028 



GLEANINGS IK BEE CULTURE. 



Nov 



PATENT-RIGHT BEE-HIVES. 



KIND WORDS FROM GOOD FRIENDS. 



f CAN'T get along without Gleanings, for I like 

 it very much, and I like the editor too; but it 

 ' hurts to read such sentences as, " Have noth- 

 ing to do with anj' man who goes around selling 

 rights for patent bee-hives, or any thing else" (p. 

 408), for I can say that I'll never engage in a busi- 

 ness that I can't ask the Lord to help me in. I have 

 not taken a cent from a man this'season but that 

 has declared himself perfectly willing to pay, and 

 some of my warmest friends are those 1 have done 

 work for. Honest, now! don't you believe this is a 

 kind of hobby of yours? It surely can't be so sinful 

 to get an article patented, or our government would 

 not allow it. Isn't this more a matter of opinion, 

 and shouldn't we cultivate a charity for each other's 

 differences? AVhy, I believe there comes pretiy 

 near being two sides to the temperance question, 

 and yet I earnestly advocate the right, and never 

 drank a drop. But you couldn't scare me off of your 

 subscription list any how, for GLfeANixGS contains 

 too much good reading, and if I ever come any- 

 where near Medina, I'm coming the rest of the way 

 and call on you. Yes, I almost believe 1 would, even 

 if I knew you would turn up your nose, and say to 

 yourself, "Yes, here is one of those patent-hive 

 men." G. K. Hubbard. 



LaGrange, Ind., Oct. 16, 1S81. 



Now, Mr. Koot, on page 498, October Gleanings, 

 you cut the " Kidder " family. Do you know them 

 ■pcrsoniilhi/ did they ever harm yoH, or has your im- 

 agination, and letters of hasty writing from others, 

 made out the whole family of "bad repute "? If a 

 relation of yours should •' miss it " in some of his 

 dealings, how would it "strike" you should it be 

 said, " The whole Root family are in bad repute"? I 

 believe the Maker of man has room in the field of 

 charity for what is (joiid in the " Kidder famih'." I 

 don't believe in total depravity, you see; and in the 

 same article you say, " Have nothing to do with any 

 man who travels about selling rights for patent bee- 

 hives, '</• 0711/ thing dsc," etc. When you consider 

 that, I think you will pass judgment on yourself. I 

 am not in favor of flooding the country with "pat- 

 ent rights," but I believe it just for a person to pro- 

 tect himself from unprincipled parties, by having a 

 thing patented that is meritorious, and where the 

 public is not overcharged by the " right." 



A little argument Avill not build a wall between us, 

 for I won't be any thing else but your friend, and I 

 do not mean to be presumptuous. I believe, if we 

 would obey the great injunction, " Come, let us rea- 

 son together," the two great powers of heaven and 

 earth (love and charity) would find lodgment in more 



human hearts. We are too touchy. 



w. M, Young. 



Nevada, Wyandot Co., O., Oct., 1881. 



I must confess, my friends, the spirit of 

 kindness and true friendship shown in both 

 your letters lias touched me very much ; so 

 much so, indeed, that I have just had the 

 Humbug and Swindle department lifted out 

 bodily from the pages, although it contained 

 two complaints against patent-hive venders. 

 If I have been erring on the side of too much 

 severity, I will try for a little while to err on 

 the side of being too lenient. I am not at all 

 shaken in my position, that the greatest 

 good to the greatest number would be se- 



cured by just such advice as I gave, but be- 

 cause of just one such man as yourself, friend 

 II., among the number wlio are traveling 

 about selling rights for a patent bee-hive, 

 (do you go among utter strangers, friend IL?) 

 I will, for the present, refrain. Friend Y., 

 that one expreswion, " I won't be any thing 

 but your friend," has taken a strong hold of 

 me. If we could all hold that spirit in all 

 our arguments and disagreements, what a 

 different world this would be 1 Methiuks I 

 see one weak place in your plea. You ask 

 if any of the Kidders have ever harmed me. 

 To be sure, they have not. If they had, it 

 would have been a personal matter, and en- 

 tirely out of place in my own journal. Bad 

 men are published, to save our readers from 

 being defrauded by them ; and I do not 

 know how I can very well be excused from 

 holding up this warning, when the Kidders 

 have been practicing a species of blackmail- 

 ing for nearly twenty years past. When I 

 say Kidder family, of course I mean those 

 of them known in bee culture. 



BEES AND GRAPES. 



ALSO A LITTLE ABOUT BIRDS AND GRAPES. 



M S there has been a great deal said about bees 

 >^\v eating and puncturing grapes, I take this op- 

 ' portunity to send you by mail one of the bees 

 or birds that do puncture the grapes, making a hole 

 as small as can be made with a fine needle, and 

 larger. I have had about 10 years' experience with 

 bees and grapes; have never seen a bee puncture a 

 grape yet. I know by watching what mischief (to 

 my sorrow) this little bird is among the grapes. 



If you know the name of the bird, please let me 

 know. C. F. Hopkins. 



BrowDhelm, Lorain Co., O., Oct. 11, 1881. 



Not being posted in ornithology, we sent 

 the bird to i-'rof . Cook. Here is his reply : 



Dear Sir:— Ihc bird from Mr. C. F. Hopkins, of 

 Brownhelm, Ohio, and received through you, is the 

 ruby-crowned Kinglet (Regulus calendula). It is 

 sometimes called the ruby-crowned Wren. It is 

 found from the Gulf, in winter, to Alaska, in sum- 

 mer; and from the Atlantic to the Pacific. It ap- 

 pears here in April and September, and the same is 

 true, without doubt, in Northern Ohio. It nests and 

 breeds north of us. This little bird is greenish olive 

 in color, with a bright crimson spot on its crown. It 

 has a sharp bill, which enables it to reach into crev- 

 ices under bark, etc., for the insects which form the 

 larger part of its food. The length from tip of bill 

 to tip of tail is 41 ; inches. 



Mr. Hopkins's observation is new. This little 

 beauty, whose song is as beautiful as that of the 

 canary, has heretofore borne an untarnished chai-- 

 acter. True, Wilson says that it sometimes eats the 

 stamens of apple-blossoms, but this could hardly be 

 called harm. But that it should form this new hat>- 

 it of piercing grapes, and sipping the juice, is surely 

 much against its character. Its bill is admirably 

 fitted for just this work, from its nccdle-like shape; 

 and granting that it should once experiment in the 

 line of tapping grapes, we could hardly wonder that 

 it should continue in that line, nor blame it for so 

 doing, especially as it has more than earned the 

 grape juice by ravaging among the insects. 



