1896. 



THE AMERICAN BEE JOURNAL. 



27 



times at the date of its first publication — abreast with all that 

 has been achieved since ; and above all, to have succeeded in 

 spreading its renown in all countries where the English lan- 

 guage is known, and where he is considered, as well as in the 

 United States, as a superior man, distinguished for his intelli- 

 gence, his knowledge, his disinterested and unceasing work 

 directed toward apicultural progress, to which he had devoted 

 his life. — Chakles Dadant. 



A GERMAN ESTIMATE. 



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 amnot 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 invention without knowing anything concprning 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 Dzier- 

 zon proved that plainly. 



The Dzierzon hive has fixed top and bottom-boards, and 

 two doors (sometimes one) on one or two sides. This hive 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 preferred, the Dzierzon hive con- 

 tains 16 frames side by side in a so-called "lagerstock." On 

 the other hand, the hive has two or more stories In a "staend- 

 erstock." All frames In this German hive hang with the 

 shorter sides above and below. Most of the German bee- keep- 

 ers are of the opinion that bees winter better, especially out- 

 doors, by the use of frames in which the bees may have their 

 winter stores above the cluster. — C. J. H. Gravenhorst, edi- 

 tor of the Deutsche Illustrierte Bienenzeitung. 



A FRENCH TRIBUTE. 



Francis Huber, my fellow-countryman, prepared the way 

 by discovering the secrets of the habits of bees; and, fifty 

 years later, Langstroth, in the United States, and Dzierzon 

 and Berlepsch in Germany, crowned those efforts by giving to 

 apiculturists systems of hives which have revohilionized the 

 keeping of bees. But the manner in which the American in- 

 ventor solved the problem of movable frames and the Inspec- 

 tion of colonies, caused it to surpass the German method ; and 

 it is his hives and methods which have been adopted in the 

 greatest number of countries, and which give the most bril- 

 liant results. I have, for my part, e.iiperlmented with both 

 systems; and, without contesting certain merits In the Ber- 

 lepsch model, I give the preference to the American hive, with 

 loose bottom, and stores above. 



But it Is rot alone for his useful invention that the mem- 

 ory of our great Langstroth deserves to be handed down to 

 posterity. He has written an admirable book in which the 

 elevation of the thoughts equal the extent of the writer's eru- 

 dition as well as the richness of his observations, and which 

 will remain the masterpiece of apicultural literature. Thanks 

 to Mr. Dadant's translation, of which I am preparing a second 

 edition, this work is now known to French-speaking apicultur- 

 ists ; and it has been produced In Russian through the labors 

 of Mr. Kandratieff. — Edward Bertband, editor of Revue In- 

 ternationale. 



A CANADIAN HONOR. 



As a Canadian I am proud and glad that the last public 

 tribute of respect and honor was paid to him, not only on our 

 soil, but amid the classic surroundings of our educational 

 department, where so many busts of departed great- 

 ness In literary and philanthropic walks of life are gath- 

 ered ; and I shall take pleasure In moving, at the next meeting 

 of the Ontario Bee-Keepers' Association, that permission be 

 sought from the government to add a bust of Langstroth to 

 the collection. I feel sure that per^lission will be readily 

 granted. — W. F. Clarke, formerly editor of the American 

 Bee .Journal. 



A SUBSTANTIAL ENGLISH CONTRIBUTION. 



At a banquet In London, given in honor of the American 

 representative to the bee-conventions of Europe, a toast was 

 proposed to the Rev. L. L. Langstroth for his apicultural in- 

 ventions and genius. Being called upon to respond to the 

 toast, I referred to the misfortune of his poverty, and Imme- 

 diately, In true, large-hearted English style, the whole assem- 

 bly rose to Its feet, cheered his name, and a good contribution 

 was then and there made and sent to Mr. L., to cheer his heart 



and clothe and feed him during the approaching winter. There 

 were present, not only representative English and Scotch api- 

 arists, but many from Continental Europe, and among these 

 there were four or five editors of bee-periodicals. All were of 

 one mind, doing honor to our loved American bee-master, who 

 has just passed through the gates of Paradise. — Thomas G. 

 Newman, former editor of the American Bee Journal. 



FRIEND AND PASTOR SPEAKS. 



He had a breadth of culture and of intellect that marked 

 him a man among men. He deserves the respect of all, not 

 alone for his achievements along the line of bee-culture, but 

 for his general ability and high character. This is the esti- 

 mate of a friend who knew him In his various moods, and nev- 

 er found him other but true and lovable. — Rev. W. F. Mc- 

 Cauley, Mr. Langstroth's pastor. 



HIS WORK WELL DONE. 



To-day we know positively that Mr. Langstroth was the 

 inventor of the first practical movable-frame bee-hive. The 

 German top-bar hive, with combs fastened to the side, was a 

 previous invention, as was the close-fitting frame of Major 

 Munn ; but neither of these was known to him previous to his 

 own invention, and each was as inferior to his as is the sickle 

 to the self-binder. Mr. Langstroth had the vision to see a great 

 need, and the genius to supply It; and In so doing he shared 

 the honor and glory of very few men — that of revolutioniz- 

 ing a great industry, and changing entirely Its methods. He 

 did more than this ; he did his work so well, that, though 

 nearly fifty years have rolled by, yet no one has been able in 

 all that time to Improve upon his Invention In any essential 

 particular. What a compliment to him, that his hive, essen- 

 tially as it was given to the world half a century ago. Is to-day 

 the hive of nearly all our brightest and most successful bee- 

 keepers! No one can gainsay the fact, no one can deny the 

 glory of such an accomplishment. I cannot find a parallel 

 case in all the history of inventions. — Prof. A. J. Cook. 



" only THE WAY HE SPOKE." 



Talking about being able to hear some voices much easier 

 than others that might be of a higher pitch, he told me of an 

 Incident of a deaf woman he was once In his ministry called 

 upon to pray with. He said he had a very strong voice, and 

 that he knelt down close by the side of the woman, and spoke 

 slowly and distinctly ; and when he was through, the woman 

 declared that It was the first prayer she had heard in many 

 years; that It was almost miraculous, and she thought her 

 hearing was returning. But he told her no ; it was only the 

 way he spoke. — Thaddeus Smith. 



HIS message to the SUNDAY SCHOOL. 



And when he found that It was my official duty to visit all 

 the Sunday-schools in the township in which I live, he, with 

 warm animation, said : "I have a message I want you to take 

 to the boys and girls as you visit your schools: First of all, 

 impress upon their tender hearts, that the Bible is the tier!/ 

 word of God— the infallible. Immutable word of God ; that it 

 is the very voice of the Holy Spirit speaking to our hearts. 

 Then you can show them the necessity of committing largely 

 of that word to memory. Tell them that they can easily do 

 this when young, and that what they learn when young will 

 stay by them : but what Is learned when old is soon forgotten 

 and lost."— S. T. Pettit. 



Proper Spacing of Frames. 



In spacing between frames the way the top-bars are now 

 cut by manufacturers of bee-supplies, if spaced \% Inches 

 from center of top-bar, it leaves a plump .'^'-inch between the 

 top-bars, which X think Is right. The space between the lower 

 chamber or brood-nest and the upper or surplus chamber 

 should be a little more than 14-luch. If we could always main- 

 tain a plump !4-ineh here, I would like that the best, but as 

 the bodies will shrink a little, in a very dry time, the space has 

 to be made to allow for shrinkage. If aftershrinking it would 

 stay that way. It would be all right, but It will swell again in a 

 wet time, so that it Is Impossible to maintain the space between 

 the lower and the upper chamber just right, but perhaps near 

 enough for practical purposes.- J. W. Rouse, in Progressive 

 Bee-Keeper. 



^g° Bee-keeping Is a science, having for Its object the 

 attainment of a correct knowledge of all that pertains to the 

 habits and instincts of these wonderful insects; and a practi- 

 cal art which regards all the attainments thus made as the 

 only reliable basis of successful bee-culture. — Newman. 



