1908 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE. 



39 



done — and I fully accord to him great credit 

 — unless I am entirely misinformed, Lang- 

 stroth invented the movable frame without 

 any knowledge of what was done by Ber- 

 lepsch, and I think that, in point of time, the 

 invention of Langstroth was prior to that of 

 Berlepsch. And from whatever source bee- 

 keepers across the water may have first got 

 the movable frame, it is a fact that I think 

 you ought to be willing to recognize, that 

 American bee-keepers got the movable Jrame 

 in its present usable forrti, not indirectly but 

 directly from, Langstroth. From personal 

 acquaintance with Langstroth, I am con- 

 vinced that, if he had had the slightest hint 

 of any thing done by Berlepsch looking to- 

 ward the invention of the movable frame, he 

 would have been the first man in the world 

 to acknowledge it. 



"On page 1018 the first grafting method of 

 rearing queens is given at about 1874. More 

 than 100 years ago Huber transferred larvje 

 from one cell to another. The works of Hu- 

 ber should be read by every bee-keeper, con- 

 taining as they do a fullness of interesting 

 experiments almost totally forgotten, which 

 deserve again to be brought to light. 



"The last remark of W. K. M., page 1018, 

 again shows plainly the attitude of certain 

 Americans, from whom you are excepted." 



Certainly we ought to be a little slow about 

 calling a people slow from whom we have 

 received so much that is valuable, and least 

 of all the Germans in Switzerland, who are 

 in the front line in more than one regard. 

 When it comes to the matter of scientific 

 queen-rearing, Switzerland leads the world, 

 and in their presence we are as babes before 

 giants. But we have a young man in Wash- 

 ington, Dr. E. F. Phillips, of whom we are 

 very proud, and we are looking to him to 

 give us a start on the road to overtake the 

 Swiss, so that queen-rearing may rest upon 

 a more scientific basis. 



The time has come when I am glad to say 

 that the peoples on the two sides of the big 

 pond are beginning to stop making faces at 

 each other, and trying to get all the mutual 

 help they can; and it is to be hoped, Dr. 

 Bruennich, that you will keep whacking 

 away whenever you see any of our faults to 

 whack at, and at least some of us will take 

 it in good part, with the cordial feeling "We 

 be brethren." Ja, wir sind Brueder. 



Marengo, 111. 



[I shall attempt to answer in as few words 

 as possible. Southern Switzerland, particu- 

 larly the region of Bellinzona, is certainly the 

 place from which many leather-colored Ital- 

 ians came. The old files of the American 

 Bee Journal (see advertising pages) bear 

 abundant proof of this. For example see last 

 page of the May issue, 1872, A. B. J.; also 

 page 231 for 1873 of the same journal, 

 an article by the late Charles Dadant. 

 Moreover, I quoted figures quite recently to 

 show the Swiss are by no means unanimous 

 in favoring the native black bee. By their 

 own figures (see Gleanings, page 1135, 

 Sept. 1), they regard hybrids very highly, and 

 a number prefer Italians (Swiss Italians). 



As to the assertion that Berlepsch invented 

 the movable frame, there is no ground for it. 

 He brought out his hanging frame in 1855, 

 four years after Langstroth. Huber invent- 

 ed movable-comb frames in 1789, before Ber- 

 lepsch was born. At the present time the Ger- 

 mans are rapidly adopting the Langstroth sys- 

 tem. They are now imitating our hives to 

 the smallest detail, long after the British, 

 French, Belgian, Italian, Spanish, Australian, 

 Russian, and American bee-keepers. It is 

 true, Huber did transpose bee larvas, but he 

 was no German; on the contrary, they wei'e 

 about the last to accept his teachings. If we 

 owe anything to Berlepsch we should like to 

 know what it is. The ABC does not con- 

 tain his biography, it is true; but it also does 

 not contain any thing about Swammerdam or 

 Reaumur — two giants whose names will live 

 long after Berlepsch is forgotten. When the 

 Germans come to this country, in a few years 

 they soon adopt American ways; and I doubt 

 not they greatly excel the Germans left in the 

 fatherland. Look at Wagner, Grimm, Stach- 

 elhausen, Hoffman, and Greiner. They joined 

 on German "theory" and American inven 

 tiveness. 



I admit too many of our "scientists" have 

 turned out to be "nature fakirs." Europe 

 is not altogether free from the same trouble. 

 Science is popular now, and all sorts of peo- 

 ple masquerade as "scientists." America 

 has no monopoly of this either. This is the 

 reason why our bee-keepers are so skeptical 

 about "theory." They do not know when 

 they meet a real savant. We are not alone. 

 France is not one whit behind Germany in 

 scientific research, and yet it does not accept 

 German ideas any more than we do. Nei- 

 ther does England. 



Burri is undoubtedly a great investigator 

 in his chosen field, and the University of Zu- 

 rich is second to none. More than a year 

 ago I sent to President Kramer for his photo 

 for a write-up, but thus far we have not had 

 the opportunity to place him before a Glean- 

 ings audience. I agree with you we owe 

 all our progress to scientific men, and we 

 Americans worship money-making "practi- 

 cal " men far too much. We are not alone 

 in that either.— W. K. M.] 



TRANSPARENT PAPER WRAPPERS 

 FOR SECTIONS OF COMB HONEY. 



Transparent Pai)er Bags Sug^cested ; These 

 to be Made Just the Size of the Section ; 

 the Opinion of a Prominent Commission 

 Man on the Subject. 



BY R. A. BURNETT. 



Mr. Root:— We have just read Mr. Sack- 

 ett's article in your issue of Dec. 1, also 

 your comments thereon. We are inclined to 

 agree with both your conclusions and his. 

 The wood strips in the bottom of cases, when 

 fastened in and made to fit exactly with the 

 sections, help very much where there is only 

 a little leakage from unsealed cells; but where 



