90 



Gleanings in bee culture 



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Copy of a bee-hive contract of 43 years ago. See letter from George Richards, on another page. 



INVENTIONS AND IMPROVEMENTS THAT 



HAVE TAKEN PLACE DURING THE 



LAST FORTY YEARS 



BY E. R. ROOT 



To record the history of the inventions 

 or improvements, ratlier, during the last 

 forty years means that 1 must go back at 

 least twenty years further; for sixty yeai'S 

 has really seen all the important develop- 

 ments that have made bee culture what it is 

 to-day. 



There are three inventions that revolu- 

 tionized the methods of work with bees, and 

 which really form the basis of all modern 

 methods of management to-day. First and 

 foremost is the invention of movable frames 

 by Father Langstroth in 1851. Xo one to- 

 day, either in Europe or this country, I be- 

 lieve, questions Mr. Langstroth's right to 

 the honor of this great invention, for prac- 

 tically all hives and frames in use to-day 

 are Langstrotli. 



X'ext followed the invention of comb 

 foundation by J. Mehring, in 1857. But 

 the foundation he made had no side walls, 

 and so it remained for Samuel ^Yagner, 

 twenty years later, to develop the product 

 that we now use with side walls. 



The next great invention was that of 

 the honey-extractor, by Major Francisco 

 Hruschka, in 1865. There have been a large 

 number of improvements tliat have made 

 the inventions of Langstroth, Mehring, and 

 Hruschka much more workable than they 

 were originally; however, it is but fair to 

 say that Langstrotli came very near making 

 his hive and frame almost perfect at the 

 very start; and there are possibly thousands 



of our readers who would consider the later 

 imi^rovements made in the Langstroth frame 

 and hive of doubtful value. It is, never- 

 theless, a fact that the old movable frame, 

 as tiist made by Mr. Langstroth, both as 

 regards the dimensions and stjde, is still in 

 use all over the world. For extracting pur- 

 poses, some of our large honey-producers 

 will have no other. They regard any thing 

 in the way of a self-spacing attachment, 

 either as part of tl;e lii\e or frame, as un- 

 necessary, and a backward step. But we 

 will not slop to argue that question now. 



The original comb foundation by Mehr- 

 ing was a very crude product ; and it may 

 be questioned wliether or not "Wagner should 

 not share e(|ual honor in the invention. The 

 great improvements that were made in this 

 article had more to do with the machinery 

 for making the product than the thing it- 

 self. It may be egotistical for me to say 

 it, but I believe my father, A. L Root, did 

 more to perfect comb foundation than per- 

 haps any other man, unless it was his co- 

 laborer and mechanic, Mr. Alva "Washburn. 

 He certainly introduced it to the beekeep- 

 ing public. The first foundation was turn- 

 ed out on plates, and was, therefore, a very 

 crude article, but A. I. Root (for I well re- 

 member his early experiments) conceived the 

 idea of having it made by means of a pair 

 of rolls. This suggestion came to him when 

 noticing the wet clothes as they came out 

 from a common wringer in his own home. 

 After consulting this friend and mechanic, 

 Mr. "Washburn, a pair of rolls were made, 

 the product of which was fully the equal of 

 any comb foundation made on the modern 

 m.achines of to-day. To Mr. "Washburn be- 



