1878. 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTUKE. 



85 



the combs. The returning bees willthenac- 

 cept a queen or queen cell. After all is right, 

 the combs may be returned, and the fertile 

 worker will be — well, I do not know just 

 what does become of her, but I suspect she 

 either attends to her legitimate business, or 

 gets killed. 



HOW TO DETKCT THE PRESENCE OE FER- 

 TILE WORKERS. 



If you do not find any queen, and see eggs 

 scattered around promiscuously, some in 

 drone, and somein worker cells, some attach- 

 ed to the side of the cell, instead of the cen- 

 tre of tlie bottom, where the queen lays 

 them, several in one cell, and none in the 

 next, you may be pretty sure you have a fer- 

 tile worker. Still later, you will see the 

 worker brood capped with the high convex 

 cappings, indicating clearly, that the brood 

 will never hatch out worker bees. Finding 

 two or more eggs in a cell, is never conclu- 

 sive, for the queen often deposits them in a 

 feeble colony where there are not bees 

 enough to cover the brood. The eggs depos- 

 ited by a fertile queen, are in regular order, 

 as one would plant a field of corn, but those 

 from fertile workers, and usually from drone 

 laying queens, are irregularly scattered 

 about. 



See that every hive contains, at all times, 

 during the spring and summer months, at 

 least, brood suitable for rearing a queen, and 

 you will never see a fertile worker. 



FOnZg BB.OOB. I know of nothing in 

 bee culture, so much to be feared, as foul 

 brood ; and I believe it is pretty generally 

 agreed that all other bee diseases together, 

 and we might almost say all other draw- 

 backs, are as nothing as compared to it. It 

 is not a disease of the bees, but of the scaled 

 brood. The symptoms are a dwindling down 

 of the colony, because the brood fails to 

 hatch, and when the capping of the sealed 

 brood is examined, it is found to be sunken, 

 instead of slightly convex, as with healthy 

 brood. A little later, the caps are found to 

 have a minute hole in the centre, as if a pin 

 had been pricked through it. It is quite 

 likely that the bees bite these holes through, 

 with a purpose of cleaning out the cells as 

 they do ordinary chilled brood, but becom- 

 ing disgusted with the sickening sight and 

 smell, they abandon the task in despair. If 

 you take a pin or the point of a knife, and 

 move the matter out of such a cell, you will 

 perceive a strange sickening smell, which is 

 sometimes perceived in simi)ly passing by 

 the hives, when the malady has assumed a 

 A'ery dangerous form. The worst featvu^e of 



the business seems to be that the disease is 

 communicated to other stocks, by simply 

 carrying honey from an infected hive. This 

 makes sad havoc among bee-keepers who 

 are inclined to be negligent, and various 

 remedies have been given for the malady, 

 many of which are claimed to be perfectly 

 successful, but as the years pass by, one af- 

 ter another of them seems to have been 

 dropped, and the apiarist has been obliged 

 fo feel the the truth of the old adage, that 

 prevention is better than cure. Many who 

 have had a trial of its ravages, mnong 

 whom are some of our best bee-keepers, ad- 

 vise destroying both bees and hive, by fire 

 or burying, and commencing anew with 

 healthy colonies. This remedy is, I believe, 

 sure ; and even if the disease should reap- 

 pear, by promptly destroying all diseased 

 brood, the very minute it is discovered in 

 the hives, it seem finally, to become totally 

 eradicated. Where the disease prevails, 

 there should be the utmost diligence exer- 

 cised in guarding against sending it to other 

 localities, either by selling honey, bees or 

 queens. To be continued. 



STiLii late:r about smokers. 



f' HAVK no time and less inclination to write you, 

 but feel that a word is needed on this patent 

 question, and I fear no other person will speak. 

 I feel that you are wrong on the matter of patents, 

 and, as in case of smokers, this becomes a practical 

 subject, I am impelled to write. 



A man has an inventive genius, and by hard labor 

 labor and thoug'ht, day and night gives the world 

 some implement of great value. The world is en- 

 riched. Now, if the patentee is rich, he may give the 

 invention to the world, yet it is ,inst as much a gift, 

 as the honey or supper he gives a friend. He has the 

 same right to his creation, that you have to your 

 bees or honey. If he is poor, especially if he has a 

 family, he has no right to give away his invention. 

 To secures his rights he prrcvires a patent. Now to 

 make such an instrument without leave, or to force 

 the inventor to litigation, is, I think, the same in 

 principle as to take his bees. 



Again, the patentee is proud of this child of his 

 thought and labor. He wishes to monopolize or con- 

 trol the manufacture, that the ai'ticles mav all do 

 him honor. He knows that competition will lessen 

 the price, but surely at a corresponding decrease in 

 style and durability. Hence his patent if respected, 

 will mosf surely give good articles. 



Thus a man has a perfect right to procure a patent. 

 It is his property, and the paper is the deed, or se- 

 curity. He desires the paper to secure his own, to 

 insure good workmanship, and to protect his patrons 

 against sham work. 



Now as to the public. They need inventions, and 

 to promote their growth they should respect patents. 

 They should frown upon any attempt to depreciate 

 their value. Had Langstroth's patent been respect- 

 ed, how much better off bee-keepers would be. It 

 patents are to receive no respect, or if they are to 

 face costly litigation, then what inducement has a 

 man to strive to bring out an Improved tool or ma- 

 chine? 



The patentee is a man of inventive genius. He is 

 proud to make a superior article. Men not so inter- 

 ested will make cheap imitations, and all who buy 

 these are defrauded. 



Now, to the case in hand; Mr. Bingham has im- 

 proved the smokers. The bellows, the valves, the 

 style, the finish, the form. In fact his smoker is just 

 admirable. He charges very reasonably for it; you 

 have imitated, so I think, in a poor way. Now while 



