138 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE. 



JUNTS 



How far ought bottom bar of frames to be from bottom 

 if hive ? 



The best distance would be such that a l?ee 

 when conriinc: in laden miffht reach the fi-ame 

 while standing on the bottom board, and yet 

 not have it so small as to be in anv danger of 

 pinching- them. Between i^f and 'g '^vonld be 

 most desirable if it were not for the fact that 

 frames will in time s?g more or less from the 

 weight of their contents, and then we have the 

 very grave fault of crushing or pinching bees 

 between the bottom of the hive and the frames. 

 On this account, a half inch has been some- 

 times given ; but with so great a dist ance the 

 bees find so much trouble in getting up on 

 the combs, that they build little mounds of 

 wax to climb up on ; and these lump? or knobs 

 are much in the way in cleaning off the bottom 

 board. If the distance is not more than % and 

 the bottom boards are painted as we make 

 them, it is quite an easy matter to have them 

 kept clean and smooth. 



From the description you pive of yotir new section box- 

 es on papre 40. March No., I judire them to be the )ie plus 

 idtra and sine qua no/i, for snriihis comb honey. What 

 would .500 of them cost me delivered here, all cut ready to 

 be put together ? I. T). Eedkli,, Franklin, La. 



The profit is so small on the section lx>xes 

 that we could scarcely give better rates were 

 10.000 ordered. They are put up in packages 

 of 30 each, Just enough for the top of one of 

 our hives. The.se packages of 30, measure o 

 inches each way, and weigh 2]X lbs ; 500 

 would weigh about 40 lbs; the freight would 

 perhaps be 4 or 5 cents per lb' 



Since you li;ivc ns ked an expression of opinion from 

 .vour subscribers concerning '"patent rights^'etc, I now 

 give you mine. No doubt they are sometimes trouble- 

 some; and, like every other good thing when abused, 

 often operate to the injury of those they were intended 

 to benelit. To say, however, that only that which is 

 tangible and capable of being transferrccl has value is a 

 mistake, as j'ou will easily see. Tour physician will 

 charge you for his prescription though you get. tJie 

 ineiHcine elsewhere. Your lawyer will not give you 

 a.i\\'ise {/rafis. The meclianic does not impart the se- 

 crets of his art without comiiensntion. Tlie school- 

 master, themu^ic teacher, the preacher etc., ete., etc. 

 must all be )iaiil. In fact, when I sent you my dollar 

 for "Bee Gle.\nings", did I only buy of you so many- 

 pages of printed matter, or is it not tacitly understood 

 that you are to furnish me with the results of your 

 skill, experience etc. in bee-keeping ? That is, you 

 have sold me what you know on this subject, and 

 not merely a cartain quantity of i>riirte'l matter. If it 

 isn't worth the dollar, I cm only blame myself. If it's 

 worth ten dollars —twenty— why, Mr. Koot, you are 

 very kind to sell so much, at so low a rate. Is the ease 

 with which the right ot projiertj- may be violated, an 

 argument against protecting it ? Surely not. Because 

 I may do a thing with impunity is no reason to con- 

 clu<le that the doing o f it is right. Such reasoning 

 woulil justify murder, or any other crime whi ch could 

 be committed without detection. Neither do I think 

 the labor and ex)>ensc of a discovery are the sole 

 measure of its value ; but its usefulness may be one 

 element. It has long been conceded that no law can 

 be framed which shall not be liable to sonie objections. 

 Excuse me for going over ground which must be fa- 

 miliar to yon, and 1 will haste to comb foundations. 



Mr. P. has purchased what he claims is the sole 

 right to manufacture comb foundations. It is 1 tliiuk, 



certain, that only the i)rocess described in the patents 

 is covered b^- it. Inspection alone can determine its 

 extent. I can scarcely conclude that iiny one will' 

 blame yon for testing the niatter. Tlie intention oi 

 the law wais not to place tlie comm-unity at the mercy 

 of an individual, and force them to sabnuit to bis ex- 

 tortion, ilence any eflort to bring the gentleman to 

 his senses will be hailed with satisfaction — at least by 

 me. D.4.N. IX)^NAI.l>fiO>f. 



I ClebuTne, Tex., May 10th, Td'. 



I The remarks you refer to, friend D., were in- 

 tended to apply to selling receipts rather than 

 to patents and so far as we know, there is ip> 

 law known by which a man can sell a receipt 

 and jirevent the knowledge from being- commu- 

 nicated to others. In regard to patents ; 

 scarcely a day passes that some of our reader*; 

 do not ask if they can make hives with frames, 

 use tin between the honey boxes, make an ex- 

 tractor, put division boartls in their hives, 

 make comb foundations, make honey boxes 

 like those they have seen, try a house apiarj', 

 mike hives two story, — see humbugs au<i 

 swindles — and other things without end, with- 

 out buying a right. What shall we say 'r 

 Since the era of postals, there is no excuse for 

 not reolying at all, and of course we must give 

 an opinion. Can we do any better, take it all 

 round, than to say "make anything you wish, 

 and pay no attention to what they threaten?" 

 Is not the idea getting to be more and more 

 ridiculous every day ? 



The great trouble, has been to prevent swarming 

 just in the midst of main honey harvest. The most 

 efleotual way to do this i^ to get the colons- strong 

 enough (and the hive full of brood even if two weak 

 ones should have to be united) to allow the removaS 

 of the (jucen soon enough to get the young queen lay- 

 ing in time for the main honey harvest, being careful 

 to remove all queen cells except one, about the eighth 

 or ninth day, always having queens enough in re- 

 serve to supply any losses at the proper time. Wiieu 

 the brood is nearly all hatched and the hive full of 

 honey, the swarming fever will be found to have sub- 

 sided, provided they are kept cooi and properly ven- 

 tilated. The hive now being full ot honey, they are 

 compelled to go up into the boxes to find rcwm both 

 for themselves and to s-tore honey ; no fears need be 

 entertained about the brood nest, they will move the 

 honey out of the way and having no other place to 

 put it, they will naturally put it in the boxes above. 

 i:. C. L. L.\KCH, M. D., Ashland. Mo. 



The above is based upon the idea that Iho 

 young queen Avill not lead out a swarm, and 

 we believe it is generally true ; at least, if we 

 were to remove the queens in our hives at the 

 present time and permit them to raise another 

 in time for clover, we should be pretty sure of 

 having no swarms. What are we to do with 

 all these queens friend L.? make new colonies 

 we suppose, but would it not be a bad idea to 

 put our most vigorous (jueeus in nuclei, or at 

 least to deprive them of the army of bees they 

 demand to go on nith "business?" your locali- 

 ty is so different that we hardly know how to 

 manage on the plan given, although we know 

 it has at times given most excellent results. 



I made a nice lamp nursery this spi-ing. set it on the 

 ground lloor of a small out- building, li.ved a box of saw 

 dust around it to retain heat, dug a hole 15 inches beneath, 

 openi;ig to the outside to set my l:r.np in. I kept the heat 



