CHAPTER III,, 



PATENT AND NON-PATENT HIVES, BEE 

 JOURNALS, ETC. 



HAVE learned from bitter experience, as has 

 nearly every one, who has kept bees for any 



iT length of time, the dishonesty, and utter dis- 

 regard for truth, of a class of speculators who prey 

 upon the unsuspecting bee-keeper. Patent hives — 

 the great majority of them — are a curse and a hin- 

 drance to successful and profitable bee keeping. I 

 have no time to describe the multitude of worthless 

 patent hives, and the many tricks and swindles of 

 the venders of the same, but I advise every bee 

 keeper to consult his own interests, and have noth- 

 ing to do with them. Ninetj'-nine out of every 

 hundred are a swindle. I have tested their merits 

 and know whereof I affirm. 



I am sorry to find that many of the bee journals 

 and bee-keepers' associations, are conducted on 

 prejudiced and selfish motives, and in the interest 

 of some individual, or company of men, for the sole 

 purpose of making money from the sale of some 

 particular hive or fixture, without regard to merit, 

 or value to the practical bee-keeper. All honest 



