THE AMERICAN BEE JOURNAL. 



167 



[For the American Bee Journal.] 



What Caused our Bees to Die? 



Tlie Slimmer of 1868 was uunsnally dry, more 

 so than any for the fifteen years previous. Clover 

 yielded little honey ; hut on carrying in the hives 

 they were of fair weight. In Fehruary the hees 

 commenced dying in cellars, attics, bee-houses, 

 and on their stands, with occasionally an excep- 

 tion of a dolouy that nearly escaped. Almost all 

 the bees in this vicinity were lost. The winter 

 was unusiially long ; and many, say one-tenth, of 

 the surviving colonies died on their stands in May 

 and June, after being carried out. My Lang- 

 stroth hives weighed from sixty to eighty-five 

 pounds each on the 2d of September, when my first 

 (heavyj swarm died. From that time they emptied 

 their combs with great rapidity, and covered them, 

 as also their corn cobs and hives, with Uicir loath- 

 some evacuations, and died, still leaving more or 

 ]ess honey — some as much as tliirty pounds. 



My hives were then in a bee-house or cellar in 

 a hill side, rather damp, though well ventilated. 

 Fearing the damp air might aggravate the diffi- 

 culty, i removed my bees to my house cellar, which 

 I ventilated by means of a stove pipe running 

 through the ceiling and connecting with a main 

 pipe in the rear of a stove, thus giving the bad 

 air a continuous circulation and draft through 

 the chimney in the attic. 



We have had more rain than snow so far this 

 winter, and my cellar is damp. The corn cobs 

 mould some. The mouths, of the hives are open ; 

 honey boards off; caps raised half an inch for 

 ventilation ; still the cobs are too moist. 



Did our bees die with dysentery ? If so, what 

 caused it ? Could it have been prevented ? Will 

 they be likely to suffer from the effects of the old 

 honey which was put in for the new colonies, 

 eight or ten pounds to a hive, at swarming time ? 



Is comb ruined by mould under ordinary cir- 

 cumstances ? Should it be cut out ? 



Would it be better in my case to take off the 

 caps entirely from mj^ hives where the mercury 

 is kept up at 40°, leaving only the corn cobs for 

 protection ? or will the escape of heat prevent the 

 bees from breeding.? Some think it is as well for 

 them not to breed much untjl the honey season 

 approaches ; but my stocks are now deficient in 

 bees. 



The last season was unfavorable, being very 

 wet, with cold nights. We had an abundance of 

 white clover, but it produced very little honey. 

 My bees collected most of their stores from a patch 

 of Alsike clover, which was thronged constantly 

 while in blossom. I have no seed to sell, all of 

 mine being burned in my barn. I consider this 

 clover invaluable for hay and honey, and hope 

 to see it raised extensively. O. C. Wait. 



West Georgia, Vt., Jan. 1870. 



[From the Western Farmer.] 



The Bee-Comb Guide Patent — How -, 

 $500,000 Law-Suit was Managed. 



Instinct indicates to bees and other insects 

 their enemies, and the wrong tliese may intend, 

 and shows them how they may be repulsed or 

 evaded. 



Honey is a very favorite food and medicine 

 with Bedouins in Northern Arabia. 



In a telegram sent from Madison, Tuesday 

 evening, Jan. 0, it was stated that a Bee-IIive 

 case, said to involve SoOOjOOO, had been tried in 

 the U. S. Circuit Court in Madison, the plaintiff 

 being K. P. Kidder, the defendant M. Trask. 



Some facts concerning this case ; how it was 

 brought and how it was managed, we propose 

 giving the public, as in the question at issue 

 thousands of bee-keepers in all parts of the coun- 

 try are directly interested, and the estimate of the 

 amount involved, given above, is probably not 

 too high. 



The question is simply whether a certain 

 patent, granted to one George H. Clark in 

 the year 1859, giving him the right to control 

 the putting of triangular shaped sticks (or a 

 bevel edge) in bee-hives to serve as comb guides 

 for the bees, is a valid one. The parties princi- 

 ]ially interested in ]->roving the invalidity of the 

 patent are Messrs. Langstroth & Son, the pro- 

 prietors of a latent hive in which this comb 

 guide is used, and of which many thousands have 

 been sold. Mr. Langstroth, senior, claims that 

 he invented the device in February, 1852, that he 

 made and sold a large number of hives, with this 

 triangular guide, in 1853, and that, in 1854, 

 before it ha"d been in public use two years, he 

 applied for a patent on it. He also claims that 

 subsequently an application for a patent on the 

 same device was made by Mr. Clark, and an 

 interference between the claims was declared. 

 Before this ma,tte;- was decided, it is claimed 

 that a gentleman in Illinois made an application 

 for a patent for the same invention, and an inter- 

 ference between the three claims was declared, 

 and that the Commissioner finally decided that 

 none of the applications would be allowed— as an 

 English work had described substantially the 

 same device. Mr. Clark, wdio claimed a prior 

 invention, kept secret, renewed his application, 

 and in 1859, after it had been rejected several 

 times, secured a patent. 



This is, in l)rief, the claim of Langstroth & 

 Son, except that they additionally claim that Mr. 

 Clark having origiiially api^lied for a patent on 

 this sharp edge in connection with bars, the use of 

 it in connection with movable frames as in the 

 Langstroth hive is not covered by this claim. 

 The Langstroths have persistently used this 

 device, and the agents of Mr. Clark, or his assign 

 Mr. Kidder, continuing to claim that this use 

 was an infringement on the Clark patent, they 

 issued a circular in 18G7, cautioning the public 

 against paying any fees for such use, and ex- 

 pressly guaranteeing all purchasers from them 

 against any costs or damages awarded by the 

 courts. 



It will be seen from this history that the ques- 

 tion is one to be decided by the courts, and that 

 it is in a high degree desirable that it should be 

 fairly tried and definitely settled. That it was 

 not so tried in the suit referred to above ; that it 

 was a case of collusion between the plantiff and 

 defendant ; that the counsel for the defence was 



