34 SUCCESSFUL BEE-KFEPING 
“ Now if I had known that my hive was not so much better than 
IIuber’s as to deserve a patent, and if I had been base enough to 
attempt to palm upon the public substantially his invention as my 
own, can any man of common sense believe that I would have pub- 
lished to the world, just where and how I stole my pretended inven- 
tion ?” 
Of course not. 
In the same communication, speaking of American movabie 
comb bee-hives, he says: “In my opinion atu oF THEM have ap- 
propriated to a greater or less extent, the essential and patented 
features of my invention.” * * That he believes the courts will sus- 
tain this opinion, and that he should long since have sought their 
protection, but for his limited pecuniary resources, the state of his 
health, and the fact that other parties own the greater share of his 
patent ? 
Having sold the territory, and got the money, he leaves the luck- 
less purchasers of supposed “ rzghts” to take care of themselves ! 
Consistency, indeed thouart ajewel! But we will not quarrel with 
Mr. L. about that. The concluding portion of his very interesting 
Bee Journal article, above cited, runs thus: “If any one can show 
that before my invention there existed any movable frame hive 
adapted to practical use, or any invention that used the essential 
and patented features of mine, I will try to be the first to acknowl- 
edge that although an original inventor, I was not the first inven- 
tor of such a hive.” 
Will he do it? We shall see. 
Much more testimony of the same import might be given, but let 
this suffice. 
I would not detract from the just claims of Mr. Langstroth ; nei- 
ther am I willing that he should have credit for inventions not his 
own. He has combined in his hive some of the most practical fea- 
tures of European inventions ; and he deserves to be, and has been 
well paid for the best compilation on the Honey Bee. But justice 
to Bee-keeping, as well as to Mr. Harbison, compels me to add, 
that he is entitled to all praise for the best original work on that 
subject—notwithstanding its many errors-—yet published in this 
country. 
