260 



THE AMERICAN BEE JOURNAL. 



" the Eip Van Winkles -who have secured berths 

 in the sleeping car to the end of the journey of 

 life." Nearly half, if not more, of our most in- 

 telligent bee-keepers prefer side to top opening 

 hives. It is not long since one bee keeper stated 

 in the Journal that many times he felt that he 

 could take an axe and knock off a side. Dzierzon 

 and Berlepsch, two of the most scientific bee- 

 keepers of Germany, use to-day side-opening 

 hives. In my apiary I have hives which open 

 from the top only, and also some which open 

 from the side and top both, and for my use I 

 make no other than side and top opening hives, 

 as I prefer them for the great convenience they 

 give for the management of bees. When friend 

 Price speaks of fixed frames, he speaks of some- 

 thing 1 do not understand. , During ray travels I 

 have seen several styles of frames, but all were 

 movable ; and a fixed frame I have never seen. 



I however agree with him on all the other 

 points named by him ; but those above referred 

 to are undoubtedly placed on the wrong train. 

 E. Kretchmer. 



Bed Oak Junction, Iowa. 



[For the American Bee Journal ] 



Systematic Plagiarism. 



Mr. Editor : — It is quite amusing to see the 

 amount of "i^lagiarism" going on with the ego- 

 tistical portion of the writers on bee-culture. I 

 have read most of the new works now extant, 

 and must say that nearly all of them are taken 

 more or less from Langstroth's work, and some 

 of them nearly entirely so. For instance, the 

 Bee-keeper's Text Book, by King & Co., is nearly 

 altogether copied from Langstroth's large work ; 

 and several others that I might mention are made 

 up in the same manner. But the most complete 

 and "double" plagiarism that I ever saw is in a 

 little work by N. C. Mitchell, of Indianapolis, 

 Indiana. He (Mitchell) says he acknowledges 

 that he has not confined his work altogether to 

 his own views, but has "drawn from the Myste- 

 ries of Bee-keeping by Qulnby, Text Book by 

 King & Co., and K. P. Kidder's work," &c. 

 Now, if Mr. Mitchell is familiar with the rise and 

 progress of bee-keeping in this country, he knows 

 very well that the works he mentions have drawn 

 more or less from Mr. Langstroth, and that with- 

 out giving Mr. Langstroth'credil. That is what 

 I call "double" plagiarism. The great effort of 

 such men seems to be to keep the name of Lang- 

 stroth and his work entirely out of view. And I 

 here venture the assertion that there is not now 

 a single patent frame hive in existence, but par- 

 takes more or less of the Langstroth principle — the 

 constant endeavor of the patentee being so to 

 alter or change his hive as to seem to avoid in- 

 fringing on the Langstroth patent. This is evi- 

 dent from the notorious fact that every patent 

 hive of any note is undeniably modelled in some 

 of its essential features on Mr. L.'s original in- 

 vention. So, too, with the books. The effort of 

 nearly every one of the compilers of these little 

 "one-horse" books seems to be to keep Mr. Lang- 

 stroth's comprehensive and invaluable work alto- 

 gether out of sight. If they give anybody credit 



for their plagiarisms, they take special care it 

 shall not be the one who deserves such credit, as 

 in Mitchell's case. 1 was much amused this 

 morning in reading an article in the Illustrated 

 Bee Journal, from the pen of T. Clark Atkison, 

 (May number, page 319.) The writer seems 

 much pleased at the rapid progress of apiarian 

 science, warns old fogies to get out of the way, 

 and then to show the advance of the science, says 

 there are at this time two Journals published for 

 the benefit of bee-keepers — one, the Illustrated 

 Bee Journal, by N. C. Mitchell, and the other, the 

 Bee-keeper's Journal, by King & Co. There he 

 stops, never once mentioning the American Bee 

 Journal — the oldest and by a long way the best 

 advocate of apiarian science. This is only an- 

 other efi'ort to keep out of view the pioneers iu 

 this cause, and puff into notice others who de- 

 pend wholly for their existence on the continual 

 bursting of little "gas bubbles,'.' and bringing 

 themselves into notice by blowing their own 

 "horns." If ever there was a periodical sprung 

 into existence by vanit}', and kept alive by "gass- 

 ing" and the most absurd assertions, it is the Il- 

 lustrated Bee Journal. There is no end of the 

 preposterous pretensions of the editor, and some 

 of his correspondents partake of the same dispo- 

 sition. And if ever there was a catchpenny on 

 any subject, the Bee-keeper's Journal, by H. A. 

 King & Co., is one, beyond all doubt. At least 

 such is the conclusion I am forced to come to, 

 from a close perusal of the paper for a year, 



I do like fairness and honesty in everything ; 

 and everybody that knows anything at all about 

 the history of bee-culture in this country, knows 

 that Mr. Langstroth is the great pioneer, and the 

 inventor and first introducer in this country of 

 the movable comb sj^stem, which has so entirely 

 revolutionized bee-keeping ; and that the Ameri- 

 can Bee Journal was the first periodical to ad- 

 vocate bee-culture as a business. And now that 

 that business has so increased by numbers, 

 through the exertions and influence of Mr. Lang- 

 stroth and the editor of the American Bee Jour- 

 nal, that other papers can not only live but 

 "make a large i^rofit," such as the above described 

 have sprung into existence, and in their self-con- 

 ceit presume to ignore older and abler workmen. 

 Is it so, Mr. Editor, that the two papers named 

 are the only bee papers now published, or is the 

 old American Bee Journal still alive ? I trust 

 it is, and will long continue to be. 



B. Puckett. 



Winchester, Ind., May 9, 1870. 



It is observable tliat creatures nearest the 

 earth are most greedy to accumulate. What 

 creature stores up so much provision as the bee ? 

 But the birds of the air that fly next to Heaven 

 neither sow nor reap, nor carry into the barn, 

 saith our Saviour, " We are next to Heaven la 

 profession, let us hate to be furthest off in con- 

 versation.'* — Purchas. 



If a bee-keeper relies on natural swarming, his 

 apiary should be carefully and constantly watched 

 during the swarming, especially when after- 

 swarms may be expected. 



