932 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE. 



Dec. 15. 



and how prevented," and others. I thought I 

 could do nothing better than to acquaint my 

 brother bee-keepers in Germany with Langs- 

 troth and with his system of bee-keeping. So 

 far as I knew, no one in Germany had read any 

 thing of value about American bee-keeping, up 

 to that time, in our bee-papers. Only Pastor 

 Kleine, at Luethorst, had received a few copies 

 of the American Bee Jorirnal, from Samuel 

 Wagner. While visiting Kleine I saw the 

 American Bee Journal and Langstroth's book, 

 " The Hive and Honey-bee." I translated some 

 articles from those journals, and now and then 

 some chapters from the book mentioned, for 

 German bee-papers. Later (thirteen years ago) 

 I founded the Deutsche Ulustrierte BieneyizeU- 

 i(7ig, and thought I must do more, especially 

 as American bee-keeping was making such ex- 

 traordinary progress. In the first annual vol- 

 ume of my journal, I gave, in one of the first 

 issuo=, a sketch of the life of Langstroth, with 

 his portrait. I did the same in the first volume 

 of my " Imker Album," tBat contained sketches 

 of the most renowned bee-keepers of the world. 

 In the third and fourth edition of my manual 

 of bee-keeping, " Der practische Imker," one 

 will find a portrait of Langstroth, as well as a 

 representation and description of the Lang- 

 stroth hive. Since that time, as many German 

 bee-keepers have helped me in that line, lean 

 safely say that American bee-keeping and its 

 great promotor, L. L. Langstroth, are well 

 known in Germany. 



And now let me say right here, Langstroth 

 was one of those bee-keepers to whom is due a 

 place in the front ranks of bee-keepers the 

 world over. He is, of course, the Dzierzon and 

 Huber of America. His invention of a most 

 practical bee-hive has, especially in America, 

 raised bee-keeping to a very high degree. If I 

 am not wrong, Mr. Langstroth gave his hive to 

 the public in 1852, seven years later than Dr. 

 Dzierzon did his movable-comb hive; but there 

 is no doubt that Mr. Langstroth made his in- 

 vention without knowing any thing concerning 

 what Mr. Dzierzon was doing; otherwise such 

 a Christian man as Mr. Langstroth has always 

 shown himself to be, both in his public and 

 private life, and in his masterpiece, "The Hive 

 and the Honey-bee," would have given honor to 

 whom honor was due. The difference between 

 his hive and that of Dzierzon proved that 

 plainly. 



The Dzierzon hive has fixed top and bottom 

 boards, and two doors (sometimes one) on one 

 or two sides. This hi ve is longer or higher than 

 wide, according to the standard frames, which 

 are nearly as large as the standard Langstroth 

 frames. If side-storing of the honey is prefer- 

 red, the Dzierzon hive contains 16 frames side 

 by side in a so-called "lagerstock." On the 

 other hand, the hive has two or more stories in 

 a " staenderstock." All frames in this German 



hive hang with the shorter sides above and be- 

 low, in this way: 



Most of the German bee- 

 keepers are of the opinion that 

 bees winter better, especially 

 outdoors, by the use of frames 

 in which the bees may have 

 their winter stores above the 

 cluster. 

 It is a matter of fact, that 

 most of the bee-keepers in Germany. Austria, 

 Hungary, and German Switzerland, use Dzier- 

 zon hives; but in all other lands the Langstroth 

 hive is more in vogue. I may say without ex- 

 aggeration, that most of the bee-keepers of the 

 world use the Langstroth hive, and therefore 

 are deeply indebted to the great American. 

 But we, though not using his hive, are, not- 

 withstanding, not less indebted to him, as he 

 was the man whose invention developed bee- 

 keeping in a great measure in such a way that 

 we have learned from him and his disciples in 

 many cases. 



Wherever one hears the best names of bee- 

 keepers spoken by the bee-keeping world he 

 will never miss the name of Rev. L. L. Lang- 

 stroth. 

 Wilsnack, Germany, Oct. 28. 



LANGSTROTH'S INVENTION IN FRANCE AND 

 SWITZERLAND. 



HIS BOOK THE " MASTERPIECE OF APTCULTURAL 

 LITERATURE." 



By hkluard Bertrand. Kditar of Recue Internationale. 



Through Mr. Dadant I had already received 

 information of the death of Mr. Langstroth 

 when your letter of Oct. 15 arrived. It was not 

 without deep regret that I learned of the de- 

 parture of that distinguished man to whom we 

 owe so much ; and I can assure you that, on this 

 side of the Atlantic, the loss which the friends 

 of the bee have just sustained will be no less 

 keenly felt than in America; for Langstroth is 

 considered everywhere, in Europe as well as 

 with you, as one of the fathers of modern api- 

 culture. Francis Huber, my fellow-country- 

 man, prepared the way by discovering the se- 

 crets of the habits of bees; and, fifty years lat- 

 er, Langstroth, in the United States, and Dzier- 

 zon and Berlepsch in Germany, crowned those ef- 

 forts by giving to apiculturists systems of hives 

 which have revolutionized the keeping of bees. 

 But the manner in which the American inven- 

 tor solved the problem of movable frames and 

 the inspection of colonies, caused it to surpass 

 the German method; and it is his hives and 

 methods which have been adopted in the great- 

 est number of countries, and which give the 

 most brilliant results. I have, for my part, ex- 

 perimented with both systems; and, without 

 contesting certain merits in the Berlepsch mod- 

 el, I give the preference to the American hive, 

 with loose bottom, and stores above. 



