HIVES, EVOLUTION OF. 



2.54 



HIVES, EVOLUTION OF. 



of movable-comb frames instead of bars 

 he would have solved the great problem of 

 inventing a practical hive equal to all emer- 

 gencies. 



Prokopovitsch, a Ims.sian, about 1835, in- 

 vented and made in large numbers a mova- 

 ble-comb hive of great merit. Fig. 5. In 

 his own apiaries, of which he had many, 

 were over 3CO0 of these hives in actual use. 

 His pupils (for he established a school of 

 hee-keeping) had many more in use. One of 

 tlie features of this hive was the bee-space, 

 provided by thin bars of wood on the back, 

 sides, and ends of the hive-box. 



It may be noted that his surplus frames 

 bear considerable resemlilance to our bee 

 way sections, and that his hives were dove- 



the liive, all the other combs had first to be 

 removed. Evidently his hive was far infe- 

 rior to those we have alreadv mentioned. 

 When he adopted frames he did not change 

 the construction of his hives in the least. 



Next came Langstroth with his epoch- 

 making movable-comb hive Mith movable 

 roof, wiiich comljined the essential require- 

 ments of a hive. All the coml)S in the 

 Langstroth liive nre readily removable with- 

 out tlie slightest annoyance either to 

 the bee-kee[)er or the bees. Langstroth 

 did his work so well that he left very little 

 for future inventors to do. Many have tried 

 to imi)rove his hive, but in most cases the 

 so-called improvement has proven to be a 

 backward step. The striking feature of the 



KK;. 4. — THE STEWARTON HIVE. 1819; 



SHALI.OW-BAR HIVE WITH GLASS 



STRIPS BETWEEN BARS. — 



FROM CHESHIRE. 



■KSi^r\f'^' 



FIG. 5. — PROKOPOVITSCH's HIVE, 1830. — FROM FRARIERE. 



tailed. Prokopovitsh was certainly a bee- 

 keeper of remarkable abilities, and employ- 

 ed means and methods far ahead of his 

 time. 



It has been claimed by some writers that 

 Dzierzon, of Germany, invented movable 

 frames in 1845 ; but it is evident he has no 

 claim w'hatever to this distinction. As a 

 matter of fact, according to his own state- 

 ments he used bars until 1855, wlien he was 

 persuaded by Baron Berlepsch to use mova- 

 i)le frames, which had just been introduced 

 from America. Dzierzon's bar combs were 

 removed by using a long knife to cut the at- 

 tachments from the back of the hive one by 

 one: for, to reach the comb at the front of 



Langstroth hive is the provision for a bee- 

 space on all sides of the comb. This bee- 

 space can not be less than one-sixth of an 

 inch nor more than one-third. This alone 

 was a great discovery, and placed Lang- 

 stroth far above the mere inventor. 



From his writings it is evident that Lang- 

 stroth knew nothing about what others had 

 done before him in this line; and it is appar- 

 ent that his invention was the result of a 

 very profound study of the bee and its hab- 

 its. To some extent he was misled by oth- 

 ers into thinking that the principle of the 

 Langstroth liive had been discovered by Dr. 

 Dzierzon independently, whereas there is no 

 mannei' of doubt that the German bee-keep- 



