828 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE. 



Nov. 1.5. 



" raise all the bees possible before the opening 

 of the main honey harvest. We must have 

 the workers, or the harvest will be in vain." — 

 Reviezv, page 179. 



Another thing : In your small hives you 

 talk of dummies (division-boards as we call 

 them), but very few use them, because the 

 hive is already so small that a swarm is hard- 

 ly safe that does not occupy most of its combs 

 in winter. In a large hive we have a special 

 use for the division-board, and do not consid- 

 er a hive complete without one, and that is 

 why we make an eleven- frame hive, one space 

 being occupied by the board. When winter 

 comes, if we have colonies that are no strong- 

 er than yours, and can occupy only six or 

 eight of those large frames, we simply remove 

 the remainder and move up the board. Then 

 this empty space is filled with leaves (we use 

 forest-leaves, but other warmth-giving materi- 

 als are equally good), and we increase our 

 chances of success by all the additional shel- 

 ter that this filled space is furnishing on the 

 stormy side, which, with us, is always on the 

 west ; for we take good care to have the clus- 

 ter moved over if needed, so as to have the 

 shelter on the proper side. Perhaps you will 

 think this a small matter ; but remember Hed- 

 don's " it's a business of details," and so it is; 

 and it's always a comfort to me to get a por- 

 tion of the arguments from " the other side." 



In my next I will make a comparison of one 

 large hive versus one two-story hive. Dr. 

 Miller's plan is certainly good, but I like mine 

 better. 



Hamilton, 111. 



C. J. H. GRAVENHORST. 

 A Short Sketch of His Career as a Bee-keeper. 



BV DR. c. C. MIIvI^ER. 



The news of the death of Gravenhorst came 

 as a shock. It seemed like the bereavement of 

 a personal friend who brought Germany very 

 close io America. True, he had been pros- 

 trated for a long time, and at his advanced 

 age it was hardly to be expected that activity 

 could be prolonged for many years ; still, the 

 wish being father to the thought, one could 

 not help hoping and expecting him to be once 

 more at the fore with all his wonted activity. 

 And what an activity that was ! Gravenhorst 

 was one of the men whom years do not make 

 old. Up to the last his writings showed the 

 vigor of youth. His clear views, drawn from 

 his many years of practice, observation, and 

 reading, showed him to be a master in his 

 profession, and the kind heart that always 

 shone through all he said made every one 

 glad to assign him the eminence he so honest- 

 ly held. 



Christof Johann Heinrich (Christopher John 

 Henry) Gravenhorst was born Sept. 26, 182.3. 

 He fitted for the profession of teaching (a pro- 

 fession from which the ranks of bee-keepers in 

 Germany are largely recruited), and began 

 teaching in 1848 at Wispenstein ; then, after 

 teaching in Seesen, he obtained a permanent 

 position in Braunschweig. Here he was mar- 



ried, in 18-5.5, to Francisca Bielitz, with whom 

 he lived happily, one son and two daughters 

 being born to them. The daughter Francisca 

 is a practical bee-keeper whose graceful writ- 

 ings have occasionally appeared in print. 



Growing deafness obliged him, in 1857, to 

 abandon his profession as teacher, and he then 

 adopted bee-keeping as his sole occupation for 

 the remaining forty years of his life. He was 

 a pupil of Dzierzon, and through his bees not 

 only supported his family but accumulated 

 sufficient to purchase an estate in Braun- 

 schweig. Having worked unceasingly with 

 straw hives, and knowing well their advan- 



<:3S 



^'^^'^P^^y^a/i^C'f-t^^.chJ'^ ♦ 



tages, he conceived the idea of retaining all 

 their advantages, so far as possible, and at the 

 same time providing them with movable 

 combs. After many trials and failures, his 

 hive, the " bogenstuelper, " resulted {boffen, 

 because the tops of the frames are bow-shap- 

 ed ; stuelper, because the hive is turned up 

 when opened). This hive is described in a 

 previous volume of Gleanings by Graven- 

 horst himself. If the invention of this hive 

 were the only work of his life, it would give 

 him undying fame. Although little know^n in 

 this countrj' it is highly prized and largely 

 used by great numbers across the sea. He 

 spent many happy years in Braunschweig, his 

 apiary paying well ; but an unhappy lawsuit 

 with a hostile neighbor decided him to leave 



