226 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE. 



Mar. 1 



GLYCERINE IN HONEY TO PREVENT GRANU- 

 LATION. 



We have been trying- small percentages 

 of glycerine in honey to see if it would pre- 

 vent candying-. A certain lot of clear honey 

 was set aside. Some bags had honey vsrith- 

 out glj'cerine; in others there was one per 

 cent, in others two per cent, and in others 

 three per cent. They were then put in a 

 room where it freezes very hard. Now for 

 results: There zvas 7iot one of those samples, 

 not even those without glycerine, that showed 

 any trace of candying; but it was very cold 

 during the period mentioned, and the honey, 

 although perfectly clear, was almost as 

 solid as a brick. It appeared to be like 

 some very thick tenacious crystalline taffy. 

 We brought it inside and let it warm up, 

 when it became as liquid as ever. It begins 

 to appear that honey, in order to candy, 

 must not have too cold nor a too continuous 

 cold temperature; a warming-up and then a 

 freezing, another warming-up and another 

 freezing, and so on, seems to be necessary 

 to hasten the process. But above all it is 

 very important to have a little candied hon- 

 ey inserted in every lot, on the principle 

 that a little leaven leaveneth the whole 

 lump. 



My brother is making some experiments 

 at our Chicago office along the same line 

 and will report soon. But he says that the 

 two- per- cent glycerine imparts to the honey 

 a very slight taste of the glycerine; that 

 our office people could detect tinctured 

 samples almost unerringly. More anon. 



useless patents on hives AND THEIR AP- 

 PLIANCES; THE MAN WITH THE FLYING- 

 MACHINE THAT didn't fly. 



Very recently a customer of ours wished 

 to know if a certain idea had ever been pat- 

 ented. As we have copies of all the patents 

 that have ever been issued on apiculture on 

 file in our office, the same being properly 

 indexed, I made a general search; but the 

 invention was of such a nature that it prob- 

 ably could not be fully described in an in- 

 dex, and I therefore found it necessary to 

 go over all the patents one by one. While 

 I did not find what I was after, my search 

 revealed one fact which I think would be 

 interesting to our readers, and that is this: 

 Nine- tenths — yes, I am safe in saying nine- 

 ty-nine per cent — of all patents relating to 

 bee culture have been issued to men — I can 

 hardly call them bee-keepers — who have 

 had almost no practical knowledge of the 

 general principles covering hive-construc- 

 tion and the general habits of bees. The 

 great majority of these useless inventions, 

 even if thej' would accomplish what was ex- 

 pected of them by the brilliant(?) geniuses 

 that evolved them, would have absolutely no 

 sale, for the simple reason that the dear 

 public is not going to pay for something for 

 which it has absolutely no need. Let me 

 give a few illustrations of some of the won- 

 derful?) inventions. 



One inventor got up a hiving- apparatus 



that consisted of cogwheels, shafting, chain 

 gearing, and elaborate framework, for 

 dumping a swarm, after it has clustered, 

 into a hive. The whole apparatus would 

 cost a hundred times as much as any swarm 

 is worth. And, just think of it! here was a 

 man who had the temerity to pay out $100 

 for a patent covering something he supposed 

 would have a demand. Was he after glory 

 or money? And then the devices that were 

 gotten up to catch the moth- miller! The 

 amount of brains and time that has been 

 spent on this one subject alone is enough to 

 have made a nice little fortune. We have 

 something like 1500 apicultural patents in 

 our office, which number comprises the en- 

 tire list. Probably a fourth of them is de- 

 voted to moth-traps — say there are 300; then 

 let us estimate $00 as the cost of each pat- 

 ent, or $30,000. This amount went into the 

 hands of patent attorneys. Besides this is 

 loss of time, which, if it had been spent 

 behind the plow-handle, would have made 

 another fortune. 



It does seem as if the general government 

 ought to have an expert to pass on the prac- 

 ticability of some of the subjects that come 

 up for patents. This would afford protec- 

 tion to some fools who need to be saved from 

 themselves, and save thousands of dollars; 

 but it might also throw thousands of quack 

 attorneys out of business. 



If there were an expert in each depart- 

 ment who would rule out certain inventions 

 that have no value, it would save good dol- 

 lars, wasted efforts, and blighted hopes. 

 But the government does do something in 

 this line to a certain extent. For example, 

 some years ago a poor deluded chap, poorly 

 dressed, a typical inventor (in appearance), 

 desired to see A. I. Root in private. An 

 ordinary office would not do. Somebody 

 might be listening over the transom, and 

 the walls might act as a sounding-board so 

 that the valuable secret that he was abc ut 

 to impart might be given to the world. No, 

 he must go out into a ten- acre field. Much 

 against his will, A. I. R. finally yielded, 

 and then the fellow drew from his pocket 

 some well-soiled blue prints showing a 

 flying-machine. He had applied for a pat- 

 ent; but the examiner refused to consider 

 his application unless he would make a 

 practical working model. This would cost 

 hundreds and perhaps thousands of dollars. 

 So our friend sought out some one with 

 means to help him get up a model that 

 would demonstrate to the government that 

 his ideas would work; and would A. I. R. 

 help him? He would give him a big inter- 

 est in his invention, and he kneiv it would 

 work. A. I. R. saw at a glance that the 

 man did not understand the first principles 

 of philosophy, and could give him no en- 

 couragement. We never heard of the in- 

 vention further; and the probabilities are 

 the government refused to recognize it. If 

 the same principle had been applied to 

 some of the bee-inventions, half of the pat- 

 ents that have been issued would have been 

 barred out. 



