Januaiy 2, U9J 
JOURNAL OF HORTICULTURE AND COTTAGE GARDENER 
19 
they have been deprived of everything, and sent to the Heather to 
fill up from the foundation. This system gives new combs and 
honey of superior quality, but not so handy nor so saleable as 
when in supers. The best plan to accomplish that is to send the 
hives to the moors, with plenty of bees in large hives, in which the 
honey in the body boxes has been kept secure, but from which all 
supers wholly or partly filled have been removed, and bees numerous 
enough to take possession of them again. If any of them have a 
paucity of brood in the body of the hive, remove the empty combs 
and fill with those having plenty, and let this be done three or four 
weeks before the Heather may be expected to be in bloom. The 
older bees are, if not worn out, the better they work, but they are 
more vicious ; bees under three weeks old do not attack people 
readily, and it may be safely said that bees three or four months 
old are better fitted to gather surplus honey than those at six weeks 
old. It is a common saying amongst bee-keepers that the vicious 
bees are always the best honey collectors. This is because of their 
age, and not of the variety, as old bee-keepers supposed when 
only one kind of bee was in the country. 
Bees when at the Heather, except in specially fine weather, are 
apt to leave their supers and store the honey in the body of the 
hive. To prevent this overhaul the hive (I speak of the Stewarton 
or Lanarkshire hive), and if the brood frames can be got into two 
boxes do so, removing the under one for a time until the bees have 
taken to the supers, then at the earliest opportunity return the 
under box and combs, and then you will see them work in earnest. 
—A L.4.x.\rvKsniRE Bee-keeper. 
YOUNG BEES IN DECEMBER. 
Thanking you for the answer inserted in the Journal respecting bees 
fanning, I am again taking the liberty of putting some other questions 
concerning bees. On December 19th I found a young bee dead on the 
landing board. The bee was of white colour, and on December 21st I 
found another dead, which appeared to be a few days older. I enclose 
the two, and perhaps you could then tell me whether there is any sign 
of foul brood, or if these have been chilled in the frost. Is it right 
for the bees to be breeding now 1 There is no smell from the hive, and 
since yen answered my letter I have covered them well. I also enclose 
an old bee, and ask you whether it is an English black bee, or is it 
crossed with foreign blood ? As the bees weighed 40 lbs. when brought 
to their new home, would they on account of young require feeding 
now or in February, or not at all 1 Is it mineral tar or gas tar you 
advise using for the hives, and should turpentine be mixed with it to 
dry it, and should the inside of a bar-frame hive be so dressed as well 
as the outside ? I brought the bees to their new home the last week in 
October.— A Yovsg Beginner. 
[The two immature bees are simply chilled, and there is no foul 
bi'ood When a hive is affected with foul brood the bees do not draw 
them from the cells, nor can they do so very well, because of the gluey 
and adhesive nature of the dead larvae, not the pupa. There is a disease 
that the pupae are attacked by and which the bees could remove ; but 
from what i have seen the bees do not draw them from the cell when 
dead as they do when the young are chilled or deformed, the latter 
arising commonly from retarded development through cold. 
It is difficult, nay impossible, to tell the cross of any variety of bee 
from a single specimen, and very difficult to know accurately in many cases 
what they are from a whole swarm. The one sent is not a native black 
bee, nor is it a pure one of any breed. I should think it is half Carniolian, 
crossed with a black. The rudimentary yellow stripe, so prominent in 
the black bee, is almost absent in this one ; then the thorax is quite 
black. This peculiarity in crosses is somewhat singular, appearing 
frequently in the first cross of the lightest-coloured varieties, and darker 
than any known breed. This dark colour on the thorax appears to be 
greatest change when crossing has been effected. The young bees in 
your hive seem to have been the cause of so much fanning of late, and 
with so mild a season as the present one has been there is nothing 
extraordinary in the case, as many bees commence breeding immediately 
after the shortest day. Carniolians seem less inclined to breed early 
than the yellow and Punic races do. I have a letter from a bee-keeper 
in the West Highlands who has an extensive apiary. He says, “ I have 
tq-day (December 16th) taken a quiet peep into one of my Carniolian 
hives, and find there are both eggs and larvie in it, and this too when 
the thermometer stood at 20° Fahr.” You, along with the rest of us, no 
doubt will have observed “ A Hallamshire Bee-keeper’s ” opinion on 
bees hybernating. I am inclined to think he will be in a difficult 
position to explain how bees hybernate when they have been known to 
breed throughout the whole winter, and when the mercury was down at 
zero. The apparently dormant state bees show more or less throughout 
the whole year will require another name than hybernating. I suppose 
40 lbs. is the gross weight of your hive. It will be well to feed as 
early as the weather will permit in January, immediately after the 
bees have had an airing. 
Gas tar is what I use for ray hives, but it is the spirituous or thinner 
and finer sort, caught in the furthest removed interceptor from the 
retort; this dries quickly, and has a brilliant surface. I use it inside 
all my double-cased hives, but not inside the single-cased ones ; but 
they would, I believe, be all the better for it. If common tar is used a 
little turpentine or naphtha is necessary to quicken the drying. 
Double-cased hives will be less used in the future.—.V Lanarkshire 
Bee-keeper.] 
THE HALLAMSHIRE GLASS SECTIONS. 
I SEE by the letter of “ A Howdenshire Bee-keeper,” page 564, 
that the editorial footnote to my article on page 519 is being inter¬ 
preted in the way I thought it would be. I am asked, “ Why I did not 
plainly tell of my intentions at first,” meaning, 1 suppose, my inten¬ 
tions of taking out a patent on my invention. I think I shall best 
answer this question by explaining my motive and object in taking out 
a patent. Firstly, it was to secure the invention in such a manner that 
all bee-keepers could freely make and use it; secondly, to prevent 
others from making capital or getting credit for it; thirdly, to fix the 
date above question in view of any possible priority claim ; and, fourthly, 
to have the power to take legal proceedings against anyone who tried to 
tamper with it. If I had not patented the invention, and had divulged 
the plan, there were plenty ready to take out patents for their own 
benefit ; in fact the attempts to get the secret were many and curious. 
When a man patents anything, the exact date, and, by implication, 
even the exact time also, is put down beyond question by anyone. The 
applicant states exactly in his own words and by means of his own 
drawings exactly what his own invention is. There is no restriction as 
to how many or how few words he may use or how many drawings he 
may send in, nor how intricate they may be. In my case I sent seventy- 
five illustrations on twenty-five foolscap sheets. These were the 
drawings alone. The Patent Office advertises all particulars in respect- 
of it, and gives an abstract with a reduced copy of the drawings in tie 
official weekly Journal, price fid. ; and they publish at a nominal price, 
and always keep in stock exact copies of the drawings with every word 
the patentee has had to say, for sale to anyone, and will send them post 
free to any part of the country for the amount of the postage extra. 
As a matter of fact and law a patent is the most public publicationi 
possible in this country, but how many know it ? 
When a man has his patent, it is a property for him to deal with just 
as he would with any other property ; at least this was the law to the 
end of 1883. Now the law says he must grant licences to anyone to use- 
his patent that likes; if terms cannot be agreed on between the patentee 
and user, the Courts have power to order a compulsory licence and t» 
fix the terms, so that there is nothing to prevent a patentee granting 
free licences, or only charging a nominal price. I have said “ a child 
can make my sections,” but I have never said everyone would have a 
full legal right to make and use them ; and if back numbers are referred 
to, it will be found that I have plainly hinted that I was going to take 
steps to prevent being deprived of the honour attaching to the invention. 
The plain facts are these. I have a fairly large apiary of about 
thirty stocks, and some thirty extra empty hives of various patterns, 
which for years have been devoted to experimental purposes. I have 
never hesitated to put twenty stocks in experiment to try and solve any 
problem. Now to take upon myself the trouble and responsibility of 
protecting everyone who wants to use glass sections, to say nothing 
about the expense I have been at in my experiments solving the pro¬ 
blem, is more than I feel justified in doing, but by making a small 
charge I hope to do all I want, so that the benefits will outweigh 
the annual charge. There is another matter I have under serious con¬ 
sideration—viz., I must either drop bees, or hire someone to help me to- 
look after them, at least in the summer. This is what I want to do, 
then I can carry out very many experiments which is at present im¬ 
possible. Hobbies are all right in their place, but when a man has to- 
neglect other matters to ride his hobby, he must either curtail his. 
riding or make it pay as part of his regular business. 
1 hope I have made the matter clear, and had hoped to see bee¬ 
keepers employing their spare moments making sections on their own 
hearths in winter instead of having to buy foreign ones. I shall keep 
the patent in force as long as possible, even if I do not get a shilling 
towards the .6150 that will be required to do it. 
Replying to “A Sussex Amateur” on page 541, I do not include 
him amongst those who have been trying to set up the priority claim ; 
but as the sections have been illustrated, described, and discussed else¬ 
where, there is nothing really to discover even afresh.—A Hallamshire 
Bee-keeper. 
[As we permit our correspondent to state where the drawings can be 
obtained in a complete form, there is not the least necessity for our 
publishing the eight which he supplied to us, nor can we insert any 
more explanations regarding this matter.) 
TRADE CATALOGUES RECEIVED. 
Webbs’, Wordsley, Stourbridge.— Sjiruiff Catalogue, 1S90, Illuitratei 
toith Coloured Plates. 
John Laing & Sons, Forest Hill, S.E.— Catalogue of Seeds and NoveU 
ties and Ocncfal Plants. 
