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GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE. 



July 1. 



are cattle, and it is the coJor and make-up of the 

 Jerseys which give them the name of Jersey 

 cattle, and whatever there is good in them. So 

 all are bees, and it is the color and make-up of 

 the golden bees which give them all the good 

 qualities there is in them, and by this color I 

 have been enabled to select a bee which has 

 given me a greater profit than any other. If 

 others wish to select any other bees by their 

 color, they are at perfect liberty to do so; and I 

 see no need of insinuating hard things against 

 any bee-keeper who selects bees by the color 

 black because he thinks they are the most prof- 

 itable. 



[Why, friend D., it seems to me your ques- 

 tioner does not take in all I have said. Evi- 

 dently, the writer of said question is a little 

 nettled over my position toward the yellow- 

 banders, and, like all opponents, fails to give 

 all of what the other side said. Now turn to 

 our catalog, page 29. and read: " While we do 

 not regard them [that is, yellow untested 

 queens] as any better for real business, there 

 are some who go in for beauty." And, again, 

 under the paragraph headed " Select Tested," 

 after describing the progeny as large and yel- 

 low, this sentence occurs: "The progeny of 

 these queens, for real business, will probably be 

 no better than those from the ordinary tested." 

 This answers the whole question, it seems to 

 me; and the mere fact that we charge more for 

 them is no evidence that they are belter, in the 

 face of such statements concerning yellow- 

 banders, as above given. There is nothing to 

 reconcile at all. The very fact that we charge 

 less for the leather stock, and more for the 

 yellow, would induce most people to purchase 

 in the interest of their pocketbook when it is 

 distinctly stated that the cheaper queens are 

 just as good. Another thing, we had to charge 

 more for the yellow stock, because there was 

 such an insane rage for the yellow at the time 

 the catalog was written that we would have 

 had no sale for the leather-colored stock.— Ed. J 



WAS LANGSTROTH THE INVENTOK OF THE 

 MOVABLE-FRAME HIVE? 



Mr. Root: — I send you this. Perhaps it may 

 be old to you, but I send it for what it may be 

 worth. A. D. P. Young. 



Ashtabula, O. 



The popular notion that Langstroth wa8 the in- 

 ventor of movable frames for bee-hives is an error. 

 Such frames were known in Germany 30 years be- 

 fore 1853, the date of Langstroth's first patent. In 

 1843 Baron von Berlepsch made use of movable 

 frames, and he refers the idea to a man named Pro- 

 kopovilsk, who employed it in 1841. Evidence to 

 prove this statement is obtainable at tlie Patent 

 Office in Washington. Furthermore, in a book pub- 

 lished in London in 1841, entitled the Natural History 

 of the Honey-bee, on page 300 may be found a descrip- 

 tion of comb-frames hinged like the leaves of a 

 book. By the way, tlie notion held by bee-farmers, 

 that the dovetailed method of constructing hives 

 has been patented, and must not be imitated, is a 



mistake. It has never been patented, and is a com- 

 mon right. Anybody may manufacture such hives. 



[Strictly speaking, Langstroth was not the 

 inventor of movable frames; but he was the 

 inventor of the first practical movable frame — 

 something that was of use to the world. The 

 leaf hive of Huber, while the frames were, in a 

 certain sense, movable, was not a practical 

 hive, and one would about as soon have regular 

 bo.x hives without movable frames. There is a 

 certain person who seems determined that 

 Langstroth shall have no credit for the great 

 strides he made in bee-keeping, and that person 

 is C. J. Robinson, who was cotemporary with 

 Langstroth when he was doing his best work. 

 1 do not know whether the clipping abovagiven 

 came from C. J. R. or not, but it is all of a 

 stripe; but I do know that Mr. Robinson ap- 

 pears to be jealous of Mr. Langstroth. Such 

 kind of writing at this time is in keeping with 

 the cJaims of those who say Columbus did not 

 discover America simply because he found men 

 here when he landed, so the natives must have 

 been ahead of him. He was the first man who 

 discovered it in such a manner as to make it of 

 ^lse to the rest of the world, and in a way that 

 seems just now to be dui'able — something the 

 Icelanders did not do, although they touched 

 our shores Just as Huber did movable frames. 

 Far be it from me to detract from Huber. He 

 is already covered with glory; but if he were 

 living he would want none of the just credit 

 belonging to the father of American bee-keep- 

 ing.— Ed.] 



double-story langstroth hives. 



I read in Gleanings, May 1, a report by 

 friend Nash and Mr. N. E. Doane about 10 and 

 16 frame hives with large colonies of bees pro- 

 ducing large quantities of honey. I should like 

 to say a few words also, which I know will 

 please you. I started in April, last year, when 

 I ordered that Cowan extractor from you, with 

 only three hives; that is, to put two more 

 stories on top of those hives as an experiment, 

 so as to test the quantity of honey that those 

 three colonies would gather. What was the 

 result? They filled 16 frames in ten days, with, 

 nice clover honey. Well, when that extractor 

 arrived on Saturday evening, that next day I 

 gave it a trial. It worked like a charm. I ex- 

 tracted between four and five gallons of honey 

 from one hive which had a half-story on; but 

 those three hives where I put those two one- 

 story hives on top gave me eight or nine gallons 

 apiece inside of two weeks. Yes, I side in with 

 friend Nash and friend Doane. This year I 

 tried it again, and I received my reward from 

 those same hives as last season. I shall here- 

 after run all my hives on that scale. It is pay- 

 ing. There is nothing like it that I have found. 

 Of course, we must keep our colonies strong — 

 that is, they must have a good laying queen. I 

 have mostly hybrid bees. It is very hard ta 

 get queens mated with Italian drones, on ac- 

 count of so many parties having a few hives 

 for their own use. Then another obstacle is, 

 the woods are so close to our doors; but never- 

 theless my bees give good results in gathering 

 honey. George Schafer. 



New Orleans, La., June 1. 



