THE AMERICAN BEE JOURNAL. 



109' 



served them thus, we have found, that tliey 

 generally resume work in the boxes, and 

 make no fnrtlier troiihl(> about swarming 

 for the season. In view of the eondition of 

 the houey markets, it looks a» tliouj-h box- 

 honey would be sii|itMcc(k'd by small 

 frames, as the excluslNc honey dealers Cot 

 out a great deal of (■onii>-lioney, and put it 

 up in jars with extracted honey. I believe 

 small frames are well liked by consumers 

 everywhere, but are not well liked by large 

 grocers, where they deliver all goods to the 

 consumer in wagons. 

 Binghamton, N. Y. • J. P. ^NroouK. 



For the American Bee Journal. 



Patent Hives and Venders. 



In reading the articles of some of your 

 correspondents, one would almost be led to 

 believe that patent rights on bee hives are 

 and have been all humbugs and those own- 

 ing or selling them the biggest swindlers 

 outside the pale of law. Now let us care- 

 fully examine this subject and see if this 

 business is wrong and deserving the con- 

 demnation of all lionest apiarians. Is it 

 anything against a worthy patent right, that 

 some oue has been made the dupe of sharp- 

 ers and bought a useless article, perhaps, 

 what pur]iorted to be a patented bee liLve, 

 when if they had subscribed for and read 

 any one of our Bee Jouj{xals, they wpuld 

 for half the money, been intelligently posted 

 and proof against all hund)ugs in the shape 

 of worthless bee hives. 



Query : Does it detract from the merits of 

 the old American Bek .Journal, because 

 its issues were copyrighted ? 



Are patent laws considered in all civil- 

 ized countries so necessary to foster and 

 encoura^ invention, but blots upon the 

 .Statute Books, which ought to be wipefl 

 out? Can any considerate. person demur 

 at their justness and hesitate to acknowl- 

 edge their protecting influence in fostering 

 improvement whether it be an intricate 

 piece of mechanism, an agricultural imple- 

 ment or a movable comb frame bee-hive. 

 Is Langstroth's work on the Hive and I[on- 

 ey-Bee of less value because it recommends 

 a bee hive invented by its authoi', and ex- 

 plains the advantages of the movable comb 

 frame ? Do we think any the less of the 

 teachings of this eminent ai)iarian because 

 he presumed to obtain a iiatent upon the 

 hive he had spent the best years of his life 

 in devising to meet the wants of the apiary, 

 and which added millions of pomids to the 

 lioney surplus of the country besides giving 

 a new impetus to bee-keeping ? Is not as 

 quoted by Mrs. Tupjier in her Essay for 

 Agricultural Report "The laborer worthy of 

 his hire." Have not patent hive men in 

 bringing their hives to the notice of the pub- 

 lic furnished advertisements for our jour- 

 nals, promoted bee-culture and helped to 

 create an interest in this nuich neglected 

 pursuit ? Do not the articles written by 

 the elderly gentleman. Mr. Jasper Ilazen, 

 though somewhat devoted to his pet theory 

 "overstocking" infuse new life into bee- 

 keeping and well repay an earnest perusal ? 

 Have not Mr. Ilazen an<l ^Ir. Abbey de- 

 monstrated what may be done in the way 

 of obtaining surjilus honey from side stor- 

 ing hives, by piling boxes either at the side 

 or ends of tlie frames ? 



Have not the franm of the AnuMican bee- 

 liiv(^ introduced by Mr. II A. King, become 

 a standard with some ai)iarians, as has the 

 varied forms of the Langstroth frame, and 

 who would dispense with their use for ten 

 times what their rights cost them. What 

 Mr. Ilarbeson has done to develop tin; cul- 

 ture in Calafornia. a^ demonstrated by his 

 shipments of tons of lione\ t'rom tlu^ (lolden 

 State is in beautiful contrast with the tab- 

 leaux presented in the moving of his first 

 swarms across tlu^ plains before the track 

 of the iron horse had sitannedthe continent. 

 Yet this same Harbison is, or was a patent 

 right bee-hive man. 



What is true in the above mentioned 

 cases is the same with numerous other pat- 

 ented hives, each ))ossessing more or less 

 merit as skilfully handled by the o])erator 

 having it in charge. In most cases a practi- 

 cal apiarian could take anv of the movable 

 comb frame hives now in use and be suc- 

 cessful with them, whereas a tryo might 

 fail with the best hive extant. Do we not 

 see the hive invented and used by New 

 York's venerable bee-keeper condemned by 

 an Ohio "Novice" and yet read of a corres- 

 pondent to his "gleanings" going through 

 a yard of 60 Quinby hives in an almost in- 

 cr'editably short space of time for such 

 an operation ? And that New York's great 

 honey raiser, Capt. Iletherington, of Cherry 

 Valley, had gone to some tiiousands of dol- 

 lary expense in changing his hives to this 

 same (by Novice) condemned style. Who 

 among your many readers would hesitate to 

 purchase the right to make and use the per- 

 fect bee-hive (not yet invented.) 



At in-esent the hivi- best ada])ted to the at- 

 taining of sui-pliis and successful wintering 

 depends more ui)on the skill of the ojiei-ator 

 and not in the make of any particular style, 

 though some may possess great advantages 

 over others. In consideration of all these 

 facts is it not more advisable to encourage 

 improvement, trusting to our judgments to 

 distinguish what is and what is not best for 

 us to use and not frown upon or discard a 

 worthy article, because the inventor has 

 been to the expense of getting it patented. 



Does it detract anything from the merit 

 of a well made and painted hive, because 

 you can get a non-])atented simplicity for 

 one dollar which in the estimation of many, 

 would be dear at most any price. Does it 

 look reasonable that one who has made a 

 small fortune out of patented bee imple- 

 ments, prompted by a remorseful conscience 

 should at this late day conclude that selling 

 rights is wrong and advise bee-keepers "to 

 invest no money in territory for patents of 

 any kind." Yet in the same issue of his 

 Magazine advertise for twenty-five cents to 

 send directions for making the "Interna- 

 tional" which said directions sum up thus. 

 "iVn ingenious mei-hanic might make a hive 

 7iearly correct from tlu'se directions ; but 

 we advise ^11 to remit for a sample hive 

 which we will send from the nearest fac- 

 torv." Probably a second attact of the 

 above nature will lead to the publishing of 

 these directions tree but never include the 

 sending of a sample hive. No one who has 

 sent seventy-five cents for a much adver- 

 tised bee-feeder and in return received a tin 

 cup, worth about 15 or 'iO cents, and which 

 (!ould be hired made at most any tinsmith's 

 for 9 or 10 dollars per hundred will not 

 be at all surprised at this change of con- 

 science. 1 las this the look of a strictly con- 



