AMERICAN BEE JOURNAL. 



119 



property rights, because it must not be 

 forgotten that one of the greatest jurists 

 living or dead, said : 



"Tlie right of property which an 

 inventor has in his invention is excelled 

 in point of dignity by no other property- 

 right whatever. The benefits which he 

 confers are greater than those which he 

 receives. He receives from the Govern- 

 ment nothing which costs the Government 

 or the people a dollar or a sacrifice. He 

 receives nothing but a contract which 

 provides that for a limited time he may 

 exclusively enjoy his own. Letters- 

 patent are not hurtful monopolies." 



Now let the Union procure this patent 

 mentioned above (the trade mark), for I 

 believe it will result in protection to 

 honey producers, and tend to largely 

 swell the membership of the Union, 

 which, it now goes without saying, has 

 been one of the best and most useful 

 organizations ever originated by bee- 

 keepers. 



Dowagiac, Mich. 



ABicnltDral Inyentions. 



ERNEST E. ROOT. 



Your committee has assigned a rather 

 difficult subject for me, and I must 

 acknowledge that I am somewhat at a 

 loss as to how to handle it. Webster's 

 New International says, that an inven- 

 tion " is the act of finding out something 

 which has not before existed." This last 

 clause would throw out of the category 

 nine-tenths of the so-called inventions. 

 In this connection it should be observed 

 that the field for original invention is 

 narrowing down. The older the science 

 or industr.y, the more limited the oppor- 

 tunity for real invention or startling 

 innovation. Inventive genius has, then, 

 to content itself simply with the improve- 

 ments upon different applications of old 

 or existing principles. 



In electrical science, James Heddon 

 tells us, on good authority, that all the 

 inventions of the present time are simply 

 mechanical improvements, and that no 

 great innovation may be looked for, and 

 I would add that apiculture is no 

 exception. Our own Langstroth and 

 Quinby gave us the first practical 

 movable-frame hive, Major Hruschka the 

 first extractor, and Mehring the first 

 real comb-foundation. These three are 

 the great inventions in our beloved 

 Industry, and I think I can say truly, 

 that, with few exceptions, all others are 

 simply applications or improvements. 

 Am I stepping on somebody's toes ? No. 



It takes a genius to improve or to make 

 a new application of an old idea. 



Now then, in answer to the question, 

 " Are Apicultural Inventions in Demand 

 or Excess?" I answer, "Yes," and 

 "No," to both. Although there may be 

 an apparent contradiction in this, there 

 is none in reality. Yes, apicultural 

 inventions, or, if you please, improve- 

 ments, are in demand. There never 

 was, and never will be, a time in our 

 history, when some invention will not be 

 needed to accomplish certain desired 

 ends. We often hear it said, that, if 

 some enterprising Yankee would get up 

 an invention to accomplish so-and-so, he 

 would make his fortune. 



Much has been said about the world 

 not rewarding inventors. There is, no 

 doubt, some foundation for this, but 

 there is more ado made about it than 

 the facts really warrant. The world at 

 large is looking for. and ready to reward, 

 some Edison, some Westinghouse, some 

 Watt, some Ericsson, or Gutenberg, to 

 invent or discover some device or 

 process whereby certain economic ends 

 may be accomplished. 



As I have already intimated, our in- 

 dustry is one of the old ones. Since we 

 have had aLangstroth,Quinby,Hruschka 

 and Mehring, we cannot expect to make 

 any startling innovations, but there is a 

 big field yet for imjjrovemsnts. 



Well, if apicultural inventions, or, if 

 you please, apicultural improvements, 

 are in demand, what are one or two of 

 them, for example ? As to implements, 

 I would suggest that we need a good 

 reversible extractor, that shall not be too 

 large or cumbersome. Whether such 

 can be obtained, is a question. Again, 

 we need some method whereby all bee- 

 keepers can prevent swarming, and yet 

 not interfere with the honey crop. There 

 are several ways of preventing it, but 

 none that seem to be generally accepted 

 or adopted. 



These are but two, and I might suggest 

 others, but I will sum all the rest of 

 the needed inventions into this : We 

 want inventions, or new methods, 

 whereby we can produce better and 

 more honey, and do it more cheaply. We 

 have seen that, during poor seasons, it 

 is a difficult matter to raise the price of 

 honey in proportion to its scarcity. 



What we must have, then, is cheaper 

 production. Possibly what we need is 

 fewer fixtures and fewer inventions, and 

 more economy in labor and in time. If 

 that is the case, the field for improve- 

 ment is more in methods than in the 

 invention of devices 



