Ottumwa weekly courier. (Ottumwa, Wapello County, Iowa) 1872-1899, 1874-04-09

HrCm tn0 ktoaue kolN3er- SS4 EE&I1ti
Tapesvssaenss In Nee Hives. sa
& The July number Of The Pruirse
Easm1v for le47, In an editorial, says:
The best hive yet invented ID per-
fectly square box, Of such size as will
contain tho swarm with q sufiiciency Of
food f0f winter use. The balance of
honey made by them sAould be taken
away BY putting smaA boxes on the
top or side Of the main hive. Proba-
bly, In . th0usand years TO come, this
hive win mot be improved on unless
6ess can b coaxed to change their ma
tpro.n
Five years after this, the movable
comb hive Of Mr.. Langstr0th was pat
snAed, and though not immediately
ai1opted By the better class of bee-
keopers, Wa destined 10 revOlutaonfza
boe-kecping. Soon after Mr.. Lang
stroth had ehown the practicability
And advantages 0f the movable comb
syu1eu, q host Of imitatOrs sprang mp,
and movable comb hives were patent
ed In great numbers; most of them
bAre-fAced infringements of Mr.. Lang
stroth's patent, the patentees seeming
to think that Mr.. Langstroth s-had no
rights that white man was bound to
respect" The nearer the hives were
like the LAngstroth, the better they
were and It is fact well known 10
intelligent bee-keepers, that tho more
they were unlike 1t, the more difficult
they were to manage. Among the
latter is the close fitting frame class !;
some two or three of these have been
patented within the past few years. =
As this class Of hives are similar to
those in use years before Mr.. Lang
stroth patented his, and as the object
ofthe invention was to remedy their
defects, the patentees are stepping
backwards instead of forwards. Tho
leaf class appears, at first sight. to be
really an Improvement, the france
being hung so that when the case OF,
outside of tho hive is removed, they
present the appearance or book
standing on end /; the frames can be
swung apart and taken away the
Buckeye hive belongs to this class |;
those who took stock in this hive say
but little about Il now, It doesn't per-
form quite 10 glibly as 1t did under
the hands Of the smooth -tongued, bra
zen.faced operators at our state and
county fairs. Just 90 with all Of this
class, they promise wen In appearance,
but In practico comes far short. Many,
X not most Of the hives pAtentaG, are
patented 70 pcrsOns having but q liM-
tied experience in bookkeeping. They
jump at conclusions, hastily f1x up
somcthing they call an Improved hive
and patent It !: 1t is exhibited at the
fSirs, como rights arc sold, the hive 10
used AMhile, but finally laid aside and
ID xmong the things that were. The
Patent Once Record shows that there
have been nom one to two patents ON
hives taken ont every wcck for the
Iast fifteen or twenty years, aud yet
with III this frult OF Inventive genius
many II not most ofour best Doe keep.
crs are AE1n iii the belief that the hive
patented BY Mr.. Lsngstroth more than
twenty years ago Is the best hive
known, and that inventive genius has
been wasted Ia cndeayOring TO pf an
! batter hivc. 80 & ''ss sa3s
Nj. LAngstfoth's patent expired last
Octobef, and no one need ever pay q
cent Tor the patent Of . hive ii or
der TO keep bees 10 the best advantage.
But four or fIve hives have been pat
onted % far during the new year, and
ii II TO be hoped that NO one will
waste hls time and inventive talent
bee hives. Fsg sfsf T.. C., II. w