190 



THE AMERICAN BEE JOURNAL. 



[Feb. 



eras its inveutor, but not improbably — at least as to 

 l)art of them — somewhat prepossessed in its favor. He 

 could hardly ever select or obtain a fairer, more com- 

 petent, or more honorable tribunal to investigate and 

 adjudicate his case; and if he has a valid patent on 

 any useful invention or discovery, he is entirely safe 

 in submitting it to such a body. It is moreover the 

 appropriate function of such bodies to scrutinize and 

 judge of such matters ; though special pains may be 

 taken to inculcate the idea that ihey ought not to 

 meddle therewith. That is a false position. It is 

 within their proper province— not to invalidate a 

 patent ; but to ascertain what the patent covers, and 

 in what the merits of a hive consist. But there need 

 be no controversy about this point. If Mr. King is 

 fully persuaded in his own mind of the validity and 

 extent of his patents, and of the uti.ily of his in- 

 ventions, he need not fear the result of an ex- 

 amination, and should in fairness to those who 

 have purchased rig/its from him, ask for one and be 

 ready and willing to show his record to the body ho 

 has been so so.icitous to convene. The time, too, is 

 coming when the bet-keopers of the country, to pro- 

 tect themselves from the depredations of swiudling 

 dealers in humbug contrivances, will demand that 

 whatever is presented for their countenance and 

 patronage, shall be submitted to competent and im- 

 partial judges, for thorough investigation; so that 

 thenceforward every tub may stand fairly and 

 squarely on its own bottom, and those that have no 

 bottom may speedily go to the bottomless pit of pub- 

 lic condemnation and contempt. 



Periodicals Eeceived. 



" American Exchange and Review," a miscellany 

 of useful knowledge and general literature, Philadel- 

 phia. 



'•Old and New," a well edited monthly, with a 

 capital Christmas number extra. Boston. 



Scribner's Monthly," full of choice reading 

 matter, profusely illustrated. New York. 



"Good Health," with many instructive and usefuj 

 articles worthy of careful perusal. Boston. 



COEEESPONDENOE OP THE BEE JCUENAL. 



ToNiCA, Ills., Dec. 17, 1870.— I asked you in the 

 fall of 1868. whether I should allow my bees to slide 

 out, or feed, — the twenty-two stands not having 

 enouiih to stem the winter. You advised me to feed. 

 It was then late iu October, but I purchased a barrel 

 of sugar, at an expense of thirty-seven dollars, and 

 fed it to my twenty-two stocks as fast as the bees 

 could carry it below. I wintered them in a cellar 

 under a part of dwelling, prepared expressly for the 

 purpose ; and, when placed in their winter quarters, 

 tLey altogether had not two pounds of sealed honey, 

 —fourteen of the hives not having even a single cell 

 sealed. I expected serious reeults. thinking that, ac- 

 cording to theory, their food would sour on their 

 hands, and that consequently the bees would sour in 

 mine. The cellar being new," the walls were not dry, 

 and I had left the windows out to allow circulation of 



air. The night before I moved the hives in, there 

 came on a snow storm that blew the cellar about half 

 full of snow, which was melting, and made things 

 rather moist. I shovelled out the snow, and placed my 

 hives in position, none of them nearer than two feet 

 of the bottom of the cellar. I sowed about two 

 bushels of fine lime all around on the bottom and 

 walls of the room, removed the tins from the 

 honev-boards, and elevated cover just far enough not 

 to admit mice ; and then attended strictly to the ven- 

 tilation of the room. One other item I wish to add, 

 before I sum up. I put about one table-spoonful of 

 saleratus to the last six quarts of syiup fed to the 

 bees. Now, the result. My bees were in their win- 

 ter-quarters four months, and came out all in good 

 order ; and I realized sixty swarms and sixteen liun- 

 dred pounds of box honey the ensuing summer. The 

 sixtv swarms all wintered through to the spring of 

 1870. 



I keep a full account of my apiary, and for the two 

 years previous to January, 1870, the credit side was 

 $553.95 ahead. In those two years was included the 

 poorest season (18G8) I ever knew for bees; and at 

 the lime mentioned (January, 1870,) I had on hand 

 over two hundred new empty Langstrolh hives, the 

 cost of which had been chariicd to apiary account. I 

 think it paid me to f<-ed my bees that time. 



The Journal is still a welcome visitor ; but at times 

 I think there are some things in it which had better 

 been "respectfully rejected." What say you? — E. 

 H. Miller. 



[Aye, there's the rub! " D* liegt der Has, im 

 r/effer P^ We may, and doubtless do, oflimes "re- 

 spectfully reject" what others would ardently de- 

 sire. "Many men, many minds" is a saying as 

 true as it is trite. Some readers like one class or 

 description of articles, and some another. This is 

 by no means singular. Thus, during the late joy- 

 ous yule season, some lads chose plumcake and 

 crumpets, while others eagerly grasped gingerbread 

 and jumbles. There's " no disputing about taste," 

 — that's the only tiling certain. It has ever been thus, 

 too ; for already in our early school days, many a 

 good long year ago, Horace told us that even in " the 

 high and palmy state of Home," he had been regu- 

 larly puzzled iu the same manner, and forced to ex- 

 claim, in his quandary, — 



'Q iid aem? quid non deiu? 



lipfiuis quod til, jiibet alterl" 



Solomon was the only true philosopher we ever 

 heard of. He tauglit that there is a time and place 

 for all thinus ; and would unquestionably have made 

 a capital cook or a super-excellent editor. He would, 

 on the one hand, have given leeks to the Welshman 

 and onions to the croniinuophagist ; and, on the 

 other, have shared among the sober-minded and the 

 jocular, "the logic, and the wisdom, and the wit." 

 Yet, if his motly crew of guests had all to be regaled 

 from the same platter, or his multitudinous horde of 

 readers to be interested, entertained or instructed by 

 the same page, we rather surmise that he, too, would 

 have found his best endeavors fruitless, and been con- 

 strained to reiterate his well-known dolorous lament, 

 — "Vanity of vanities : all is vai ity !" Let that con- 

 sideration give us comfort, courage, and contidence.] 



Milledgville, Ills., Dec. 18.— I like the Journal 

 very much, having been a subscriber for three years, 

 and I guess you might put me down for life. Long 

 live the American Bee Journal ! — F. A. Snell. 



Woodstock, Vt., Dec. 19. — I now have the first 

 three volumes of the Bee Journal bound, and wish to 

 get the others bound also. Please send me the miss- 

 ing number. Vol. IV., No. 10.— G. P. Cobb. 



SoDTHPORT, N. Y., Nov. 23. — I have two hundred 

 and thirty colonies of bees. A Bee-keepers' Conven- 



