602 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE. 



Aug. 



us as antidote for ivy poison. Many surgeons have 

 died from being poisoned with the virus of dead 

 bodies. 1 think the strong tincture of lobelia saved 

 ray life when poisoned by such virus wlien I was 

 snrgeon-in-charge of smallpox hospital in South 

 Carolina, in Mareh, 1865. The herb or seed, bruised, 

 may be tinctured in alcohol or pure cider vinegar. 

 Every one should know how and when to use lobe- 

 lia for many forms of disease as well as for " blood 

 Ijoisoning." D. Tyrrell,, M. D. 



Toulon, Stark Co., 111., July 16, 1888. 



Thank you, friend T. I have much faith 

 in lobelia, even if I have not in many other 

 herbs that are recommended and used for 

 meclicine. I liave l)efore mentioned, that, 

 \\ hen I was quite young, I w^as subject to a 

 distressing cough and lung trouble. This 

 cough troubled me so much when 1 was a 

 child that 1 used to gather the green stalks 

 of the lobelia, and chew them, to stop the 

 cough. It very soon produced a nausea (it 

 was not imaginary either) that stopped tlie 

 cough, and I can readily imagine it might 

 in the same way prove a remedy for the dis 

 agreeable effects of the poison ivy. 



THE INVENTION OF A PRACTICAL 

 FBAME HIVE. 



WHO INVENTED THE FIRST HANGING MOVABLE- 

 COMB FRAME? 



f^ HE article of C. J. Robinson was written 

 ^ through snrae misunderstanding. Thestate- 

 / ment in Mr. Cheshire's book is incorrect in 

 so far as he says Dr. Dzierzon invented a 

 frame hive. The proof of this incorrectness 

 is easy to tind in the bof)ks of Dr. Dzierzon, Baron 

 Berlepsch, and the German Bieneii Zeitung. He in- 

 vented his hive with comb-//fMs, and is still against 

 the use of frames in the brood-chamber. I think 

 this is proof enough. Mr. Langstroth's hive may 

 have been patented in 18.52, but before any thing can 

 be patented it has to be invented. Mr. Cheshire said 

 it was invented in 18.51. Prof. Cook says in his Man- 

 ual, that Mr. Langstroth applied for a patent in Jan- 

 uary, 1851. 



That Mr. Langstroth's hive is the first hangtng- 

 frame hive is not set aside by Mr. R.'s article. 

 Neither Munn's nor Robinson's hive had Jianying 

 frames (see Cook's Manual). More important is it, 

 that the L. frame is thetirstpracttca? bee-hive. For 

 instance, everybody knows that Robert Fulton is 

 the inventor of the steamship (1807), although Papin 

 used a steamship just 100 years earlier. This, be- 

 cause Fulton solved the problem in a practical way. 

 So is Langstroth the inventor of the frame hive, as 

 Fulton is the inventor of the steamship. 



I am surely more conversant with the German bee- 

 literature than Mr. Robinson, so I can say it is a 

 mistake that Dr. Dzierzon and Berlepsch invented 

 the upright frame ventilator. This hive is the in- 

 vention of the Englishman Nutt, but im])ractical. 

 It is incorrect, if Mr. Robinson says Baron Berlepsch 

 put bees in a hive with frames instead of bars in 

 June, 1843. He did not know any thing of comb-bars 

 before 1845 (see his book, "Die Biene," pages VII [. 

 and 346). He improved this bar and not the frame 

 by the projectors (see his book, page 348), and in- 

 vented his frame in 18.53 and 1853 (see B. Berlepsch's 

 biography by his friend, W. Vogel, and In Ber- 



lepsch's book, page X.). Surely the Baron himself 

 is the best authority in this question. If Berlepsch 

 used any movable combs before 1845 it was Huber's 

 hive for scientific experiments, but not for practi- 

 cal bee-keeping. 



In the ditt'erent volumes of the Bienen Zeitung, 

 Dr. Dzierzon tells us why he is against fra7ne8 and 

 for his comb-bars, and gives some practical reasons. 

 It is a mistake, if Mr. R. thinks Dr. Dzierzon works 

 with bees more scientifically; he is a practical bee- 

 keeper, too, and has had about 300 colonies since 

 J843. So we see that I am able to prove every one 

 of my statements in my article of May 15, and Mr. 

 R. has not proven the contrary. 



Prof. Cook gives in his Manual a history of the 

 invention of movable combs, and, so far as German 

 inventors are mentioned, this history is fully cor- 

 rect. In this history the Munn and Robinson hive 

 are mentioned, and this is all they can desire. 



Selma, Tex., July 14, 1888. L. Stachelhausen. 



Friends., you have given us some very 

 important facts. But Medina County has 

 the honor of being the birthplace and home 

 of an inventor of whom perhaps you have 

 not heard. We make the following extract 

 from an article published in the Scientific 

 American, March 6, 1847, page 187. As much 

 of the article is comparatively unimportant. 

 I have simply taken sentences here and 

 there. I was for many years well acquainted 

 with the writer of the article. 



Mr. Editor:— The following is a lirief description 

 of a bee-hive which I have constructed and have 

 now in my possession, and for which I intend to ap- 

 ply for letters-patent as soon as a model and draw- 

 ings are procured, unless previously satisfied that 

 the invention is not new. * * * A sufficient 

 number of frames, according to the dimensions 

 of the hive, are formed by uniting with beams or 

 cross-bars of sufficient length to reach across the 

 hive and rest in the labhcts, two upright posts with 

 each l)ar or beam, etc. * * * Each frame 

 resembles a window-sash, constructed to receive 

 two panes of glass, with one of its end-pieces pro- 

 jecting beyond its sides. The beams and posts are 

 about I'g inches in width, and are placed at from 

 three to five eighths of an inch from each other. 



* * * These frames, with the combs at- 

 tached, may be remo\-cd at pleasure. * * * 

 The combs may be renewed by removing the frames 

 that are filled, and supplying their places with those 

 that are empty, when the bees will reload them. 



* * * Having observed, in the Scientific 

 American, desci-iptions of new inventions for which 

 it was stated that the inventors intended to apply 

 for letters-patent, and thinking that such publica- 

 tion might be beneficial to them by informing the 

 Commissioner of Patents and others of the existen.je 

 of the thing described, 1 have thought it expeilient 

 to forward this communication to you, confiding 

 that you will make such disposition of it as will not 

 be detrimental to my interests. Jacob Shaw, Jr. 



Hinckley, Ohio, Feb. 8, 1847. 



The italics in the above are my own. It is 

 a little odd that neighbor Shaw, in under- 

 taking to make a movable-comb hive, con^ 

 eluded from what he knew of bees that they 

 would wax and gum the frames so fast to 

 the hive they could not be taken out. He, 

 however, made the hive proper of double 

 walls of tin, just about like our lamp-nurs- 

 ery, with the expectation of being able to 

 pour hot water in the space between the 

 walls, to loosen the propolis fastenings. But 

 he soon found that no hot water was need- 

 ed, and I believe he never used any. His 

 frames fitted about as closely to the hives as 

 friend Heddon uses them in his new hive. 



