THE AMERICAN BEE JOURNAL. 



195 



[For the American Bee Journal.] 



Mr. Kidder's Reply. 



Mr. Editor : — I have noticed in the last 

 three or four numbers of the Bee Journal, 

 that there has been considerable said at my ex- 

 pense in reference to bee hives and queen bees. 



With your permission, I will correct a mis- 

 statement that appeared in the December and 

 January numbers, by our knowing friend, E. 

 Gallup. 



On page 107, of the December number, Mr. 

 Gallup complains that the West has been hum- 

 bugged by Kidder and others, in sending out 

 queens for pure Italians that had but one 

 stripe. As long as I have been in the business 

 of raising Italian queens, which is near eight 

 years, I don't know as I have ever reared one of 

 the description he speaks of having one stripe. 

 The purity of Italian workers may be known by 

 stripes upon their bodies ; but I was n.t aware 

 that the purity of queens was so determined. 



Out of the hundreds of queens that I have 

 sent off by mail and express the past seven 

 years, there has been but very little complaint, 

 but what they were all light in regard to purity 

 and their color light, approaching near if not 

 quite to a gold color. And, aside from this, we 

 have given our customers a warranty that the 

 majority of workers from said queens shall 

 have three distinct bands or stripes, aud when 

 such was not the case, we have furnished them 

 with others free of charge. I have no recollec- 

 tion of supplying Mr. Gallup with queens, and I 

 doubt very much that he ever saw a queen that 

 was sent by me to any one else ; and yet he 

 seems to know all about them. I have received 

 many complimentary letters from different pur- 

 chasers, that our queens were superior to those 

 furnished by Mr. Langstroth and Mr. Qninby. 



In regard to my bee-hive, referred to by Mr. 

 G. , I will state that, in the suit he speaks of, 

 there was no trial whatever. The young man 

 Langstroth, has asserted on page 135 in the Jan- 

 uary number, what his father asserted several 

 times before, that the suit in question was 

 brought to a final hearing upon proofs and 

 pleadings, &c. This I pronounce utterly false. 

 For the benefit of the numerous bee-keepers, I 

 will here state the facts of the case. There never 

 has been, at any time or place, a judgment ren- 

 dered against my hive, as an infringment, upon 

 proofs and pleadings. In fact there never has 

 been a contested suit in any court in the United 

 States where my hive was pronounced an in- 

 fringement on the so-called Langstroth Iiive, 

 upon proofs and pleadings. The decision of the 

 court at > Utica, referred to by Mr. G. and Mr. 

 L., as I said before, there was no trial. They 

 took judgment by default and not upon testi- 

 mony. And, furthermore, the expense of the 

 court was paid by the plaintiff and not by the 

 defendant. In this case against Charles Aus- 

 tin, the plaintiff or his counsel was never ready 

 for a trial, unless it wa9 at the time Mr. Austin 

 did not appear ; and after being baffled several 

 times, the defendant deemed it advisable to pay 

 no more regard to it, as it was not a suit for dam- 

 ages, and if they took judgment by default, it 



amounted to but little, as long as there was no 

 regular trial. Mr. R. C. Otis, an agent for Mr. 

 Langstroth, commenced proceedings against 

 four other patentees, and myself amongst the 

 number, for infringement on the Langstroth pa- 

 tent. All of these suits were withdrawn by Mr. 

 Otis, and all costs paid by him, as I am inform- 

 ed. I know he paid all costs in the suit against 

 me, and withdrew it. 



I would further inform these knowing parties 

 that the hive in question at that time, is not the 

 kind of hive that I now use or sell, as the point 

 at issue at that time was the particular manner 

 in which the frames are arranged inside the 

 hive. It was not upon the frame itself, nor 

 was it upon any other part of the hive. I 

 will also state that I now use a frame of a dif- 

 ferent construction, and its arrangement in the 

 hive is altogether different from the one Mr. 

 Austin had in his possession in 1883, and does 

 not interfere at all with Mr. Lang^troth's pa- 

 tent, nor any other man's patent. 



K. P. Kidder. 



Burlington, Vt., Feb. 11, 1869. 



[For the American Bee Journal.] 



Aphis Honey. 



Mr. Editor: — I will give you my views of 

 what some call honey dew; and its effects on 

 bees. First, its history. 



I have been acquainted with a dark-colored 

 substance which the bees gather in the fall of 

 the year, once in six years. It is gathered in 

 the woods in August and September, some 

 years in very large quantity in this sec- 

 tion of the counp-y. Its origin is from an in- 

 sect that lives on the Beech trees, and perhaps 

 on some other trees. It was quite plenty last 

 fall, but the heavy rains in September prevented 

 the bees from gathering as much as they w r ould 

 if the weather had been more favorable; though, 

 as it was, they stored some in the boxes, 



Its Effect on the Bees. 

 It does not appear to hurt them while the 

 weather is mild ; but the first cold spell in De- 

 cember generally brings on dysentery, which 

 proves fatal to a great many colonies, and re- 

 duces others very much. Those that die usu- 

 ally leave an abundance of honey — sufficient to 

 have wintered them, if it had been of good 

 quality. 



Why Does it Kill the Bees ? 

 I will give you my theory. It is this. As this 

 substance is not a vegetable product, I think 

 there is no sugar in it, and hence is no proper 

 food for bees. It has always proved injurious 

 to them, ever since I first became acquainted 

 wdth it, which is more than thirty years. 



The Remedy. 

 Empty the honey as fast as it is gathered with 

 a honey-emptying machine, and feed your bees 

 with clover honey. 



If any of your readers have had an opportu- 

 nity to observe the periods of this insect honey, 

 and the length of time between the periods, I 



