IS'-.n 



(iLl<:ANIN(;s IN HP:K CULTURE. 



93it 



iho work was under preparation, and uniring 

 t.lial, unless sonietliinu: \\(>re done, flio new 

 \Vehsl<M''s Intei'iuUioiial would contain Mie same 

 iiu'orreel apicuiiural terms as t.lie old one. we 

 wrote to tli(> pnhlisliers. i-allins their attention 

 to them, and askins; Mu'in to submit such terms 

 for revision to Dr. C. ('. Miller, a li(>e-k(M'per 

 and a seholar-one who would he entirely com- 

 p(>tent to do the work satisraetorily. not only to 

 hee-keepers. hut to men of letters. The pub- 

 lishers acknowledged our letter, and promised 

 to do something of the kind: but it seems that 

 imthing was ever done, and the work came out 

 with many iiuu'curate detiniiions, and notice- 

 able omissions that ought to have been iiu'or- 

 porated, because they are now a part of the 

 language. For instance, "extracti'd honey,"' 

 now used in all market quotations, and used on 

 almost every table in the land, is not mentioned 

 at all. Again. "' l)ei>-glu(> " is delined as a " soft, 

 unctuous matter with which bees cement combs 

 to the hives." " Unctuous "" means greasy or 

 oily. Every bee-keeper knows that propolis is 

 not greasy, and that bees do not with it fasten 

 the combs to the hives: they have another use 

 for it. A superficial observer, howeve-r, might 

 make such a definition as given above by glanc- 

 ing at the inside of an old bo.x hive. Again, 

 *• bee-bread "* is defined as a '• brown, bitter sub- 

 stance found in some of the cells of honey- 

 comb." Hee-bread may be brown, red, yellow, 

 orange, or green. If it is ever bitter, we were 

 not aware of it. Once more, the International 

 makes no distinction between a colony and a 

 awarm: and the definitions of both are exceed- 

 ingly faulty. We might go on and give a num- 

 ber "of other examples, but these will sufifice to 

 show that apiculture has not received the same 

 painstaking care in that magnificent work that 

 other subjects of equal importance have done. 

 Funk & Wagnalls, of New York, are prepar 

 ing a dictionary that will fully rival Webster's 

 International. Being aware of the errors in the 

 International, we begged of the publisliers of 

 the .Standard not to go and do likewise, and re- 

 ferred them to Dr. Miller. They replied very 

 courteously to our letter, and stated that it 

 would give them pleasure to follow out the line 

 of our request. A few days ago we received a 

 letter from Dr. Miller, announcing that he had 

 been employed, by the firm above mentioned, 

 to do- that work. The long and the short of the 

 whole matter is. that we shall have at least one 

 dictionary that will give our industry proper 

 recognition; and bee-keepers, at least for the 

 present, when this work comes out, will take 

 pleasure in referring to it as the " Standard " so 

 far as it relates to the subject of bees. Perhaps 

 we should add, in this connection, that Dr. 

 Miller would be glad of suggestions from bee- 

 keepers generally as to what words should be 

 properly incorporated in the dictionary. 



TIIK COWAN r:.\I'II) EXTIJACTOIt: WHO FIRST DK- 



visp:n thp: inxfiED-DooH i'hinciple of the 



CO-MB-I'OCKETS? 



A FEW days ago we received a copy of a pat- 

 ent on an extractor, taken out by (t. W. Wil- 

 liams. Oct. 7th. 187'.t. the same having been sent 

 us by the attorneys, presumably, of Mr. Wil- 

 liams. His solicitors, understanding that we 

 were manufacturing the Stanley extractor un- 

 der license, called our attention to the fact that 

 the Stanley patent, issued in 1S84. was an in- 

 fringement on th(! Williams pateut. under date 

 of 1879. and in proof referred us to the second 

 claim, which reads as follows: 



2. In honey-extractors, the sliaft b, provided with 

 radial arms c, and hing-ed foraniinous c-oinb-liDlders 

 (/. constructed and conil)ined for operation substan- 

 tially as described and shown. 



Ky referring to the drawing, we see that tiiis 

 claim covers all (^xtfactors, the Cowan as well 

 as the Stanley, the revolving pockets of which 

 are hinged at one side, duor fashion, in such a 

 way as to allow the combs to be reversed with- 

 out renu)val from the extractor. While the at- 

 torneys for Mr. Williams had evidently in mind 

 only ih(^ infringement of the Stanh'y. it is evi- 

 dent that the Cowaii also would be an infringe- 

 ment, providing it was not made and described 

 at a prior date. Now, we have made and sold 

 some few Cowan extractors, and w(( expect to 

 sell a good many more;, and hence we were in- 

 terested at once. Hy refer'ring to that excellent 

 little book, '" Thii li(ie-keeper"s Guide." written 

 by Thomas William Cowan, we find that lie 

 made and introduci'd the Cowan Rapid reversi- 

 ble extractor. t)ic xanie thtnij we are now mak- 

 ing, in 187.1. For further evidence we referred 

 to the BriUsh Bee Journal for that year: and 

 on page 117. Oct. 1, we find the same described 

 in detail. The editor, after describing a num- 

 ber of ingenious devices which wei'e exhibited 

 at the Crystal Palace Bee and Honey Show, 

 which took place Sept. 21. 'Si. and ;.'3, 187.'), says 

 this of the Cowan Rapid: 



Tlie "Rapid" also, by Mr. Cowan, was a much 

 more ing-enious affair, and attracted considerable 

 attention. It is all iron; and its revolver, wiiich has 

 no perpendicular spindle, has two wire cases, hlngr- 

 ed at opposite corners, into wliich tlie unsealed 

 combs are to be placed; and wlien the honey is ex- 

 tracted from tlie outside cells, their inner sides are 

 swung- round to the approximate sides of the re- 

 volver, and the honey slung- out without their re- 

 moval being- necessary. There may be some little 

 difficulty in g-ettinji- tlie eomljs into tlie wire cases, 

 as, vinless quite strait;lit and even, their sides would 

 l)e abraded; but a little injienuityon tlie p;irt of the 

 inventor will overcome tliat ditliculty. One other 

 defect, as it appears to us, consisis in tlie fact that, 

 to obtain the revei-sal of the cDmbs. a portion of 

 eacli side of tlie square revolver is taken up, which 

 otherwise would permit of tlie use of larger coniljs 

 witliin it. Some outside observers considered that 

 the iron revolvers would soon become rusty, and 

 spoil tlie honey, forgetting tliat the machines were 

 simply patterns, new, and hand-made, and probably 

 unaware that all future machines will be perfectly 

 galvanized throughout. 



The description is so minute and accurate, 

 and as it occurred just exactly four years before 

 the date of the Williams patent, any court to 

 whom the matter might be referred for decision 

 would at once declare the Williams patent null 

 and void for want of novelty. This would also 

 render null and void a similar claim in the 

 vStanley patent, although it would not affect the 

 validity of the claim covering the automatic 

 reversing. 



THE bee-keepers' UNION— SHALL IT BE RE- 

 ORGANIZED? AND IF SO. HOW SHALL 

 IT BE DONE? 



In response to our editorial on page 897, of 

 last issue, Mr. Newman has sent in the follow- 

 ing, the same Ijeing also submitted to other bee- 

 papers: 



I have carefully read the editorial on page 897 of 

 Gr^EANiNOS f(jr December, and.astlierein requested, 

 I will offer a few remarks on tlie matters at issue. 



Mr. Rin)t desii'es me to "state in ;i circular letter, 

 the desiraliility of having the conslitution changed, 

 and sul)mit to" the members of tlie National Bee- 

 keepers' Union a voting-blank, with return printed 

 envelope." etc. 



Tlie advocates of the measure should certainly be 

 the ones tf) sliow the "desirability of the change; " 

 and if Mr. Root, or any other one of its advocates, 

 will undertake that (hity. I will iiuote it in my forth- 

 coming Annual Report and <-:iil foi- a vote on the 

 suljjecl. As I have never ndvuratcil the measure, it 

 would lie quite out of place for ine to champion the 

 measure l)efoi-e the members of tlie Union. I 

 will act in an impartial manner, and refrain from 



