48 



AMERICAN BEE JOURNAL 



February 



SEVENTY YEARS OF BEEKEEPING 



The Second of a Series of Articles By the Editor, Reviewing the 

 Development of Beekeeping Since 1845 



AFTER the discovery of parthe- 

 nogenesis, mentioned in our 

 previous paper, the most impor- 

 tant discovery for beekeeping was the 

 invention of a practical movable-frame 

 hive. The control of the colonies, to 

 help them in all their needs, to treat 

 them in case of disease and to promote 

 or prevent increase, is based entirely 

 upon the ability of the apiarist to ex 

 amine every part of the hive. In 1851, 

 Mr. L. L. Langstroth invented the first 

 practical movable-frame hive, this in- 

 vention consisting principally in frames 

 hanging by shoulders in rabbets at 

 each end of the hive, and separated 

 from the hive walls by a bee-space of 

 from /4 to ji inch. This bee-space, 

 which prevents the bees from gluing 

 the frames to the body, bottom or top, 

 was the key which solved the problem 

 of comb handling, since it obviated the 

 faults of the former inventions. 



At nearly the same time Mr. Lang- 

 stroth invented this, Berlepsch, in Ger- 

 many, invented a similar hive, the dif- 

 ference between the two being the 

 movable ceiling. The Berlepsch hive 

 opens from the rear, the ceiling is 

 nailed fast, the hive resembling a cup- 

 board. The Langstroth invention en- 

 ables the apiarist to lift up any comb 

 from the hive without disturbing the 

 others. Only a few years later, in 

 France, L'Abbe Sagot invented a hive 

 almost identical with the Langstroth, 

 which became quite popular in his 

 vicinity before the Langstroth inven- 

 tion was known on the European Con- 

 tinent. 



These inventions were far from hav- 

 ing smooth sailing, for the French bee 

 magazine, L'Apiculteur, established in 

 1856 by Hamet, and still now published, 

 ridiculed the movable-frame hive, say- 

 ing that the only advantage of these 

 hives was the facility of their being 

 taken apart "like a puppet-show." His 

 criticisms were later to be overcome 

 by an irresistible popular current in 

 favor of the new system. 



In October, 1851, Mr. Langstroth 

 wrote: "The use of these frames will, 

 I am persuaded, give a new impetus to 

 the easy and profitable management of 

 bees." This was true, and one of the 

 first results was the importation into 

 America of the Italian bees. Lang- 

 stroth has earned and secured the title 

 of " Father of American Beekeeping." 



As early as 1842, Capt. Baldenstein, a 

 Swiss, had brought over, from Italy to 

 his castle in the Rhsetian Alps, a colony 

 of Italian bees. His praise of them, in 

 the Bienenzeitung, in 1848, caused 

 Dzierzon to try them, and soon queens 

 were being reared by him to supplant 

 the common race. Not only on ac- 

 count of their greater strength and 

 prolificness, but because of the experi- 

 ments which their introduction per- 

 mitted did this race cause a progress 

 in beekeeping. For instance, the age 

 at which the young bees take their first 

 flight and the length of the worker's 

 active life were easily ascertained by 



the introduction of bees of a different 

 color. 



The first Italian bees brought to 

 America were imported in 1859, by 

 Samuel Wagner and Richard Colvin. 

 In 1860, Parsons, of Long Island, re- 

 ceived a number, and later many queens 

 were imported by Adam Grimm, Chas. 

 Dadant and others. The Italians have 

 often been noticed working on the red 

 clover when the common bees did not 

 do so. Evidently in some cases their 

 tongues are longer than those of the 

 common bee. 



The Carniolan bees were also early 

 mentioned as better bees than the com- 

 m'on race, by the Baron of Roschutz, 

 though they never have been so highly 

 recommended, owing to the greater 

 difficulty of tracing hybridization be- 

 cause of the lack of plainly distinctive 

 signs like the yellow bands of the Ital- 

 ians. Although the Carniolans are 

 slightly larger and less dark than the 

 common black bee, hybrids are difficult 

 to distinguish. 



In 1853, L. L. Langstroth published 

 the first edition of his book, " The Hive 

 and Honey Bee." This book, written 

 without attempts at supplying a text- 

 book, became the z'ade mt-cum of prac- 

 tical apiarists. Editions followed each 

 other in rapid succession in 1857 and 

 1859. Shortly afterwards, Moses Quinby 

 published his "Mysteries of Beekeep- 

 ing Explained," in which he recom- 

 mended a hive similar to that of Lang- 

 stroth, with the same hanging frame, 

 Ijut of different dimensions, taller and 

 deeper than the Langstroth standard. 



In 1861, the American Bee Journal 

 was established at Philadelphia, by 

 Samuel Wagner. The first year of that 

 magazine is still considered as exceed- 

 ingly valuable by those who are fortu- 

 nate enough to possess a copy. Arti- 

 cles by Dzierzon, Rev. Geo. Kleine, 

 Berlepsch, Donhoff, our own Lang- 

 stroth and other Americans who have 

 also passed away, such as W. W. Gary 

 and H. Nesbit, contain valuable infor- 

 mation. The only writer still living 

 who wrote for the Bee Journal at that 

 date is our old friend M. M. Baldridge. 



A method of securing the pure ferti- 

 lization of young queens in localities 

 where black bees were in entire con- 

 trol, was to retain Italian drones in 

 queenless colonies late in the season 

 when nearly all drones were put to 

 death in healthy colonies. Early in the 

 forenoon both the colonies containing 

 the Italian drones and those having 

 queens ready to mate were fed with 

 warm and diluted honey, and thus in- 

 cited to fly simultaneously at times 

 when other drones would still remain 

 in the hives. At the present day pure 

 fertilization of queens is much better 

 controlled by the removal of drone- 

 comb from undesirable hives and its 

 replacing with worker combs, while in 

 the desirable colonies drone-comb is 

 placed in the center of the brood-nest. 

 It does not invariably insure choice 



matings but is a great step in that 

 direction. 



Golden Italians were already pro- 

 duced by in-and-in breeding, selecting 

 the brightest, as reported by E. A. 

 Brackett, "a distinguished Boston 

 sculptor," on page 92 of the American 

 Bee Journal for April, 1861. 



Unfortunately, the Civil War, then 

 raging, compelled Samuel Wagner to 

 suspend the publication of the Ameri- 

 can Bee Journal until 1866, when it was 

 again resumed by him, at Washington, 

 D. C. The original price of $1.00 was 

 advanced to $2.00, owing to the " greatly 

 increased cost of paper " due to the war. 

 History repeats itself. 



In this second volume we find the 

 name of another notable beekeeper 

 who is still living. Dr. G. Bohrer,then 

 of Indiana, now of Kansas. In this 

 volume also. May, 1867, we find the first 

 mention of comb foundation. J. L. 

 Hubbard, of Walpole, N. H., called 

 upon Mr. Henry Steele, of Jersey City, 

 who presented him with a box of it, 

 "to experiment with." But this was 

 evidently very defective, for Mr. Hub- 

 bard suggested that sheets be made of 

 cotton cloth or some other substance 

 dipped into wax and impressed with 

 the cells of the bee. It was later tried, 

 as was tin-foil and other substances 

 and found impractical. 



A. I. Root also began in this volume 

 his "Experience of a Novice in Bee- 

 keeping," witty and practical articles 

 which were so well liked that he started 

 a magazine of his own, in 1873, Glean- 

 ings in Bee Culture, perhaps the widest 

 read magazine on our industry at the 

 present day. 



In the same year, November, 1867, 

 Charles Dadant, began also to write 

 for the American Bee Journal. 



Adam Grimm's first large importa- 

 tion of Italians, from the apiaries of 

 Prof. Mona, of Bellinzona, near Lake 

 Maggiore, was also made in that year. 

 He brought with him some 40 queens. 



In 1868, Charles Dadant imported 

 also largely from the Blumhoff apiaries 

 of Biasca, near Bellinzona. But the 

 transportation of bees across the ocean 

 was for a long time subject to great 

 losses, for the modern methods of 

 packing them were unknown and ship- 

 pers usually gave them too much food, 

 in some instances literally drowning 

 them in honey. 



My next article will deal with the in- 

 vention of the honey extractor. 



The Winter Cluster 



BY C. E. FOWLER. 



I THINK Mr. Spuehler and the Edi- 

 tor have both missed it on page 

 410, December issue, when they say 

 that the bees in the center of the clus- 

 ter are more active (thus increasing 

 the heat, as the outside is colder) be- 

 cause they are in vitiated air. I have 

 experimented on clusters with ther- 

 mometers placed over (and under 



