1S71.] 



THE AMERICAN BEE JOURNAL. 



21 



THE AMERICAN BEE JOURNAL 



Washington, July, 1871. 

 VOLUME SEVENTH ! 



D^" We commence another volume of the Journal 

 with a still growing subscription list, though one yet 

 short of what is needed for the adequate support of 

 such a publication, unsustained as it is, and ever has 

 been, by profits derived from the sale of humbug 

 patent hives. We believe it is generally conceded 

 that the last volume is an improvement on its prede- 

 cessors, and we design that the present shall be a 

 further advance in usefulness and interest; As the 

 most efficient means of fostering our efforts in that 

 direction, and securing satisfactory results, prompt 

 renewal of subscriptions and payment of arrearages 

 are respectfully solicited. 



Shortly after making the discoveries as to the 

 safe introduction of young queens to queenless colo- 

 nies, as stated in an article in the present number of 

 the Journal, Mr. Langslroth communicated them to 

 us by letter. We trust that restored health will en- 

 able him to be a frequent contributor to the Journal 

 henceforward. 



Dr. T. B. Hamlin, of Edgefield Junction, Tenn., 

 President of the Tennessee Apiarian Society, who has 

 long been actively engaged in bee-keeping, has issued 

 a ''''Practical Treatise 07i Improved JJee-cidtuj'e," ad- 

 apted to the wants of the South, and designed princi- 

 pally to aid beginners. It is a neat and convenient 

 manual, and its instructions, so far as we had leisure 

 to examine them, are brief, simple, and plain. 



C^ We have received from the composer, Mr. 

 Karl Merz, of Oxford, Ohio, the music of " a Bee Song, 

 a quartette for mixed voices." We must beg, however, 

 to let otliers judge of its merits, for as Shakspeare has 

 it, " there's a vice in our ears" which wholly disquali- 

 fies us for criticising sounds and tunes, crotchets and 

 quavers. 



"Our destiny severe, 



Though ears she gave us two ! gave us no ear !" 



The Wise Man has remarked — "Is there anything 

 whereof it may be said, See ! this is new ? It hath 

 been already of old time, which was before us." The 

 history of bee-culture furnishes some queer illustr.a- 

 tTons of this. We have lately obtained an old German 

 treatise on bees and bee-culture, which is really quite 

 a curiosity and a treasure iu its way. It was origi- 

 nally published in 1568, by Nicholas Jacob, a Silesian 



bee-keeper, whom the Baron of Barlepsch regards as 

 "the greatest apiarian of his day," and is substan- 

 tially an older work than that of Butler, which was 

 first issued at Oxford, in 1033. It was reprinted at 

 Gorlitz, in the Upper Lusata, in 1601, by John Rham- 

 bow, and republished iu 1614. with modifications and 

 illustrations by Caspar Hoeflier, whom Berlepsch calls 

 " the greatest bee-master of the ]7th century." This 

 edition was soon exhausted, copies were so scarce 

 that none could be got from the booksellers, and the 

 Rev. Mr. Schrot of Langen-Leube, in Saxony, bor- 

 rowed one from a friend, which he copied with his 

 own hand. At the instance of many bee-keepers, he 

 re-arranged the work, and published it, with addi- 

 tions and illustrations, in 1G59. This continued to be, 

 in Germany, the leading and most popular work on 

 bees, for nearly two centuries, the last edition of it 

 having appeared in 1753. The copy which we have, 

 is of the third edition, printed at Leipzig in 1700. It 

 is a duodecimo volume of 3i7 pages, besides title, dedi- 

 cation, prefaces, and index. 



Among a number of modern contrivances and man- 

 ipulations anticipated in this book, the now cele- 

 brated comb guide figures quite prominentlj-, being 

 mentioned already in the original work by Jacob. 

 " I mould," says he, " several pieces of soft wax iu a 

 longish form, like small tapers, and press them fast in 

 the hive above. This is done not merely that the 

 j'oung bees may the more easily attach their combs, 

 but principally to induce the bees to begin building 

 by rule, not setting the sheets of their work crosswise 

 [irregularly] but lengthwise [straight]. This is a 

 good plan, and not to be disregarded." The experi- 

 enced bee-keeper will readily see that a piece of soft • 

 wax thus moulded and extended would necessarily 

 assume, when pressed by the fingers to the ceiling of 

 the hive, the form of a triangular elevation, ridge or 

 edge. It could not well take any other shape under 

 such manipulation ; and thus we have the triangular 

 comb-guide clearly anticipated by more than three 

 hundred years ! Mr. Langstroth promptly abandoned 

 his claim to the invention when he ascertained that 

 John Hunter had long ago suggested the device. 

 Clark's patent is invalid on other grounds, but can 

 any one suppose that it could be sustained for a mo- 

 ment in the face of such clear evidence of the use of 

 guides in the oldsu time ? 



A^ain. The process usually called "Schirach's 

 discovery" of the art of raising queens from worker 

 lavoe, was known to, described, and recommended by 

 Jacob, in 1568. When a colony is suspected or known 

 to be queenless, his advice runs thus :— " As they 

 have honey enough and no brood from which young 

 bees are raised, I cut away three of their combs ; then 

 go to a strong colony and cut out two combs having 

 plenty of brood in the cells, taking pieces about a 

 span long and broad. The brood must not be sealed, 

 hut be young, fre^h and small larvse. Take along also 

 the adhering bees. Insert these pieces of comb in the 



