extracted, running more to- 

 ward extracted as the season closes. 



MORE IRRIGATION IN IDAHO, AND MORE ALFAL- 

 FA COUNTRY TO BE OPENED UP. 



We have already alluded to the Carey law, by 

 which public lands in the arid region are re- 

 claimed by private enterprise under the immedi- 

 ate supervision of the government, nhich fixed 

 the price the settler must pay, and, besides, in- 

 spects the dams and canals to insure stability. 

 Generally speaking, lands obtained under the 

 Carey law are actually as safe as Uncle Sam's 

 own reclamation projects. 



Reports from Idaho are to the effect that the 

 Twin Falls legion will soon have the largest tract 

 of irrigated land in the United States, 1,550,000 

 acres. This will be accomplished by carrying 

 the present canal on the south side across the 

 Salmon River, thereby opening for settlement 

 800,000 acres now lying useless, but nevertheless 

 rich land. The amounts in acres are as follows: 

 Twin Falls, south side, 220,000; Twin Falls, 

 north side, 200,000; Twin Falls, Salmon River, 

 150,000; Twin Falls pumping-plant, 50,000; 

 Idaho Irrigating Co., 110,000; Glen Ferrv Co., 

 20,000; total, 1,550,000 acres. In time th'is will 

 sustain a population of 750,000 persons in peace 

 and plenty. This means there will be a large 

 expanse of good bee territory opened up to bee- 

 keepers, vv. K. M. 



THE PATENTABILITY OF AN APPARATUS OR DE- 

 VICE FOR MELTING CAPPINGS AS FAST AS 

 THEY LEAVE THE UNCAPPING-KNIFE. 



On page 560 of our last issue we discussed the 

 patentability of the various devices for melting 

 the cappings as fast as they fall from the uncap- 

 ping-knife. It will be remembered that we stat- 

 ed that the patent of F. R. Beuhne, of Jan. 8, 

 was not, in our opinion, broad in its claims, but 

 confined to only one particular form of con- 

 struction. We have since obtained the opinion 

 of C. J. Williamson, a patent attorney and an 

 expert on patented bee appliances, from Wash- 

 ington, D. C, who says the patent in question 

 " is not a basic or broad one, but is of very lim- 

 ited scope. Each of his four claims is so narrow, 

 indeed, that not one of them is infringed by either 

 the Mercer apparatus described and illustrated in 

 the article by your Mr. H. H. Root, pages 217, 

 218, Gleanings for Feb. 15, or by the Peterson 

 apparatus illustrated and described in Glean- 

 ings for May 1, page 559." Continuing, he 



says it is impossible for Mr. Beuhne or any one 

 else to obtain any valid broad claims on his ap- 

 paratus in view of certain other patents that have 

 been granted to other parties, of prior dates. 



When we wrote Mr. Williamson we told him 

 it was our opinion that, while the claims of the 

 Beuhne patent were narrow, the specifications were 

 sufficiently explicit to bar any one else from se- 

 curing any strong claims on an apparatus of a 

 different construction. In reply to this he says, 

 "Your Mr. E. R. Root is right in his view that 

 the Beuhne patent would prevent any one else 

 from obtaining a broad or basic claim on an 

 apparatus for treating comb cappings unless such 

 other persons could show that they completed 

 their invention prior to July 10, 1907, the date 

 of filing the application on which the Beuhne 

 patent was issued. " 



For the present, at least, machines can be built 

 on the lines of either the Mercer or the Peterson 

 models by any one, and according to Mr. Wil- 

 liamson such builder can even go so far as to use 

 the vertical cylinder for heating the uncapping- 

 knife, shown in the Peterson drawing, page 559, 

 last issue, providing it does not have an overflow 

 pipe near the top and an emptying tap or faucet 

 at the bottom. 



But Mr. Peterson and Mr. Mercer have both 

 filed applications, and they may be able to pro- 

 cure patents covering some detail of construction; 

 but, according to the evidence before us, such 

 detail would not be a vital part of the principle 

 of melting the cappings as fast as they leave the 

 knife, such cappings coming in contact with a 

 hot plate or surface. 



the RUSSIAN GOVERNMENT EXPERIMENT STATION. 



Mr. Abraham E. Titoff, formerly of loamosa, 

 Cal., was a visitor to Medina for several days 

 last month preparing for his return to Russia, 

 where he will assume the position of Expert in 

 Apiculture to the government of Kieff. The 

 province of Kieff is admirably suited to bee cul- 

 ture, being known as the land of nightingales 

 and cherry-blossoms. The climate is somewhat 

 like that of Kentucky, probably. The city of 

 Kieff is an educational, scientific, and literary 

 center, being particularly famous for its great 

 technical school, which is not surpassed by any 

 other country. It also has a university and a 

 number of colleges. Mr. Titoff's lines will, 

 therefore, be cast in very pleasant places. He 

 will travel through the state or province of Kieff, 

 instructing the farmers in modern methods of 

 keeping bees. During the five years he has spent 

 in the United States he has perfected himself in 

 the American methods of bee culture, and of 

 course will do his best to instruct his Russian pu- 

 pils in our methods. He intends to keep thor- 

 oughly well posted on all new developments in 

 American bee-keeping. Mr. Titoff has a happy, 

 friendly manner, so that we feel sure he will suc- 

 ceed in his new sphere of action. 



Before leaving California Mr. Titoff disposed 

 of his queen-rearing business to Mr. E. M. 

 Graves, of Ohio, who will conduct it on the 

 same good lines as formerly. 



On his return to Russia, and when he gets the 

 wheels of his office running smoothly, he expects 

 to be able to breed a few Caucasian and Carnio- 

 lan queens for export to this country. w. K. M. 



