THE AMERICAN BEE JOURNAL. 



279 



were pure Italians, and only 5 of them 

 gave ativ surplus, and the best only 14 

 lbs. ; while nearly all the young na- 

 tives gave some surplus ; many over 

 40 lbs., and one (« lbs. But about 

 one-half of those I call natives, had 

 more or less yellow bands, but native 

 queens. 



The native queens, which were put 

 into the nuclei, filled their hives of IS 

 frames, and one of them made 22 lbs. 

 of surplus, and another 10 lbs. I no- 

 ticed another fact : We could take 

 the honey from 2 native colonies while 

 we were "taking the same amount per 

 colony from one Italian. But a friend 

 says Italians can reach deeper into 

 flowers than blacks can. Perhaps 

 they can ; I have had no experience 

 with blacks : but liere are some more 

 facts : Mv apiary, in September, was 

 about half and half brown and yellow 

 bees : and about the lirst of Septem- 

 ber, being anxious to know where a 

 flow of honey was coming from, I 

 \'isited some red clover fields near by. 

 The first time, I went in the after- 

 noon, the fields were buzzing with 

 bees, but they were nearly all brown 

 bees. 



As I was anxious for facts, I count- 

 ed, and proved that there were 12 

 brown bees to one yellow on the red 

 clover blossoms. I went again, and 

 found the same result. Afterwards I 

 went in the morning, and found three 

 brown bees to one yellow bee. These 

 figures surprise me, but they represent 

 facts. I am satisfied that all Italian 

 bees are not superior to some brown 

 bees. 



It cannot be that these Italians 

 fairly represent their race, orelse they 

 are compared with something more 

 than an average of the German race. 

 With these facts in mind, I, for one, 

 shall go slow in taking a bee merely 

 because it is vellow. 



Mansion, "VVis. 



[Had you purchased good tested 

 queens, probably the result would 

 have been different. Buying poor un- 

 tested queens may have been the 

 cause. — Ed.I 



For the American Bee JoumaJ. 



Bees as Property, etc. 



E. B. SOUTHWICK. 



Mr. Pond has corrected my state- 

 ment that " bees are not property un- 

 der the law ;" and for proof, cites a 

 case where a man's bees came oiit of 

 the hive, and he watched them until 

 they went into his neighbor's en- 

 closure, and there secured them, tak- 

 ing them away, and the law bore him 

 out in it. It "would be the same if he 

 had a deer, wild turkey, bear, or any 

 of that class of animals. If they had 

 escaped from his enclosure, and he 

 had followed them, keeping insight 

 of them, as they are required in case 

 of the bees, and the animal goes into 

 his neighbor's barn, and he secures it 

 there, he has the same right to take it 

 away as he had the bees. I once knew 

 of a board of supervisors who voted 

 that they would asSess bees S2 a col- 



ony ; but some of the more cautious 

 ones concluded they would inquire of 

 some competent lawyer about it, and 

 the result was that "the assessing of 

 bees was abandoned in that county. 

 I noticed Mr. Pond's attempt to ridi- 

 cule the idea of bee-keepers having 

 the right of priority in territory. I 

 think, if a man has discovered a good 

 locality in which to keep bees, and 

 that is unoccupied, and spends his 

 time and money to test and occupy it, 

 he has just as much right, in justice, 

 to it as though it had been some new- 

 fangled tooth -pick he had invented 

 and patented. 

 Sherman, Mich., April 15, 1884. 



For tbe American Bee JoumaL 



Something About Patent-Rights. 



.JAMES HEDDON. 



What is a patent - right '? It is 

 simply an exclusive right given to any 

 inventor who will pay for the patent- 

 ing expenses, as a reward of merit 

 offered for the purpose of stimulating 

 improvements in all the implements 

 and devices used by man. 



There have been so many worthless 

 devices patented and sold, that it 

 seems as if, on the whole, the patent- 

 system had been more of an injury 

 than a benefit. Just how much our 

 Nation owes its great advancement in 

 " Yankee invention " to our cheap 

 patent-system, we are hardly able to 

 judge. 



Mr. A. I. Root is opposed to patents; 

 at the same time he favors a reward 

 for meritorious inventions,as is proven 

 by the money credits he often gives to 

 some who send him some improve- 

 ments or new and useful devices. 



I?e that as it may, we have such 

 a government system created and 

 sustained by the will of the majority, 

 and if we are good citizens, we are 

 bound to obey and help sustain it. 

 There are some good things that grow 

 out of the patent-system, good for 

 the patentee and public. 



Mr. Brown discovers a new way to 

 construct a honey extractor, so that 

 it will accomplish much more with 

 less labor and time than any of the 

 past will do. No one knows so well 

 as Mr. Brown just how good all the 

 parts must be made and adjusted to 

 make his invention give that satis- 

 faction that is expected of it, and 

 which he claims for it. He gets a 

 patent on the machine. He begins 

 their manufacture and sale, and fixes 

 a price that will always allow him to 

 make a good article. By thus turn- 

 ing out an lionest job, he soon builds 

 up a reputation for his new extractor. 

 This advertises in a very extensive and 

 substantial manner. He thus makes 

 a paying business, and benefits every 

 customer at the same time. 



Now, let us suppose that there is 

 no patent-system. Just as soon as 

 Peter Funk finds out that the valua- 

 ble discoveries and genuine workman- 

 ship of Mt. Brown lias gained a repu- 

 tation, out he comes with a little 

 cheap circular, making a specialty of 

 " Brown's honey extractors." But 

 Mr. Brown's good work and square 



dealing has turned the whole volume 

 of trade Brown-ward. Very soon Mr. 

 Funk realizes this disagreeable fact, 

 and the next thrust, he cuts prices, 

 and then comes the inevitable cut in 

 the quality of the goods. It is then 

 that Mr. Funk takes a hand in mani- 

 pulating the reputation of the "Brown 

 extractor." Soon the implement be- 

 gins to lose reputation. Even Mr. 

 Brown does not make them as good 

 as he usfd to. He is trying to hold 

 his trade and keep the price as low as 

 that quoted by Mr. Funk, and degen- 

 eration in quality is the result. Mr. 

 Brown is ciamaged. The public are 

 injured, and no one but Mr. Funk is 

 benefitted ; and he only until the less 

 enlightened portion of the public can 

 understand that cheap prices mean 

 cheap material and cheaper workman- 

 .ship. 



I believe that a man has a moral 

 right to the exclusive manufacture 

 and sale of the fruits of his mental 

 industry, so long as he is engaged in 

 supplying the public with them of 

 good qualitv, at a reasonable price. 

 I do not believe in exorbitant prices. 

 I am, however, a stickler for good 

 goods, and detest shoddy wares, as 

 well as moral thievery. 



Patent-law, as well as all other law, 

 is made to compel those to act honor- 

 ably who will not do so of their own 

 free will ; then let us truthfully say 

 that we will act honorably, and do not 

 need its restraint. 



I think I have never sold any arti- 

 cle of another's invention while the 

 inventor was supplying it ; except as 

 I purchased of him. Our pursuit has 

 been seriously damaged by the manu- 

 facture and sale of shoddy wares. 

 These goods were the necessary re- 

 sult of a cut-under in prices, which 

 was indulged in by some one who had 

 no other means of getting any trade. 



By the wav, this brings me to a 

 point that I have often thought upon. 

 At present there seems to be a perfect 

 mania fordealing in bee-keepers' sup- 

 plies. I know there Is no bonanza in 

 the supply business. Are not most of 

 those taking to it illy situated and 

 little known ; possessing so little en- 

 thusiasm in the business of producing 

 honev, that they are led to the new 

 departure ':' In other words, is the 

 honey business so poor a one that 

 something else must be done, or had 

 better be done ■:* I firmly believe that 

 many are making a mistake in enter- 

 ing the trade at all. Let us see if the 

 future does or does not sustain me in 

 this opinion. 



But to return to the patent ques- 

 tion. Perhaps no class of business 

 men have l)een more assiduously 

 worked upon to prejudice them 

 against patents, than have bee-keep- 

 ers ; and all this because our business 

 is surrounded with worthless patents. 

 This is all wrong. When you defame 

 patents and patentees indiscrimi- 

 nately, you are attacking without 

 cause or provocation some of the 

 grandest principles and grandest men 

 that have ever existed. 



In our own line, let us look at the 

 Langstroth hive and its inventor. 

 Was it a crime for ]Mr. Langstroth to 

 patent his valuable discoveries'? Was 



