B54 
JOURNAL OF HORTICULTURE AND COTTAGE GARDENER. 
[ April 30, 180’. 
Ilive must be dry ; there must be nothing between the combs and 
the floor that is likely to chill the bees, and the former as near 
the floor as possi ,le, so that the bees can leave them quickly 
without being chilled, and as easily return. It is the want of 
ihese precautions that is a principal cause of spring dwindling, 
was so in this case.—A L.vxarksiiire Bee-keeper. 
PATENT RIGHTS. 
‘•A Lanarksii';re Bee-keeper” (page 314) asks for my opinion 
on the validity of Mr. W. P. Meadows’ claims to his new style of 
frame. It would hardly be fair to form such an opinion or to make 
it public, simply because I have not seen any “ claims ” of Mr. 
Meadows to any part of the frame he is putting on the market. 
But answering the question generally, whatever is old or publicly 
known cannot be patented or registered legally by anyone— i.e., if 
it is, such patent, &c., is of no legal value. 
The public have many curious ideas about the patent laws, and 
often patent things which should be registered as designs, and 
register things that should be patented. If this is done such regis¬ 
tration or patenting is of no value. Thus anything which has a 
useful effect should be patented, while anything which appeals to 
the eye should be registered as a design. Registration protects 
■shape or configuration only ; but if this shaping has a useful ten¬ 
dency only and does not appeal to the eye, then it must be patented 
to protect it. 
Patents are granted for inventions only— i.e , something which 
has been found and which is useful. No idea can be patented, but 
the person who first shows how an idea can be carried out to effect 
a useful result is entitled to a patent, no matter how old the idea is 
or who first originated it. If it can be shown that the matter 
patented is something that any intelligent person would think of 
the patent would be void, no matter how new it was in its applica¬ 
tion. For instance, the patent on fish plates applied to railway I’ails 
was upset because fish plates had been used long enough for fasten¬ 
ing two pieces of wood together ; but if it has been long sought to 
remedy an evil, a patent would be upheld, no matter how simple 
and stupid it had seemed not to think of it. 
A patentee who holds a patent on a useful invention can 
prevent all and any subsequent improvements or infringements 
from being worked or used, but if these have been protected by 
patent he cannot make use of them without arrangement with or a 
licence from such subsequent patentees. A notorious instance 
of the working of this principle is afforded by the telephone 
patents — viz., Bell and Edison each invented and patented 
a telephone, both of which infringed on the other, while each 
had got something which the other had missed, the'result 
being that they joined partnership as it were — i.e., the two 
owners united. ^Subsequently Professor Hughes invented the 
microphone, which, used as a transmitter, has made the telephone 
a wonderful success. He, however, unfortunately for himself, did 
not patent it ; the result being that the United Telephone Com¬ 
pany a’'e reaping all the benefit, and will continue to do so to the 
end of their patents, not even Hughes himself being allowed to use 
it. Had Hughes patented it he could have blocked the way and 
had his share of the benefits ; as it is, by “giving the public the 
benefit of his invention.” he practically gave all the benefit to the 
holders of Bell and Edison’s patents. 
Any person can get a valid patent on any improvement in any 
old thing, and if an improvement should make some old, abandoned, 
useless invention useful, he would get all the benefit— i.e., if 
someone else, after seeing how he made it useful, effected the same 
result in a different way, or added some further improvement, 
they would be infringements ; or, in other words, an inventor can 
monopolise anything that has been abandoned as useless if by 
doing something to it he can make it useful, as a just reward for 
making it a success and a public benefit for all time. 
I see that I have omitted to say that any article registered as a 
design must bear some mark indicating the fact of its being 
registered ; if any are sent out—even samples or patterns—without 
such mark the registration would be void. On the other hand, a 
patented article need not be marked in any way, or anything said 
about its being patented. I trust this short digest of the Patent 
Laws will enable “ A. L. B. K.” and others to answer aU such 
tjuestions for themselves, but if anything is not clear I shall be 
glad to answer it, as the matter is of importance to bee-keepers, 
seeing how many patents, t'tc., there are on bee gear now, and 
likely to be.—A Hallamsiiire Bee-keeper. 
TRADE CATALOGUES RECEIVED. 
The Hardy Plant Nursery, Milmead, Guildford.— Catalogue of Select 
JTerharcovs, Alpire, and other Ilardg Garden Plants. 
W. Wood & Son, Wooil Green.— List of Sundries, 
All correspondence should be directed either to “ The 
Editor ” or to “ The Publisher.” Letters addressed to 
Dr. Hogg or members of the staff often remain unopened 
unavoidably. We request that no one will write privately 
to any of our correspondents, as doing so subjects them to 
unjustifiable trouble and expense. 
Correspondents should not mix up on the same sheet questions 
relating to Gardening and those on Bee subjects, and should 
never send more than two or three questions at once. All 
articles intended for insertion should be written on one side of 
the paper only. We cannot reply to questions through the 
post, and we do not undertake to return rejected communica¬ 
tions. 
Books (A. 7i.).—Eivers’ “Rose Amateurs’ Guide” is probably the 
book you require. It is published by Longmans, and is a little less than 
the extreme price you name. The specimens you mention never reached 
us ; perhaps the labels were detached in the post. It is a good plan to 
write the address on a label to which the stamps are attached, and to 
repeat the address on the covering of the box or parcel. 
Magrg^ots on Austrian Pines (6*. H. A .').—They are probably the 
larvse of the Pine beetle, Hylurgus piniperda, and as you appear to have 
Miss Ormerod’s work you will find an illustration and three or four 
pages of matter relating to the enemy and preventive and remedial 
methods. See pp. 242 new and 217 old edition. Syringing with lemon 
oil might do good now and is worth trying. It can be had from 
most nurserymen, and is advertised by Messrs. W. Clibran & Son, 
Altrincham. 
Peach Trees Gumming: (^Constant Bcader ').—Some varieties of 
Peaches are more liable to different maladies than are others, and you 
do not give the name of the tree from which you send shoots. If you 
really cannot grow the Peaches under glass you had better try others, 
for there are plenty that will succeed quite as well as Nectarines. We 
have to tell yon, however, that the wood before us was not more than 
half ripened last year, and its present condition is only what might be 
expected. The roots are not as they should be. They should be more 
fibrous in firmer and more calcerous soil, and the wood must be very 
much firmer too. All the trees in a house are not always in the same 
condition, and one may need lifting when another does not, also some 
need more water and support generally than others. The condition of 
each must be the guide to its treatment. The tree from which the 
shoots are taken must not have more water than is necessary for pro¬ 
moting steady healthy growth, and should be lifted before the leaves 
fall in the autumn and the wood well ripened. It most certainly was 
not ripened last year, and scarcely any nutrient matter was stored 
in the stems. 
Definition of Gardeners (^An Old Gardener ').—For the purpose 
of exhibiting you are right on both points. A labouring man working 
one day a week in an amateur’s garden is not a gardener, but an un- 
skil'ed worker in a garden, which is quite another thing. Strictly 
speaking, gardening is not a profession, but a vocation. The three pro¬ 
fessions—learned professions—are theology, law, and medicine. Even 
banking is not a profession. But the term “ professional” has another 
signification perfectly legitimate and understood—namely, to distinguish 
between a person who practises gardening or any other calling as a 
skilled exponent, and who executes his work professionally as a means 
of livelihood, and not in the character of an amateur who has not been 
taught the art and does not depend on it for subsistence. In that sense, 
and it is the right sense for the purpose of arranging the schedule in 
question, you come within the definition of a professional gardener, 
and could not compete in the amateurs’ classes. The schedules of the 
Royal Horticultural Society are arranged on a different, yet correct, basis, 
and all persons who are not nurserymen or traders are regarded as 
amateurs. They may employ gardeners, but the gardeners themselves 
are not admitted as exhibitors, and the entries are in the names of the 
owners of the produce. For instance, plants and flowers exhibited from 
Great Gearies are exhibited by and in the name of Mrs. Whitbourn, and 
she employs Mr. Douglas to grow them for her, not for her profit or gain, 
but for pleasure. Mrs. Whitbourn is a true amateur, but secures pro¬ 
fessional aid, and very justly allows her gardener to profit by his skill 
and endeavour to provide what she wishes—the best plants and flowers he 
can produce, and as he does this as his means of livelihood he is eligible 
to be described as a professional ganlener, though gardening itself is not 
in law a profession. It is an old and honourable calling, and many of 
the skilled and educated men who engage in it are as much, and* de¬ 
servedly, respected as are doctors and lawyers. We are proud to have 
such men in the gardening ranks, and these are not the men who every 
time they allude to their business describe it as a “profession,” for the 
