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GLEANINGS IJN BEE CULTURE. 



May 



not only thiougli tlie pai^es of the old .1. B. 

 /., but 'in some of the oldest books in our 

 library on bees. S > far as we can ascertain, 

 your staleraents in reference to the Dzier- 

 zon hive are correct. Dzierzon used only 

 top-bars. These were supported in horizon- 

 tal grooves made in the sides of the hive, 

 half an inch from the top. Whenever it be- 

 came necessary to'remove a comb, the side 

 attachments had to be severed before it 

 could be taken out, as the bees would nec- 

 essarily, in the absence of side-bars, fasten 

 the sides of the combs to the hive. Mr. 

 Cbeshire is correct, liowever, so far as dates 

 are concerned. lie is in error in using the 

 word "■ frames '' instead of '" bars." Those 

 of our readers who are fortunate enough 

 to possess a copy of the tirst number of the 

 old .1. B. J. will tind interesting matter on 

 this subject from the pen of that scholarly 

 editor, Samuel Wagner, page 14. See old 

 editon of Laugstroth's work on the honey- 

 bee, and also Prof. Cook's Manual of the 

 Apiary. 



Since the above was in type, the following 

 article has come to hand from that veteran 

 bee-keeper, Charles Dadant. So thoroughly 

 conversant is he with the literature on bees 

 throughout the world that his article will be 

 read with unusual interest. 



THE INVENTION OF MOVABLE COMBS 

 AND MOVABLE-FRAME HIVES. 



SOME VALUABLE INFORMATION FKOM CHARLK! 

 DADANT. 



fAVlNG seen, in Glbanino.s tor April 15, the 

 quotsilion or a mistake inade by Mr. Che- 

 shire, who wrote that Dzierzon was the first 

 inventor of the movable- t'rivme hive, 1 desire 

 to redress it. 

 The bee-keepers of Greece secMu to have been the 

 first to use movable-comb hives; for Delia Rocca. 

 in the second volume of his Trnitc unr les Aheilles, 

 Paris, 1790, writes, page 465: "The method of the 

 Greeks of old, from whom it has gone to Germany, 

 is now practiced only in the Canrtia Island. The 

 hives are made of willow; their upper part is fur- 

 nished with several small bars, separated from 

 each other, the whole being- covered, to shelter the 

 bees and prevent a current of air. These ekes are 

 made in such a way that bees build a comb under 

 each bar. and every comb is separated from the 

 others. With this method, the bee-keepers, just be- 

 fore swarming time, visit their hives, take out the 

 bars loaded with combs, and, when they find queen- 

 cells already made, and containing scaled larva% 

 they put several of these bars, with their combs, in 

 several other hives, making more or less swarms, 

 according to the prospect of the season." Then, 

 after giving the exact diiucnsion of these bars, and 

 of the distance to be preserved hcHwcen them, Delia 

 Kocca describes the beveled under side of the bars, 

 which induces bees to build ( heir combs straight. 



C- 



G 



Delia Rocca, haying trjeij tljese movable-comb 

 hives during his stay in France, improved them by 

 adding, at the end of each bar, a double enlarge- 



ment to keep them at the proper distance from one 

 another. 



He gives, also, at the end of his third volume, the 

 engraving of a two-story bar hive made of boards, 

 and opening at top and side. 



In 1838 Dzierzon used bar hives, which opened at 

 the top, like those of the Greeks; hut as the first 

 comb was ditflcult to remove without breaking, for 

 it "••!< fastened by the bees to the sides of the hive, 

 he ii.\ented a side-opening ease, in which the bars 

 wevi- supported by slats, nailed inside a few inches 

 below the top, to allow the placing of small thin 

 boards, with which he covered the spaces between 

 the bars. 



In 1845, Herlepsch, after a visit to Dzierzon. be- 

 came enthusiastic about these bar hives, and soon 

 alter he improved them by reinventing the enlarge- 

 ment described by Delia Rocca, and thus modified. 



Yet. being tired of the difficulties encountered in 

 the handling of these movable combs, he labored to 

 invent movable frames, and succeeded in 1851, 1853, 

 for he writes: "Till 18511 had the misfortune of 

 using movable-comb hives, so miserable that my 



work was tiresome or delayed At last, 



after seven years of silent work, I came to the 

 front in the years 1853 and 1854, with my letters on 

 bee-keeping, having then solid ground under my 

 feet." 



In the same book, Berlepsch continues: "The 

 frames were welcomed with great rapture on every 

 side, but Dzierzon and Kleine objected by several 

 feeble arguments. Later, Dzierzon accepted them 

 for the surplus bo.\es, not for the brood-chamber." 

 —Die Biene, 3d Ed., 1868. 



The frame hives of Berlepsch, like the bar hives 

 of Dzierzon, have their combs parallel to the en- 

 trance, and open at the rear by doors, like cupf 

 boards. They were adopted as standards by bee- 

 keepers of Germany and Italy. They are high, di- 

 vided in two or more stories. But some bee-keep- 

 ers, in both these countries, began to try hives 

 opening at top, as invented by Langstroth, and the 

 comparison proves so much in favor of the latter 

 that 1 hope to see, sooner or later, the German 

 standard yield to the American, as I have prophe- 

 sied for nearly twenty years it would. 



While Dzierzon and Berlepsch, in Germany, were 

 working to find a practical movable-comb hive. 

 Munn, in England, Debeauvoys, in France. Lang- 

 stroth, in the United States, labored toward the 

 same end, and it is Mr. Langstroth who became the 

 winner in the race. Just a few months before Ber- 

 lepsch's invention, in 1851, he took a patent for his 

 hive. The inventions of MUnn and Debeauvoysare 

 already forgotten, and the differences existing be- 

 tween the Berlepsch and Langstroth hives are so 

 manifest that nobody can have the least doubt that 

 the one suggested the other; for the only point of 

 resemblance is the space between the frames and 

 the sides of the hive; space indispensable to the re^ 

 moving of the frames, and to which Dzierzon has 

 always been, and is even to-day opposed. F. Huber 

 also, nearly 100 years ago, had invented, and used 

 for his studies, a movable-frame hive, which was 

 known under the name of " leaf hive," and modi- 

 fied since by a number of bee-keepers of botb 

 continents. 



