1895 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE. 



931 



their width, were supported by lengthening the 

 side-pieces, thus forming feet, touching at the 

 ends the boards forming the front and rear of 

 the hive. To get them out it was necessary to 

 separate them from the walls of the hive by 

 spreading the latter a little by means of a thin 

 chisel-shaped lever. This plan succeded very 

 well so long as the frames were not propollzed 

 to the inside of the hive; but after that, their 

 removal was difficult, if not impossible, without 

 breaking the frames; so, although the Debeau- 

 voys hive may have met with some favor in 

 Prance for several years, and although his 

 book has passed through six editions, the hive 

 was soon abandoned as impracticable. This 

 hapless invention had one unfortunate effect; 

 namely, that of setting French bee-keepers 

 against the use of movable-frame hives entire- 

 ly, thus retarding progress. 



Debeauvoys sold to me the second edition of 

 his book for 45 sous. On returning home I tried 

 to make some of his hives, and transfer some 

 colonies into them. Following the advice of 

 Mr. Debeauvoys I did the transferring by night. 

 It is to be remarked that I received no injury 

 from stings. In the mean time I succeeded 

 nicely. For one or two years I was proud of my 

 hives, and showed them to all who desired to 

 ■examine their interior. Unfortunately, two or 

 three years after that, we had a very mild win- 

 ter, not to say a warm one. The fields of rye 

 headed out in January. My hives were filled 

 with brood in March: then a succession of very 

 cold days in April caused the destruction of the 

 twigs of the trees, which were as fully grown 

 as they usually are in June. Then there were 

 seen, instead of green leaves, young shoots 

 blackened by the frost, hanging from the 

 branches which gave them birth. Being too 

 busy at that time to give my bees the attention 

 they actually needed in order to regain the lost 

 ground, I lost them all; and from that time on 

 I had nothing more to do with bees until my 

 arrival in the United States, in 1863. 



Having procured the works of Langstroth, 

 •Quinby, and King. I immediately perceived the 

 immense superiority of the movable bottom, 

 and the space between the ends of the frames 

 and the inside of the Langstroth hive. There 

 arose, at this time, a discussion concerning the 

 Langstroth patent, as to the priority of the in- 

 vention of the frame hive with a space between 

 the frame and the sides. King pretended that 

 Berlepsch, a German bee-keeper, had anticipat- 

 •ed Langstroth. But it was proved that Mr. L. 

 had applied for a patent about six months be- 

 fore Berlepsch had invented his hive. Besides, 

 the Berlepsch hive, although having been gen- 

 erally adopted in Germany and Italy, could not 

 for a moment stand any comparison with that of 

 Langstroth. Its bottom-board is fixed; it opens 

 behind, so that, if one wishes to see the front 

 frame, he finds it necessary to take them all 



out. The frames of the Berlepsch hive, being 

 taller than they are broad, its surplus frames 

 are smaller; and, besides, they are very limited 

 in number, as the bottom of the hive is not 

 movable. 



In spite of the ill will which certain owners of 

 the German hives showed, a comparison be- 

 tween the two hives, the Langstroth and Ber- 

 lepsch, being entirely to the advantage of the 

 former, it has gained a footing in Europe. I 

 am proud to have been the first to describe and 

 recommend it in France, where its distinguish- 

 ing features — a movable bottom, and frames 

 with spaces between them and the sides of the 

 hive— have been adopted by all advanced bee- 

 men. 



The name of Langstroth is known and rever- 

 ed, not alone in North America, but in France, 

 Switzerland, Belgium, Italy, and even in Rus- 

 sia, where the French edition of "Langstroth 

 Revised" has been translated into Russian, in 

 which language it has reached its second 

 edition. Many apiculturists having described 

 the qualities of our lamented friend, it suffices 

 me to say that my son and I are happy to have 

 been deemed capable by him to put his book, 

 which was so far in advance of the times at the 

 date of its first publication, abreast with all 

 that has been achieved since; and above all to 

 have succeeded in spreading its renown in all 

 countries where the English language is known, 

 and where he is considered, as well as in the 

 United (States, as a superior man, distinguished 

 for his intelligence, his knowledge, his disinter- 

 ested and unceasing work directed toward api- 

 cultural progress, to which he had devoted his 

 life. 



Hamilton, 111. 



^ I — ^^— 



HOW LANGSTROTH WAS REGAKDED IN GER- 

 MANY. 



By C. J. H. Orarenhorst, Editor of "Deutsche IJlus- 

 tricrte Bienenzeitxing." 



It was with sincere regret that I learned of 

 the death of Lorenzo Lorain Langstroth. 

 Every bee-keeper in the Old and New World, 

 who knows what this grand and noble Ameri- 

 can apiarian has done for advancing modern 

 bee-keeping, will feel as I do, and not the least 

 my brother bee-keepers in Germany. 



Many years ago, when the late Samuel Wag- 

 ner founded the American Bee Journal, I be- 

 came a reader of and contributor to it, and in 

 that way I learned what Langstroth had done 

 and was doing to encourage bee-keeping, es- 

 pecially when I received the first edition of his 

 classic and renowned work, "The Hive and 

 Honey-bee." I remember as if it were but yes- 

 terday when I received the book, and I would 

 not lay it down till I had read the last word in 

 it. How many times I have since read those 

 wonderfully written chapters, the 11th, on the 

 loss of the queen, and the 13th, on " robbing, 



