1904 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE. 



335 



Ki>;ht here I wish to correct a wrong- im- 

 pression which has gone out, as it would 

 appear from the writings of S. E. Miller, 

 who advocates the "keeping of colonies al- 

 wa3's strong," and reasons, somewhat, to 

 the efi'ect that Doolittle was advocating 

 weak colonies at all times of the jear, only 

 just at the honey i^ow or flows. This is 

 not what I advocate in the expression "colo- 

 nies having the maximum strength of bees 

 when the honey harvests are on, and as 

 weak at all other times as is CDnsistent 

 with this object." That five space cluster 

 spoken of in this article is as weak as I 

 would ever have any colony, if I could have 

 my way, and is as Aeak as is '■'consistent " 

 with securing the maximum amount of bees 

 in time for the harvest, as I have already 

 shown. All York State bee keepers know 

 that any colony which has a five-space 

 cluster on the first day of April, as I have 

 described, is a gocd colony of bees to all in- 

 tents and purposes. In fact, I never do 

 any thing to discouraa;e any colony in the 

 least, only as I have given in the above in 

 making the extra strong help the weak; 

 but I do use my utmost endeavor to find out 

 just when the main honey- flows may be ex- 

 pected in my locality, and then work with 

 all the vim that A. I. Root does with his 

 autoni' bile, to bring all colonies up to the 

 greatest possible strength in field-bees just 

 when those flows are at their best. 



In this article I have given (in part) some 

 of the means used to effect the object I de- 

 sire to accomplish. I ask no one to use my 

 methods unless he can see it to his advan- 

 tage to do so. I Simply say that, if I have 

 attained any success in the pursuit of api- 

 culture, it has been obtained by the use of 

 the means I have given from time to time in 

 the columns of Gleanings. 



Borodino, N. Y. 



LANGSTROTH INVENTION OF THE BEE-SPACE. 



The Might of Right, and How Truth Must Prevail; 

 an Interesting Historical Sketch. 



BY C. P. DADANT. 



Mr. Editor: — I have just read with great 

 interest the inquiry of H. J. O. Walker, of 

 Leeford, Eng. , and your reply to him con- 

 cerning the invention of the movable frame 

 hive. As you mention my father, Chas. 

 Dad ant, going over this subject about 1886 

 or '7, I wish to say a few words, for the 

 discussions took place mainly in 1870 — '72, 

 when I was already old enough to take an 

 interest in it. It was in the American Bee 

 Journal for March, 1872, that my father took 

 the initiative of the vindication of Lang- 

 stroth and his invention. In an article en- 

 titled " Honor to whom honor is due," he 

 stated what knowledge he had of the inven- 

 tions of European bee keepers in the matter 

 of movable frames. He had tried the De- 

 beauvoys hive and similar hives in France 

 before coming to America, and could say 

 knowingly that the Langstroth hive was the 



only practical hive, since it was the only 

 hive which had, as you very correctly de- 

 scribe it, "a beespace around the frame — 

 top, sides, and bottom, and a bee- space 

 between the frames, the same supported by 

 a projection or a continuation of the top 

 bar." In this article he quotes Hamet to 

 show that the Debeauvoys hive had so little 

 practicability about it that the 2500 prose- 

 lytes which this hive had gained in France 

 very soon abandoned it and returned to the 

 old straw hive. The hive worked well 

 when new; but as soon as the frames had 

 been propolized it was no longer a movable- 

 frame hive. He quotes Bastian and Mona 

 to show that the Berlepsch hive, which came 

 the nearest to the Langstroth invention, but 

 did not have the movable ceiling, was also 

 a failure. 



At the close of this article he says: "I do 

 not know whether these facts can have any 

 influence on the lawsuit now pending, but 

 I owed to Mr. Langstroth, I owed to truth, 

 I owed to the history of bee culture, the pub- 

 lication of the above facts." 



This was the first successful step in the 

 vindication of Mr. Langstroth. The Blake 

 hive, described by Buzairies, was most prob- 

 ably an invention which had not found its 

 way in print in America, and was used by 

 only a few. It can not be called a movable- 

 frame hive, since there is no statement of 

 the width of the drawers that are placed 

 perpendicularly in the upper part. The 

 brood- apartment was very evidently with- 

 out frames, the small slats at the top being 

 intended for the passage of the bees. It is 

 quite plain that these upper drawers were 

 intended for the purpose of securing the 

 honey in sections of two or more combs at 

 one time. There is a possibility of others 

 having invented the movable-frame hive at 

 the same time Langstroth did. A. F. Moon 

 claimed that honor, in his "Autobiography 

 and Personal Recollections;" but history 

 must record only that which is evident and 

 beyond dispute. That the time had come 

 for improvements in hives is shown by your 

 statement of the number of patents that were 

 taken after 1831 on this matter. But had 

 not Langstroth made and published his in- 

 vention, America might have lingered in 

 the rear instead of coming to the front of 

 nations in practical bee culture. There is 

 little doubt that, in P^rance, the Debeauvoys 

 hive with its deceiving features of improve- 

 ment, was mainly to blame for the reaction 

 against progressive hives that has lasted 

 in that country almost to our day. 



You will remember the bitter war that 

 was waged against the senior Dadant by 

 the second oldest bee-journal in the world, 

 L' Apiculteur, of Paris, just because he in- 

 sisted on the practicability and usefulness 

 of the Lanestroth principle in hives. From 

 1869 till 1873 it was a war of harsh words 

 which finally cooled down to a surly ob- 

 stinacy on the part of Hamet; but the prog- 

 ress has slowly advanced by the repeated 

 efforts of a number of men, and the Lang- 

 stroth invention is recognized there as well 



