184 



THE AMERICAN BEE JOUENAL. 



[Feb., 



[For the Americau Bee Journal.] 



"Systematic Plagiarism." 



Mr. Editor : — T wish to call attention to an 

 article by B. Puckett on page 2(50 of the Bee 

 Journal for June last. 



He says "Mitchell acknowledges that he has 

 not conlined his work altogether to his own 

 views, but has drawn from the Mysteries of Bee- 

 keeping, by Quinby, Text Book by King & Co., 

 and K. P. Kidder's work. 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 without giving Mr. 

 Langstroth credit." Quinby, King, and Kidder. 

 These are accused of havuig drawn from Mr. 

 Langstroth without credit. This I deny with 

 reference to Quinby, and demand the proof. 

 Will he please to pi-oduce a single line so pur- 

 loined? Now if Mr. B. Puckett was as "familiar 

 with the rise and progi'ess of bee-keeping in this 

 country" as he ought to be, before making these 

 sweeping assertion.s, he would "know very well" 

 that Mr. Quinby was "pioneer" in this matter, 

 that he had kept bees long before Mr. Lang- 

 stroth, had given the benelit of his experience 

 through the press, had written a book, published 

 in 1858, simultaneously with Mr. Langstroth's 

 work — both works going through the press at 

 one time. Of course it was simply impos.sible 

 for one to plagiarize from the other. The almost 

 perfect harmony running through all the natural 

 history of the bee no doubt gave rise to the idea 

 of stealing to those not posted. Mr. Langstroth 

 deemed it best to revise his work before Mr. 

 Quinby did his ; and to show that he did not 

 consider Quinby the 2»lagiarist here represented, 

 see his own words : "I shall here quote from 

 one of the most common-sense works on practi- 

 cal bee-keeping which has ever been written in 

 our language, and which I would strongly re- 

 commend every bee-keeper to purchase. I refer 

 to the Mysteries, etc., by Mr. Quinby. This 

 treatise bears marks, on almost every page, of 

 being the work of an accurate, experienced, and 

 thoroughly honest observer." — L. L. Langstroth, 

 author of "The Hive and Honey Bee " As well 

 might Langstroth be accused of plagiarizing 

 from Quinby as Quinby from Langstroth. Does 

 Mr. Puckett comprehend that he can commit an 

 act of as great injustice by taking from one to 

 whom it belongs and giving to another, or even 

 withholding merit from where it is due, as to copy 

 without credit? 



lean say with Mr. Puckett that "I do like 

 fairness and honesty in everything," and for 

 that reason would take otf about half of the 

 following: " Everybody knows that Mr. Lang- 

 stroth is the great pioneer and inventor and first 

 introducer in this countiy of the movable comb 

 system, which has so entirely i-evolutionized bee- 

 keeping." Now I would concede the "great 

 pioneer," the "first introducer," — not the in- 

 ventor* of the movable comb system, — and say 

 half the credit of the revolution.* I do not de- 

 sire to take from Mr. Langstroth one particle of 

 deserved merit claimed by him. If I had not 



been accused of this despicable meanness, this 

 would have passed unnoticed. 



Mr. Langstroth claims an improvement in 

 movable combs — not the princi])le — for which he 

 obtained a patent. If some oue else improves 

 another point, I fail to see the injustice of his 

 obtaining a patent as well as Mr. Langstroth. 

 If Mr. Langstroth knowingly, or others for him, 

 claims by his patent more than he can justly 

 hold,* and bee-keepers are deceived to their harm 

 thereby, are they not guilty of injustice ? I wish 

 we could all avoid falling into the very error that 

 we would criticise. I have tried and often failed. 

 We must learn to graduate our praise in propor- 

 tion as it is merited. The one talent should not be 

 monopolized by the one ten possessing. All or 

 none is a false motto. To criticise justly requires 

 very nice discrimination; and vi\\Qn. justice re- 

 quires that we should take that which is coveted 

 by a friend and bestow it on one for whom we 

 feel indifference, it requires a quality which few 

 possess. M. QuiNBT. 



St. Johnsville, ]!f. Y. 



[*■ We read these expressions with perfect amazement. In 

 fsict Mr. Qainby's position, as regard.s Mr. Laui,'strotli and 

 his hive, has long been to us one of the " mysteries" not 

 explained ;" and by these expressions, at this late da^, we 

 leel ourselves more mystified than ever. — Ed.] 



[For the American Bee Journal.] 



The Queen Nursery. 



Mr. Editor: — Allow me to say that Mr. 

 Nesbit made a sad mistake in taking out two 

 frames instead of one ; and then, too, something 

 must depend on the form of the hive. His cages, 

 also, were made wrong. My old friend, Well- 

 huysen used a hollow milkweed stem, with a 

 small slot cut out of one side, about one-eighth 

 inch wide, and from one to two inches long. 

 One end was plugged up with a plug sharpened 

 at the outer end ; the other end was fastened 

 with a common stopper. The sharpened end 

 would be inserted in the brood comb. The uu- 

 hatched cells were ))laced in these cages, also the 

 unimpregnated queens ; they were kejjt there 

 until wanted for use. I was once at his place 

 when he had fifty queens and cells in two hives ; 

 and his theory was that, providing there was 

 abundance of young nursing bees and the work- 

 ers wei'e gathering honey, the queens would in- 

 variably be fed by the nursing bees ; or, if the 

 stocks were fed abundantly witli the right kind 

 of food, the queens would be taken care of. In 

 that respect I have found him correct. I have 

 had sixteen queens hatch naturally, all at liberty, 

 and all kept five days in the same hive, while the 

 above conditions were complied with. On the 

 fifth day I separated them. How much longer 

 they would have been kept I cannot say ; but if 

 forage was scarce, all supernumerary queens 

 would be destroyed, and usually before they 

 were hatched. 



I am aware that many will fail with the 

 Nursery ; but I certainly had the best of success. 

 Even for experiment, I took two queen cells that 

 were not sealed over and the larvie were not ma- 



