BlOr.RAPHIKS OF NOTED BEE-KEEPEH^^. 



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Helieviii^' tli;it iii;iiiy of tlif A IJ C schol- 

 ars would be interested in seeing tlie por- 

 traits, and in reading- llie biograpliical 

 sketches of some of the ]iroininent bee-uien 

 — men who lia\e di si infill shed themselves 

 in tlieir line of apicniture — it is with no 

 little pleasure that I now introduce tliem to 

 you as far as it is ))ossilile to do soon pajier. 

 Dr. Miller, who, l)y leason of liis natui'al 

 fitness for the task, and who for lonj^ years 

 has l)een more oi" less acquainted with the 

 writiui^'s and doings of these men, has been 

 detailed to write the sketches. The i)or- 

 traits execute<l by the Ives direct process 

 of engraving are, 1 am happy to say, true 

 to life, and liave lieen so i)ronounced by 

 those intimately acqnainted witli the snl)- 

 jects. Most of the wood-cuts are good. I 

 now present to yon a very natnral likeness 

 —an Ives rein-oduction — of tlie Kev. L. L. 

 Langstroth, the father of American bee- 

 keeping. 



l-OUENZO l.omtAINK LAXOSTKOTU. 



Lorenzo Lorraine Ltmg-stroth was born in Philartel- 

 pliia, Pa , Dec. 2.5, ISIO. He graduated at Vale College 

 in 1831, in which college he was tutor of mathematics 

 from 1>-'31 to ]8.Si>. After his graduation he pursued 

 a theoiog-ical course of study, and in May, 1^36, be- 

 came pastor of tv e Second Congregational church 

 in .\ndover, Mass., which position ill health compel- 

 led him to resign in 183s. He was principal of the 

 Abbot Female Academy in Ando\ erin 183^' '9, and in 

 1H39 removed to Greentield, Mass , where ho was prin- 

 cipal of the High School for Young Ladies, from 183 ) 

 to b44. In 1844 he became pastor of the Second Con- 

 gregational church in (ireenfeld; and after four 

 years of labor here, ill health compelled his resijin;;- 

 (iou. In 1848 he removed to Philadelphia, where he 

 was principal of a school for young ladies fi-om 1>'48 

 to 1«.52. In \^^-Z he returned to Greenfield; removed 

 to Oxford, <)., in 1858, and to Dayton, O., in 1887. 



At an early agetheboj' Lorenzo showed a fondness 

 for the study of insect-life; but "idle habits" in that 

 direction were not encouraged by his matter-of-fact 

 parents. In 1S38 began his real interest in the honey- 

 bee, when he purchased two stocks. No such helps 

 existed then as now, the first bee-journal in America 

 being issued more than twenty years later, and Mr. 

 Langstroth at that time had never seen or heard of 

 a book on l)ec culture; but before the second year 

 of his bee-keeping he did meet with one, the author 

 of which doubted the existence of a (|ueen I Hutthe 

 study of bees fascinated him, and gave him the 

 needed outdoor recreation while engaged in literary 

 pursuits, and in the course of time he became pos- 

 sessed with the idea that it might be possible to so 



construct a hive that its contents in every part 

 might be easily examined. He tried what had been 

 invented in this direction, bars, slats, and the "leaf- 

 hive" of Huber. None of these, however, were 

 satisfactoi-y, and at length he conceived the idea of 

 surrounding each comb with a frame of wood I'ntirely 

 detached fro7ii the walls of the liive, leaving; at all 

 parts, except the points of support, space enough 

 between the frame and the hive for the passage of 

 the bees. In 18.52 the invention of the movable-comb 

 hive was c(mii)leted, and the hive was patented Oct. 

 .5 of that year. 



l.OKENZO LOKKAINE LANGSTROTH. 



It is well known, that, among the very many hives 

 in use, no othei- nujke is more popular than the 

 Langstroth; but it may not be so well known that, 

 in a very imjiortant sense, every hive in use among 

 intelligent bee-keepers is a Langstroth; that is, it 

 contains the most important feature of the Lang- 

 stroth— the movable comb. Those who have entered 

 the field of apiculture within a few years may faintly 

 imagine but can hardly realize what bee-keeping 

 would be to-day, if, throughout the world, in every 

 bee-hive, the combs should suddenly become im- 

 movably fixed, never again to be taken out of the 

 hive, only as they were broken or cut out. Yet 

 exactly that condition of affairs existed through al) 



