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GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE. 



June 



sonally should form such a mistaken estimate of 

 my character as silence on uiy part might seem to 

 warrant. 1 must, therefore, ask the use of your 

 columns to give my reasons for asserting that. In 

 some very important respects, you have recollect- 

 ed what took place between us so imperfectly as to 

 have misconceived, and therefore, unintentionally, 

 to have misrepresented me. 1 can not admit that I 

 ever have been so soured " as to feel that the world 

 at large had done me a great injury," nor can I see 

 any thing in my article which authorized you to 

 remind me that " it is bad for anyone 1o let the 

 idea creep into his mind that the world has never 

 given him due credit, or that he has never been ap- 

 preciated or properly rewarded." 



Before I give, in order to refresh your memory, 

 what I believe to be the real purport of those con- 

 versations, let me quote again from your com- 

 ments: "I will not dispute but that a few individ- 

 uals did you great wrong." Nor will I dispute, my 

 dear friend, that I did e-xpress to you a deep indig- 

 nation against them, which you thought, and very 

 properly, too, was carried so far as to amount to 

 real bitterness. After retiring for the night I was, 

 for a long time, too much troubled to sleep. The 

 loud tickings of my watch seemed only to repeat 

 the name of one particular party. Before I slept, I 

 tried to empty my heart of all its bitterness toward 

 him, and to forgive all who had w ronged me. I 

 told you, when you came into my room the next 

 morning, how happy my better experience had 

 made me; but T did not express, what I have never 

 felt, any change of opinion as to the cruel injustice 

 with which I had been treated. Now, friend Root, 

 T think that you may very properly ask me, as our 

 recollections differ so widely, to give my reasons 

 for being so confident that mine are right and 

 yours wrong. My first reason is, that 1 have never 

 felt " that the world at large had done me a great 

 wrong." Such an idea is abhorrent to my whole 

 nature; and how, then, was it possible for me evei 

 to give it utterance? If this reason does not seem 

 to you conclusive, let me refer you to words of our 

 friend, and the friend of all honest bee-keepers. 

 Professor A. J.Cook, as found in his "Manual of 

 the Apiary," page 286, fourth edition: 



But it gives me the greatest pleasure to state, 

 that by no possible word could 1 gather that Mr. 

 liangstroth feels any liitterness toward those who 

 seem willfully to have stolen his invention, while, 

 with a mantle of charity great as is his noble heart, 

 he covers the thousands who either thought he had 

 no valid claim, or else that the purchase of a right 

 from others entitled them to his invention. As an 

 inventor and writer on apiculture, Mr. Langstroth 

 will ever be held in grateful memory. How earnest- 

 ly will American apiarists desire that he may be 

 spared to us until he completes his autobiography, 

 that we may learn how he arrived at his great dis- 

 covery, and may study the methods by which he 

 gleaned so many rich and valuable truths! 



If more is needed to show that you ought not to 

 have said to me, " I am sure it is bad for any one to 

 let the idea creep into his mind that the world has 

 never given him due credit, or that he has never 

 been appreciated or properly rewarded," T refer 

 you to all who have heard me in our bee-conven- 

 tions. Is there one who will sa.\ that he has found 

 me to possess a spirit other than that which our 

 friend Cook ascribes to raeV What intelligent bee- 

 keeper will say that I have ever been properly re- 

 warded for my invention— and how many have 

 heard me say in these conventions, that I felt 

 that I had been over - appreciated, and have 



heard me point out how near others before me 

 came to inventing a practical movable-frame hive, 

 showing that the times were ripe for such an in- 

 vention, and that, if I had not invented it, some one 

 else soon would! 



My second reason for such great confidence as I 

 have expressed, is, that I have an unusually strong 

 memory, as all who know me well are aware, for 

 any thing in which, at the time of its occurrence, 

 I took a deep interest. I could easily fill pages with 

 reminiscences of that pleasant visit to your hospit- 

 ai)le home; and I can see, "in ray mind's eye," the 

 cosy little bedroom which I occupied, and the very 

 position of my watch as it ticked out that name! 



My third reason for asking the public to trust my 

 memory rather than yours, I know that you will 

 frankly admit to be a good one when I refer you to 

 GLEANiNfiS for .luly, 1881, p. 331, in which you com- 

 ment in such a kindly spirit upon one of my con- 

 tributions: "May the Lord bless you. my good 

 kind friend, for your frank and faithful way of 

 taking your old friend to task. T certainly had for- 

 gotten giving the advice you quote, and felt sure I 

 had never said any thing favoring grape sugar so 

 strongly for wintering" (and yet that advice was 

 given as late as Oct., 1880!) * * * " As an excuse 

 and apology to our readers for the inconsistencies 

 friend L. has so kindly pointed out, I would say 

 that I am getting to have a great business on my 

 hands. In my zeal for getting boys and girls to 

 work (that immortal souls maybe saved), a great 

 traffic has opened in supplies. Brains are so much 

 needed at every turn, and so many points are gone 

 over in a single day, that I am no longer able to re- 

 member what I have written and advised as I did a 

 few years ago." 



With these reasons before you, I earnestly beg 

 you, my dear friend, to review your comments 

 upon my article, first asking yourself if there was a 

 single thought in it which ought to have suggested 

 such harsh criticisms of an old friend; and, fur- 

 ther, if even in the height of my burning indignation 

 against the men who had robbed me of the fruits of 

 my invention, and who tried to i-ob me of my good 

 naine also, T did not say enough to show beyond 

 question that I had not that narrow and sour spirit 

 which I despise from the bottom of my heart. Try 

 to put yourself, friend Root, in my place, by asking 

 whether there is any thing in the Bible which would 

 prevent you, however great your love of charity, 

 from feeling a burning sense of moral indignation 

 against parties who, to turn your great paper, and 

 your large supply-traffic into ashes, as it were, be- 

 fore your eyes, should not hesitate to denounce you 

 before the world, and those whom you love best, as 

 guilty of crimes which ought to consign you to the 

 penitentiary. 



As I pen these words, I can easily picture to my- 

 self, jour dear wife, with Ernest and little Blue 

 Eyes, just as I saw them in those happy days, i;> 

 years ago. 



As this article is already much longer than I in- 

 tended, I must reserve for another time what I 

 have to say upon the other matter on which we dif- 

 fer, and will, with thanks for allowing me the use 

 of your columns for such very plain talk, sign my- 

 self as ever, your true fiiend and well-wisher- 



L. L. Langstroth. 



Dayton, Ohio, May 34, 1888. 



Dear friend L., I most cheerfully accept 

 vour statement in regard to the little inci- 



