1884 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE. 



bee-men in Michigan, our Ohio people have 

 a building on the fair-grounds for the dis- 

 play of bees and honey ; but such a crop 

 of honey as ordinary bee-men ought to pro- 

 duce nowadays, would entirely lill the build- 

 ing, leaving no room for his neighbors to 

 make a display. The matter of enlargement 

 is already being discussed. 



The president of the convention, Dr. H. 

 Besse, of Delaware, O ,is not only a success- 

 ful honey-raiser, but a very pleasant and 

 able man "as well, and much of the interest 

 of the convention was due to his remarks 

 and suggestions. The thanks of our bee- 

 people are also due to oar secretary, Mr. 

 Hazard, who was constantly at work for the 

 interests of the bee-men. 



lam sorry that our Ohio conventions are 

 not nearly as well attended as those I have 

 been present at in- the State of Michigan. 

 During the day I was in Columbus there 

 were present perhaps 40 or Tju bee men and 

 women, and this is all from our broad Stiite 

 of Ohio. It seems to me our State meetings 

 ought to get an audience of at least one or 

 two hundred, and may be the fault lies on 

 my own shoulders. If so, I am going to try 

 to do better. Let us remember the State 

 fair, and turn out en masse. Uo from a sense 

 of duty that you owe your State and your 

 fellow-men, if you can not scrape up energy 

 enough to go for any other reason. While I 

 think of it, the thanks of the bee-keepers are 

 due to our good friend S. D. liiegel for his 

 excellent revision of the premium list, for 

 the awards at the next State fair. We have 

 about 742 subscribers in the State of Ohio, 

 and it seems to me at least a half of these 

 ought to attend the State convention. 



HUBER'S WORKS. 



AND SOME MORE INTERESTING FACTS ABOUT WRIT- 

 ERS ON BEE CULTURE. 



'|R]JD1T0R GLEANINGS:-You ask for more in- 

 Ji[j^ | formation about Ruber's works. Strange to 

 '^"^^ say, you will look in vaia in our prreat works 

 on Bibliography for a list of them. The works of 

 dry polemical writers you will find described with 

 ample detail: Iluber is dismissed in a line. 



His writings were all in French, and consisted 

 chiefly of letters to his friend and scientific patron, 

 Bonnet, some of whose replies are also given in the 

 published volumes. Indeed, his first book bore the 

 title, Lettres il Ch. Bonnet, and were published in 

 1793. Another volume was published in 1796, under 

 the title, NonveUcs Obseivaliuns sur les AbeilJes. His 

 works have passed through several editions. My 

 copy is the second edition, published at Paris and 

 Geneva in 1814, the second volume being edited by 

 his son Pierre, who tells us that he procured several 

 hives similar to those used I y his father, and that 

 "it was not without a lively joy that he in his turn 

 became a witness to all the features of these won- 

 derfully industrious insects." 



So far as 1 can gather, the first English edition 

 was published in London in 1808. You will notice 

 that this was before the issue of the edition so care- 

 fully edited by the son. The edition named by Mr. 

 Henderson is dated 1841. I am informed that the 

 best edition in English is one published in ScotlaDid. 



I think, however, that there is little doubt but that 

 Mr. Langstroth is mistaken in supposing that there 

 is but one translation. While the translation of 

 1808 would exclude another for the time being, it 

 would hardly be reprinted after a new and correct- 

 ed French edition had been issued. I regret to say, 

 that some vandal has cut out the plates from my 

 copy. I have the promise of a perfect one, how- 

 ever. 



As regards old books on bee-keeping, the list 

 numbers, I believe, over 800 distinct works, includ- 

 ing such books as Swammerdam, which, though 

 classic on some points connected with bees, Is not 

 exactly devoted to bee-keeping. 



The oldest EiihUkIi work that I know of is "Hill's 

 Instruction of Bees," published in 1593— nearly 300 

 years ag). The next is Builer's Fcmimne Monarchy, 

 the first edition of which was published in 1(509. My 

 copy is dated M'M. and there have been a great many 

 editions of ihis book. During the next year (1610) 

 appeared the Countrie Farm, by Gervase Markham, 

 in which he gives directions for clipping the wings 

 of the queen. Warder's ^pi'arii/m was published in 

 1676, and his Trvc A'maznn)< in 1713. My copy of the 

 latter work is of the sixth edition, published in 

 1726. By the way. Warder's name is given as War- 

 den in Mr. Henderson's letter— a printer's mistake, 

 no doubt. From this time on, books on bee-keeping 

 came thick and fast. 



A good translation of Hubcr would no doubt find 

 great favor with our American bee-keepers. Some- 

 thing that would be still better, however, would bo 

 the republication of the original memoirs of Reau- 

 mur, Hunter, Manildi, Schirach, and others. These 

 are now absolutely inaccessible to most students, 

 being buried in ponderous volumes of "Transac- 

 tions." Ruber's works are not inaccessible. 



The best way would be to form a " Book Club," 

 organized on the same plan as the European publi- 

 cation societies, in which each one subscribes so 

 much a year, and gets all the books published. If 

 such a club should be formed, it would, I believe, be 

 the first club of the kind in this country, and there 

 is but one name to give it — call it the Langstroth 

 Club. John Phin. 



Cedar Brae, Paterson, N. J., Jan. 21, 1884. 



Many thanks, friend Phin, for the impor- 

 tant facts you bring forward, i have "But- 

 ler's Feminine Monarchy ;" but if I am cor- 

 rect, I lent it to Trofessor Cook, and it is not 

 at hand. J^et us take time, and hunt up the 

 best copy of lluber's writings that the world 

 can furnish, and then have it translated by 

 some one fully competent for the task. If it 

 is possible, we should also like plates of the 

 original cuts— all that have appeared in the 

 different editions. If we can not get these, 

 we will get a good engraver to copy the pic- 

 tures.— By all means, let us have the L.ang- 

 stroth Club, friend Phin, as you call it, and 

 then have a library of old books, accessible 

 to all bee-keepers. Since you suggest the 

 matter, I think I will have a book-case made 

 pxpressly for old bee-books, and begin a col- 

 lection that will be at all times open to visit- 

 ors who come to see us. for we now have 

 visitors almost everv day, from different 

 parts of the world. You nearly take away 

 our breath, by informing us that there are 

 over fcOO distinct old works on bees. I had 

 got a kind of conceited idea that there were 

 not over 15 or 20 ih the world, old and new, 



