On the Threshold of the Hive 



of honey, without being forced to destroy 

 his best colonies and in one instant 

 annihilate the work of an entire year. 

 This hive, still very imperfect, received 

 masterly improvement at the hands of 

 Langstroth, who invented the movable 

 frame properly so called, which has been 

 adopted in America with extraordinary suc- 

 cess. Root, Quinby, Dadant, Cheshire, 

 De Layens, Cowan, Heddon, Howard, 

 etc., added still further and precious im- 

 provement. Then it occurred to Mehring 

 that if bees were supplied with combs 

 that had an artificial waxen foundation, 

 they would be spared the labour of 

 fashioning the wax and constructing the 

 cells, which costs them much honey and 

 the best part of their time ; he found that 

 the bees accepted these combs most 

 readily, and adapted them to their 

 requirements. 



Major de Hruschka invented the Honey- 

 -^5 



