502 



TH® SMBRICarf ®EE jeUMI*MI#. 



1869, by Schneider, in Mannheim — 

 '• Die Biene und ihre Zucht mit bewe- 

 glichen Waben in Gegenden ohne 

 Spatsommertracht. " 



In the Bicnen-Zeitung, Pastor C. 

 Weygandt, another eminent German 

 bee-keeper, wrote the following con- 

 cerning Dr. Dzierzon, and his great 

 work as a progressive apiarist : 



" The prophet passes for naught in 

 his own country." This popular quo- 

 tation cannot be applied to the gi'and 

 master of German apiarists. The name 

 of Dzierzon has the purest sound upon 

 every German tongue, and finds the 

 gladdest echo in every German heart. 



Dzierzon is the father of rational 

 apiculture in general — the reformer of 

 German bee-keeping in particular. 

 Through him, bee-keeping has been 

 enrolled into the rank and file of 

 scientific professions, and has been 

 elevated to its importance in national 

 economy. Dr. Dzierzon has stamped 

 from out of the ground bee-keepers in 

 numbers just as countless as the dew, 

 which the lovely Aurora brings forth 

 in the morntng. 



Few were the years of disregarc 

 which were imposed upon the Dzierzon 

 System as a fire ordeal ; it was at the 

 time when the grand master for the 

 first time lifted up his prophetic voici- 

 in the wilderness and cried, "Repent!" 

 but ere long the new "theory ami 

 practice " found a path for itself, and 

 at the end of 1855, Father Dzierzon 

 could count as his own, all bee-keepers 

 of prominence, without exception. 



And thus it is yet this day: "He 

 counted the heads of his beloved ones, 

 and see ! not one of the dear ones was 

 missing !" And if in any way or any- 

 where one or the other point of Dzier- 

 zon's teachings are questioned — the 

 Avhole system never is criticised ; it is 

 valued by the most hot-blooded com- 

 bat.ant as sacred, before which he must 

 pull his shoes from his feet, from his 

 hand the pointed quill, and from his 

 heart all resentment. 



Amidst the world of Germany's bee- 

 culture, there exists this day only one 

 school of apiculture (old-fogy "shoots" 

 do not count), with many classes, it is 

 true. This one school of many classes 

 is essentially known throughout the 

 whole world, through its founder — 

 Father Dzierzon. 



We should think that he who would 

 dare to lessen the merits of Dzierzon, 

 would render himself liable to immor- 

 tal ridicule. One can perceive with 

 his eyes, and feel with his hands the 

 truth of Dzierzonism (permit me to 

 make use of this new word). With the 

 naked ej-e, and still better, with the 

 eye armed with the microscope, we 

 can see that the parthenogeuetic gen- 



eration of drones and drone-eggs is an 

 irrefragible fact. We see with and 

 without " spectacles" the advantages 

 of bee-keeping with movable combs ; 

 they lay upon our palm, the sparkling 

 pieces of gold. 



Notwithstanding this, it has been at- 

 tempted more than once (although, and 

 gladly do we say it, not within the 

 fatherland of the prophet) to rob the 

 name of Dzierzon of its pure fame. 

 One of those attempts had for its pur- 

 pose to deny to Dzierzon the merits of 

 of having enriched natural science 

 through his discoverj- of the partheno- 

 genesis. This attempt has been re- 

 pelled without any trouble, but with 

 an overpowering keenness of thought. 



Baron von Rauschenfels and Prof. 

 Sartori have, in their excellent book, 







PtCV. JJr. John BzicvMn. 



" L'Apicoltura in Italia," spoken of 

 German apiculture, and especially of 

 its regenerator. Father Dzierzon, with 

 the most commend.able respect. With- 

 out envy, they have shown in their 

 true light, all the noble achievements 

 of our grand master. Among other 

 things in their book, they mention the 

 following facts : 



" The first one who raised the veil a 

 little which hid from our view the nat- 

 ural history of the honey-bee, was the 

 renowned Swammerdam, a Hollander, 

 the unexcelled anatomist of insects. 

 After him followed Huber, of Geneva, 

 whom we are pleased to call the father 

 of modern apiculture, because he has 

 left with us in his 'nouveUcs observa- 

 tions sur tcs abeiUes,'' a true law-book 

 of apiculture, an authentic and safe 

 guide, for all apiculturists. 



"But, nevertheless, there were a 

 great many things yet unknown or 

 undecided, especially in reference to 

 the sexual relations of the bees and the 

 fructification of the queen, when a 



new, bright star appeared upon the 

 apistic heaven of Germany — Dzierzon, 

 to whom is due the glory of having 

 frightened away with the torch of his 

 imperishable intelligence, those shad- 

 ovi's which as yet envelop the real 

 (inner) life of the bees. As Dzierzon 

 desired to have the bees right under 

 his own eyes, he formed those small 

 horizontal boards (in the hives of Mr. 

 Christj, by means of which he dis- 

 covered the movable sticks, a dis- 

 covery which brought about a com- 

 plete change in the science of apicul- 

 ture, as through this it gained a more 

 practical, rational and advantageous- 

 direction. 



"After he had invented the movable 

 stick, it was not difficult for him to 

 discover a better habitation for this 

 insect — a liive in which those little 

 boards, the origin of our frames, could 

 be handled conveniently. With this 

 astonishing talent of observation, 

 Dzierzon graduallj' brought to the 

 clear light of day, one after another of 

 those dark points, in reference to the 

 anatomy and phj-siologj' of the bee." 



All of these scientific, unprejudiced 

 and poetical sentiments will receive 

 the endorsement of every German bee- 

 keeper. More concisely and more 

 truthfully von Rauschenfels and Sartori 

 could not have treated the theme, 

 "What do we owe to Father Dzierzon?" 



In reiterating simply the Italian 

 verdicts in reference to Dzierzon, I 

 have therewith already accomplished 

 my seeming task, which was to sit 

 in judgment, pupil-like, but going to 

 the bottom, over our grand master. 

 The final opinion of every impartial 

 meditation in reference to the merits 

 of Dzierzon, must end with the follow- 

 ing rhymeless strain : 



Free and great, as none besides him, 

 stands the bee-keeper Dzierzon, within 

 the world of apiculture, honored and 

 beloved as the father of rational apicul- 

 ture, and the coming centuries, with 

 their surging billows, cannot wash off 

 a particle of the pure fame and the 

 glory of his name ! 



To aid our readers in securing a 

 fuller knowledge of Dr. Dzierzon's 

 valuable ideas of apiculture, we are 

 pleased to be able to supply his book 

 on "Rational Bee-Keeping" (trans- 

 lated into English) — a work of nearly 

 350 pages — which was published for 

 $2.00 a copy, bound in cloth, and $1.50 

 when bound in paper covers ; but in 

 order to place this book in the hands 

 of all interested in the progress of our 

 pursuit both in Europe and America, 

 we will mail the volume bound in 

 cloth, postpaid, for 11.00 ; or bound in 

 paper, for 75 cents. 



