February 20, 18CC. ] 



JOUENAL OF HOBTICULTUKE AND COTTAGE GAEDENEB. 



157 



bar hives are -nanted, the holes in the laths may be a little 

 closer together, so as to have the hive somewhat less at the 

 bottom than at the top. This will facilitate the taking out of 

 the combs, and also prevent any risk of their falling, if acci- 

 dentally separated from the bars, the hive being hke the Grecian, 

 somewhat conical, only square instead of round. 



So much for hives. Now for uniting bees. I have united 

 bees many times, and have succeeded well ; however, to my cost, 

 I find that if you unite bees to a hive having a super on it in 

 which there are bees and combs, a civil war will be the con- 

 sequence ; therefore, I say, never unite fresh bees to a hive 

 having a super on it, or being in two or more compartments. 



On more than one occasion I have heard great commotions 

 in some of my hives late at night, when it has been only star- 

 light : there being no moon above the horizon, and several 

 bees have taken flight whilst I have been listening, but I never 

 could make out the reason for it. Could it have been queen 

 encasements ? I find one such occasion in my note book on 

 the 1st of May, 1862.— C. F. George. 



ME. LANGSTROTH, THE INVENTOR OF FR.\ME 

 HI^"ES. 



FOUL EEOOD IX CALIFORNIA AND THE ATLANTIC STATES. 



It may be remembered, that in The Joup.xal of Horticul- 

 TDKE of January 24th, 1865, I expressed the opinion that Mr. 

 Woodbury had unintentionally faUed to do me justice with 

 respect to my indebtedness to the Gennan apiarian. Having 

 recently read with care all the back Numbers of the .Journal 

 from 1859, I have now to thank him for his liberal appreciation 

 of my apiarian labours, even when he supposed my hive to be 

 only a modification of a Gennan invention. If I needed any 

 other evidence than this of Mr. Woodbury's intention to do me 

 full justice, his manly and straightforward discussion of the 

 subject of foul brood, under circumstances which would have 

 prompted an unfair man to disingenuous courses, clearly shows 

 him to be incapable of withholding proper credit from any one. 



That Mr. Woodbury may have a more complete idea of the 

 progress of my invention, I have sent him the first edition of my 

 work on the •' Hive and Honey Bee," published in the spring 

 of 1853, and the second edition published in the spring of 1857. 

 One of the most important features of my hive was invented 

 and fuUy tested in 1850, and the whole thing was brought to 

 such a state of completeness in 1851, that I appUed for a 

 patent in December of that year, which patent was issued in 

 October, 1854. The] frames of the Baron von Berlepsch are 

 first mentioned in the " Bienenzeitung " (supplement to), No- 

 vember 5th, 1853, in which he claims to have had them in use 

 since 1843, in a kind of hive which he calls his " Eahmen- 

 lufter (frame-ventUator). This hive he must have deemed of 

 no practical value, or he would not, after his famous visit to 

 Dzierzon in the disguise of a Bavarian peasant, have aban- 

 doned its use and recommended in the highest terms the 

 Dzierzon hive. He does not say how these frames were made 

 or used, but he certainly could not have considered them better 

 than those which he subsequently introduced as an improve- 

 ment on the Dzierzon hive ; at any rate the public knew 

 nothing of his prior invention, whatever it was. 



It will be seen from these facts, that long before the Baron 

 had announced his forthcoming hive, my own was both in- 

 vented and patented, and the first edition of my work will 

 further show that its essential features were there given, 

 together with a very full explanation of the various processes 

 by which I accomplished such important results in the practical 

 and scientific management of bees. I may also add, that in 

 1852 a large niunber of my hives were publicly used by myself 

 and others. That the Baron could not have copied from my 

 invention, of which unquestionably he had not the slightest 

 knowledge, will be evident, not only from his high character 

 for honourable dealing, but from the widely different plan upon 

 which he inserted his frames in the hive ; some of the dis- 

 advantages of which plan I will venture now very briefly to 

 describe ; — 



1. The Berlepsch hive opening on one side instead of the 

 top, makes it impossible to examine or remove any frame 

 without first loosening and removing aU the frames between 

 it and the side door. Having used hives with such an arrange- 

 ment side by side with those opening at the top, I believe 

 that at least three of the latter can, on an average, be opened 

 and examined to one of the former. 



2. The Berlepsch hive making no provision for adjusting 



the distances between the frames at will, does not so readily as 

 with mine allow the relative position of the frames in the same 

 hive to be changed, or facilitate the free exchange of frames from 

 hive to hive. 



3. The Berlepsch hive by making the top bars of the frames 

 too close-fitting to the case which contains them, and parts of 

 both the top and bottom bars of the frames close-fitting to 

 each other, causes them to be soon glued by the bees so fast to 

 the case and each other as to interfere very seriously with their 

 easy removal from the hive. 



i. The Berlepsch hive making no provision for the removal 

 of the surplus honey, except in frames taken from the main 

 body of the hive, the purity of the honey is very often affected 

 by being mixed with bee-bread, or being deposited in cells 

 previously used for breeding-purposes. 



In making these criticisms upon the hive of so distinguished 

 a man, I have not the slightest desire to depreciate the emi- 

 nent services which the Baron has rendered, by his -writings, to 

 the cause of practical and scientific bee-cultme. 



After Mr. Woodbury's woful experiences with foul brood, he 

 will be glad to learn that a Pennsylvanian has discovered, as he 

 thinks, a cheap and effectual cure for this pest of bee-keeping. 

 If this remedy after the most thorough trial should prove effi- 

 cacious, he will by communicating it to the pubUo be able to 

 confer upon bee-keepers a boon of priceless value, and we shall 

 aU be ready to haU him as the " Pennsylvanian Bee-Friend." 

 In California, where bees were introduced only a few years ago, 

 and where they found, as in Australia, a honey paradise, this 

 terrible distemper has in many places nearly destroyed aU 

 pleasure and profit in their cultivation. Its ravages in the 

 Atlantic States are increasing, as I frequently hear of its 

 breaking out in places where, until recently, it was wholly un- 

 known. — L. L. Laxgsteoih, Oxford, Ohio. 



[In thanking Jlr. Langstroth for the very high comphment 

 he has paid me, I can with truth assure him, that he does me 

 no more than justice in beheving me to be incapable of wilfully 

 withholding from any man that credit which is fairly due to 

 him. I am in receipt of the two early editions of his " Practical 

 Treatise on the Hive and Honey Bee," to which he refers, and 

 which fuUy bear out aU that he has above stated with regard 

 to the time at which he gave practical appUcation to the prin- 

 ciple of the frame hive, whilst I can most cordially endorse aU 

 that he advances with regard to the superiority of his hive over 

 that of the Baron von Berlepsch. 



I much regret to learn that that fell destroyer, foul brood, is 

 ravaging the hitherto prosperous apiaries of Cahfomia and the 

 Atlantic States, and most sincerely do I trust that the remedy 

 of the " Peunsvlvanian Bee Friend " may turn out a " perfect 

 cure," and that'he wiU worthily deserve his title by making it 

 public. Should he do so, I hope Mr. Langstroth wiU at once 

 communicate it to " our Journal," and by so doing add another 

 to the many obligations which, by his writings, he has already 

 conferred on British apiarians. — A Devonshike Bee-keeper.] 



A CURE FOR BEE DYSENTERY. 



I CAN neither agree with those who imagine that dysentery 

 is caused by a large consumption of food during the winter 

 months, nor with those who think there is no cure for the 

 malady, bad as it is. Last winter I placed two stocks with 

 their entrances towards the north, and the two consumed only 

 12 lbs. of honey, yet they had dysentery very badly indeed. 

 Its cause was dampness, occasioned by the rain finding its way 

 thi-ough badly-made covers. I tried different remedies, but to 

 no puiijose. At last I resorted to the remedy referred to by 

 Mr. Everest, and the result was a complete cure. 



This \vinter I placed three stocks, aU in Woodbury frame- 

 hives, in a bee-house with a southern aspect : one of them was 

 left unventUated, and the result was dysentery. Upon exami- 

 nation no one could doubt the cause, which was evident from 

 the quantity of condensed vapour on the glass and mildew on 

 the combs and on the sides of the box. Upon removing the floor- 

 board I found hundreds of dead bees upon it, many of them lying 

 in a pool of matter which had, doubtless, escaped from their 

 bodies upon bursting. This was on the 17th ult. I immediately 

 gave them a clean floor-board, and applied the remedy. I was 

 imable to look at them for eight days, when I foxmd the floor- 

 board in a very dirty state, but only about a dozen dead bees 

 upon it ; there was, moreover, scarcely any wet dirt, nearly all 

 being dr>-, and some days old. I gave them another clean floor- 

 board, and upon examining them two days later I found but 



