1861. 



NEW ENGLAND FARMER. 



413 



lined with fine roots and moss. The eggs are 

 usually four, and blue, without spots. It is un- 

 like the Wilson Thrush's nest, which is always 

 somewhat elevated above ground, and in good 

 part composed of leaves. Ornithologists say the 

 Hermit builds on trees, and has blue spotted 

 eggs. I have no doubt but that there are a num- 

 ber of species that so near resemble each other, 

 that they are described as one, and one of them 

 builds as above mentioned on trees. 



"J. A. A." remarks, that the Olive Back 

 Thrush is the least suspicious of the four thrush- 

 es. Now the bird I take to be the Olive Back is 

 the most so with me. It is found only in the 

 darkest of forests, and while singing, is concealed 

 in the top of some tall evergreen, and I have 

 noticed the Hermit shuns his dark retreat. The 

 Olive Back has a sweet note, and varies not un- 

 like the hermit, but not of so rich a flow of song ; 

 but I think superior to the Wilson. The Olive 

 Back seems to live in communities. You may 

 pass through woods to a great extent and not 

 meet one, when Hermits and Wilsons may be 

 seen and heard. But the Wilson is frequently in 

 the Olive Back's choice retreat, and sings from 

 the under bush far beneath him. I think the 

 Thrushes will have to be newly arranged, when I 

 trust there will be found one or two new species, 

 that now go under the name of Hermit Thrush, 

 {Turdus Solitarius.) C. S. Paine. 



Randolph, VL, July 19, 1861. 



For the New England Farmer. 

 BEE HIVE IMPUDENCE. 



On reading the Farmer o? June 29, 1 learn that 

 Mr. Brackett has opened his battery upon me 

 again. He seems to know all about other peo- 

 ple's business, and mine in particular. He re- 

 minds me very much of the man in the fable who 

 had a hoe handle so long that it was easier to work 

 in his neighbor's garden than in his own. 



Mr. Brackett's article compels me to make a 

 full statement, and show the true difference be- 

 tween my Patent Compound Hive, and the one 

 known as the Langstroth Hive. I have ever re- 

 frained from saying anything against any patent 

 hive or patentee. But being assailed by a party 

 ■who is a perfect stranger to me and my hive, I 

 feel it a duty I owe to myself and hive, and to 

 bee-keepers generally, to show the exact differ- 

 ence in the two hives, and then leave it to the 

 reader to judge which is the most desirable. 



1. The Compound Hive is 24 inches in height, 

 including 8 inches in the top ; the depth of the 

 cap for surplus honey boxes, 18 inches by 10 — 

 holding over one bushel, aside from the honey 

 boxes ; it is also supplied with movable comb 

 guides, 13 inches in length by 11 in depth — eight 

 of them filling the hive — with an arrangement of 

 my own invention at the top of the bars or 

 frames, causing the bees to build their comb 

 within the guide perfectly straight, without the 

 use of either bee comb or beeswax. 



2. The Langstroth hive has a movable comb 

 frame, some 18 or 20 inches long, by 6 or 7 

 inches in depth, with a flat bar at the top of the 

 frame ; in order to have the bees build their 

 combs within the frames, the bevelled edge or 

 salient angle is made use of on which Mr. G. H. 



Clark holds a patent ; and every person using the 

 Langstroth hive is liable to pay another fee of 

 five dollars any moment to the agent of Mr. 

 Clark. I suppose Mr. B. was not aware that the 

 Langstroth hive was an infringement upon an- 

 other patent. 



3. The Compound Hive is so constructed that 

 it can be used in double form, giving a dead air 

 space around the entire swarm, or the hive can be 

 used in a non-swarming condition, thus prevent- 

 ing natural swarming ; or it can, in case of emer- 

 gency, be used as two separate hives, giving am- 

 ple room for two separate colonies ; it can also 

 be so arranged that the bees can occupy the main 

 portion of the hive, whilst the other part will an- 

 swer as a platform to set it upon. 



4. The Langstroth hive is so constructed that 

 it will not permit of any of these changes, and in 

 shape and appearance resembles a small size 

 cook-stove more than it does a bee-hive. 



5. The Compound hive is furnished with a me- 

 tallic instrument called a regulator, thereby giv- 

 ing the bee-master full control to the entrance of 

 the hive at all times. It is made adjustible by 

 means of a thumb-screw, giving an entrance from 

 one-fourth of an inch to four and a half inches, as 

 occasion may require. With this instrument, the 

 drones can be destroyed. A colony can be pre- 

 vented from flying to the woods in swarming 

 time. 



6. The Langstroth hive has an entrance over 

 one foot in length ; two small three-cornered 

 blocks are made use of in contracting the en- 

 trance, which are easily removed by the bees, and 

 they cannot be made stationary without nailing, 

 i-endering them very inconvenient to manage. 



7. The Compound hive is supplied with anoth- 

 er instrument called a bee-catcher, wherein a col- 

 ony of bees can be captured in the hive from a 

 tree in the forest, several miles away, and serve 

 us the same as our other colonies ; or a swarm of 

 robber bees can be captured in a hive by them- 

 selves ; this being the only way to break up rob- 

 bers successfully. By the use of it a swarm of 

 bees could be captured in the hive in less than 

 one hour at any time, should the bee-mas.ter have 

 occasion to sell a swarm and wish to deliver them 

 before night. The bee-catcher can also be suc- 

 cessfully used in expelling bees from the surplus 

 honey boxes after being removed from the hive, 

 and no danger of the bees returning to rob it. 



8. The Langstroth hive has nothing of this 

 kind. I suppose Mr. B. is aware that the Lang- 

 stroth Patent has but a short time to run, it be- 

 ing patented in 1852. 



I have made several improvements upon the 

 Compound hive, and taken out several patents 

 within the last three years. 



Mr. Brackett has also accused me of copying 

 cuts after Mr. Langstroth, and also of copying af- 

 ter Bevan, page after page, without giving him 

 credit. This charge is untrue. I have ever en- 

 deavored to give credit where credit was due. I 

 would further inform Mr. B. that I have Europe- 

 an publications in my possession that contain 

 many of the cuts found in Mr. Langstroth's book. 



Having been interested in patent rights for 

 many years, I have learned this fact, that when 

 Mr. A. has invented a machine and Mr. B. has 

 improved upon the same, as his letters patent 

 will show, the only course Mr. A. has gat, is to 



