APRIL 1, 1915 



279 



wliose memor\' is recalled in (his issue. 1 

 have read all of liis writings carefully, espe- 

 cially his " Mysteries of Beekeeping," and 

 rejoiced to note how 



Uo scattfi-i'd tlip hosts 



Of holigoMiiis and ghosts 



till the word "mysteries" became almost a 

 joke. Hut while 1 speak of him I do not 

 forget Lang-stroth, for to do so is to read 

 Romeo without Juliet. 



I have no patience witli comparisons of 

 some men with others as to their work done 

 for humanity. It reminds me of what our 

 old friend E. E. Hasty once wrote me. He 

 said he had studied for years to find out 

 which one of his shear-blades does the 

 cutting. They work together by working 

 against each other. The physical features 

 of men may be compared, but there com- 

 parison ceases. 



To carry out some great work, it is clear 

 that Providence has designed at least two 

 persons to do it. This was the case with 

 Quinby and Langstroth. and yet each work- 

 ed long at the same task without being 

 aware of their partnership. These two men 

 were born the same year, and their early 

 years }iermitted none of the luxuries and 

 few of the conveniences of modern life. 



It commands our admiration when we see 

 a man like ^Ir. Quinby rising up from the 

 degrading superstitions of his time, brush- 

 ing away so much of the fog that surround- 

 ed him, and getting down to a rational ex- 

 ]>lanation of things by assuming that reg- 

 ularity prevails in God's works. 



]\Ir. Lang^troth's invention was beginning 

 to be felt in the world when Mr. Quinby 

 also was startling the commercial woi"ld by 

 doing with bees what he himself thouglit he 

 had shown in print could not be done — yes, 

 doing it seven times over. But his remark- 

 able success (seldom surpassed to-day) 

 arose from his knowledge of the habits of 

 the bee and a close study of the conditions 

 that induce bee diseases and the causes that 

 will check them. His fame had reached Ohio. 



and it is not to be wondered at that Lang- 

 stroth felt that "he must increase, but I 

 must decrease." Filled with annoying sur- 

 mises, unworthy suspicions, and harassing 

 fears, Mr. Langstroth happened to be here 

 at A. 1. Root's home when this evil spirit 

 haunted him tlie worst. Mr. Root has de- 

 scribed how Mr. L. told him one morning 

 his Avatch had said all night, " Quinby, 

 Quinby, Quinby," adding that he Avas about 

 to .start for Mr. Quinby's home and have a 

 settlement. It was a question whether the 

 prevailing spirit would lead them to shake 

 hands together or shake fists at each other. 

 But tlie result was a perfect understanding, 

 cementing a close friendship during the 

 short period of life that remained to Mr. 

 Quinby, Mr. Langstroth living twenty years 

 longer. 



Tlie fact was, Lang-stroth had been en- 

 gaged in perfecting a home for the bees 

 while Quinby had been studying their indi- 

 vidual habits, although in this latter respect 

 Langstroth was the peer of anybody at that 

 time. The distinctive lifework of each 

 dovetailed together so nicely with that of 

 the other that modern apiculture has gTown 

 up around their inventions as the honey- 

 suckle does around a pole. 



Quinby was not slow to adopt movable 

 frames, as he immediately saw their advan- 

 tage; and if he could have seen by revela- 

 tion the implements now in use for ex- 

 tracting, etc., he would have said, " The 

 half has not been told." 



Although Mr. Quinby said he considered 

 life to be too short to be spent in making 

 money, it is said he amassed at least a com- 

 fortable competence, while Mr. Lang-stroth's 

 inventions and discoveries never yielded him 

 enough for even a support. 



But aside from the inestimable benefits 

 conferred on humanity by the labors of these 

 men among bees, we owe them still greater 

 lionnr for the beauty of the lives they led 

 in I heir individual capacity; for in all they 

 did they " looked through nature up to 

 nature's God." 



A BEEKEEPER'S FEELINGS TOWARD MOSES QUINBY 



BY LEWIS L. WINSHIP 



No man has done more foi' the beekeeping 

 fraternity at large than Mo.'ses Quinby. He 

 began keeping bee.s when only nineteen, 

 and. until his death at (lie aire of sixty-five, 

 was actively engaged in trying to helo bee- 

 keepers. He had oidy one e(|ual in (he 

 UnKed States, and that was Langstroth. to 

 whom was given the honor of inventing tlie 

 movable-comb hive. What difficulties must 



(hose early beekeepers have passed through! 

 When Quinby first began beekeeping, the 

 old box hive was still in vo.gue: and when 

 one wislied to take off honey the bees mu.st 

 of necessity be smoked with brimstone, as 

 at that early date such a thing as a mov- 

 able-comb hive had not been thought of. 

 Wha( would the present-day beekeepers do 

 without comb foundation, smokers, and a 



