480 



GLEANINCJS IN BEE CULTUKE. 



June 



hours; the ventilators are opened, the doors closed, 

 and the horses are hitched to the wagon, and a 

 journey of ]0 or 20 miles is begun, stopping- to-day 

 at rape fields; a week later, on blooming meadows; 

 later on, by white clover and esparcettc fields, and 

 then in acacien and linden tracts. 



We are very much obliged to you, friend 

 I).; aud we may remark that this subject 

 was brought up in the earlier volumes of 

 Gleanincjs, and several articles appeared 

 in regard to the matter. I have never been 

 able to hear, however, that such an apiary 

 has ever been made a success practically. 

 We should be very glad indeed to know how 

 our friend Gustave Sigle has succeeded. My 

 impression is, that such a wagon would be 

 found quite useful whenever it is found 

 tiiat honey is coming in largely, say within 

 ten or twenty miles of the location of any 

 good-sized apiary ; and this matter can be 

 readily determined by having a colony or 

 two at different points, as above mentioned. 



A MAN -WHO SELLS INDIVIDUAL 

 RIGHTS FOR A PATENT BEE- 

 HIVE. 



AND A GOOD MAN NOTWITHSTANDING. 



fRIEND ROOT:— I have carefully read your 

 article in answer to Rev. Mr. Langstroth, on 

 the subject of patents, and I want to assure 

 you that, although I sell individual rights to 

 my hive, I believe that T have as well satisfi- 

 ed a lot of ciistomei's as anj' nnin in the supply- 

 business. There are counties that are now well 

 along, and continuing to progress, in improved 

 bee culture, that, before the introduction of my 

 hive, were 50 years behind the times. Intelligence 

 and profit have been abundantly gleaned from its 

 use. Now, friend Root, are yo\i not aware that a 

 person can not push out into new fields, and use 

 the time and money neccssarj- to break down old- 

 fogy ideas unless he has a patent back of him that 

 will secure to him a proper reward for his laliorV 

 If a man believes it to he worth $5.00 to him to have 

 the privilege of making and using a certain patent- 

 ed invention. Is it not fully as just to sell him that 

 privilege as it is to sell him all he needs of the ar- 

 ticle, while he thus pays in profits more than he 

 could have saved by making the article himself, 

 and saving transportation? The same department 

 of government that gives me control of my hive 

 gave you a copyright on your A B C book, that you 

 might profit from your labor in writing it. Now, 

 protection for such small articles is not needed as 

 badly as on bulky ones, for they can be shipped at a 

 small per cent of their value; but the only projier 

 way to handle a patent hive is by the selling of 

 rights so they can be made in the community in 

 which they are to be used. Furthermore, a patent 

 often cheapens an article. The notched tins used 

 in my hive cost, when cut by a saw company in 

 Chicago, fi:?.()0 for 100 hives; but being protected 

 by a patent, and thus controlling the trade so that I 

 can get out 1500 sets at once, .with the certainty 

 that I shall not have opposition, 1 have invested in 

 machinery that gets them out at .$<?.15 per 100, and 

 then leaves me a margin. A patent fence has been 

 introduced in our county that has proved an im- 

 mense saving to our farmers. Has there been a 



wrong done by their being asked to pay 5 cts. an 

 acre for the farm-right? 



If you ever hear of any complaints against me, 

 please refer them to me at once. 



G. K. HUBHARD. 



La Grange, Ind., .June 4, 1888. 



Friend 11., you make a blunder at the out- 

 set. Let us get that right before we go any 

 further. We have no copyright on the 

 A B C book, and never expect to have. If 

 anybody can print it at a less price than we 

 do, and at the same time stand the condem- 

 nation that would be pronounced on him by 

 every good man, let him go ahead. J know, 

 friend II., that you have done business 

 without having complaints (that is, we nev- 

 er heard of any) for a good many years, and 

 I am glad to kiiow it ; but for all that, I can 

 not help thinking of you a good deal as I do 

 of the man who says he has used hard cider 

 all his life, and has never yet been intoxi- 

 cated. You are a conscientious, upright 

 business man ; but I do think the example 

 of the man who drinks hard cider, without 

 Injury, harms the community, just as I 

 think your example of taking five dollars 

 for an individual right harms community. 

 I have considered well the point you make 

 in regard to manufacturing goods by im- 

 proved machinery while you have a mo- 

 nopoly on the same goods ; but, dear friend 

 II., we do the same thing in many depart- 

 ments of our business, without aiiy patent 

 at all. A man once came to our establish- 

 ment, looked over our machinery, took di- 

 mensions of our castings, and even bought 

 pieces to be used for making patterns of our 

 extractois. In a few weeks he started up in 

 a large city, and advertised "• Extractors, bet- 

 ter than those made by A. I. Root, for one 

 dollar less." For a little while he injured 

 our business somewhat. Some of my friends 

 told me that I was just beginning" to reap 

 the results of my folly in not having my 

 extractor gearing pateiited. I presume the 

 bee-keeping world, at least most of them, 

 have forgotten by this time that that man 

 ever sold extractors. 



Do most of your customers who pay you 

 five dollars for the privilege of making your 

 liives, make a practical use of wliat they 

 pay you money for ? Now then : You 

 speak about a patent fence. In our vicinity 

 more people have been swindled by i)atent 

 fences than by almost any other one thing. 

 In fact, my own father was once entrapped 

 by a gang of fence men before I knew it, 

 and was going around among his neighbors, 

 lending countenance to this gang, and help- 

 ing on a swindle before he knew it. The 

 men who sold rights had a patent on an or- 

 namental cap for a fence-post. They had 

 no patent whatever on the fence. Further- 

 more, this ornamental cap to the post they 

 did not use, and did not show. Tliey tot)k 

 money from the farmers all over Medina 

 C'ounty, and yet every farmer had a perfect 

 right to make as much of the fence as he 

 pleased. If it would not seem bold, I should 

 like to suggest that possibly an investiga- 

 tion of tlie fence you mention might re- 

 veal the fact that it is of the very same 

 stripe. Since we are on the fence (juestion, 

 if our readers want the opinion of A. I. 



