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GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE 



written in reference to box hives. But 

 Quinby was a practical business man, and 

 made money with his bees without movable 

 combs. Langstroth was a minister, and, like 

 many other ministers, he was not much of a 

 business man. Besides, a number of people 

 right and left appropriated his patent with- 

 out paying him a penny for it, and he, 

 being a minister, could not very well defend 

 himself. As a result, he was a comparative- 

 ly poor man all his life, and more or less 

 dependent on his relatives and friends. Our 

 attorney once remarked that preachers, 

 especially successful ones, are, as a rule, 

 poor business men. I remonstrated, and 

 told him that one of our former pastors, 

 calling him by name, was certainly a good 

 business man. Our attorney, with a sly 

 twinkle in his eye, replied: 



" Mr. Root, if you mean that preacher's 

 wife, instead of him, I entirely agree with 

 you." 



May Grod bless the ministers and their 

 wives. What would their husbands have 

 amounted to, many of them, had it not been 

 for their wives and their businesslike meth- 

 ods? Langstroth, during his busy life, laid 

 up treasures in heaven rather than here on 

 earth. Our friend Quinby was a good man. 

 and made every thing prosper, and theii 

 two books go well together. I read Quinby's 

 book clear through carefully some time after 

 I had the Langstroth movable-comb hive; 

 and I confess I got a great deal of enthu- 

 siasm from it — yes, to such an extent that I 

 thought for a time I should really like to 

 have a box-hive apiary. It seems that nei- 

 ther one of these good men knew what the 

 other was doing; but, notwithstarding this, 

 they agreed substantially in all matters of 

 natural history. After Quinby's attention 

 had been called to Langstroth's book he got 

 out another edition of his own book, and in 

 the back part of it he made brief mention 

 of Langstroth. Below is a short extract 

 from Quinby's appendix : 



A friend of mine, on ascertaining that I did not 

 allow prejudice to operate against my own interest 

 knowingly, even in a bee-hive — that I would not 

 reject an advantage because it was found in a patent, 

 but was willing to profit by whatever could be made 

 profitable — sent me a copy of the Rev. L. L. Lang- 

 stroth's work on the " Hive and Honey-Bee," early 

 in 1856. I had heard of the work previously, but 

 had understood that it recommended a patent hive, 

 and. not having reason to esteem them very highly, I 

 took no pains to procure the work. I found, on 

 perusal, that he agreed with me on so many disputed 

 points in natural history and practical lessons, that 

 had it not appeared simultaneously with the " Mys- 

 teries," thus making it impossible for him to have 

 taken any part from it, I should perhaps have judgea 

 him wrongfully, and very likely he would have done 

 the same by me. It was evident, therefore, that both 

 of us had arrived at correct conclusions by the same 

 process — close observation. This gave me a favor- 

 able impression. I found also that his hive, for a 



wonder (being a patent), did not necessarily inter- 

 fere with the natural habits of the bees. 



Langstroth soon called my attention to 

 the fact that an American bee journal had 

 been published for three years by Samuel 

 Wagner, of Washington, D. C, another of 

 God's noblemen. After some correspondence 

 with friend Wagner I induced him to re- 

 commence the publication of the old Amer- 

 ican Bee Journal, promising to write for it. 

 Some of the gray-headed veterans will re- 

 member the articles that appeared, headed 

 " A Novice's Experiences in Bee Culture.- 

 While Samuel Wagner lived I had no 

 thought of a journal of my own ; but at his 

 death the American Bee Journal was sold 

 to a party who was not a beekeeper, and 

 moved to Chicago. Meanwhile the news of 

 my all-metal honey-extractor, the success I 

 had made with the Italians, etc., called forth 

 such a correspondence that I started a little 

 quarterly in 1873, which was received with 

 so much favor that almost immediately it 

 was changed to a semimonthly at 75 cents a 

 year. By this time I had become pretty 

 well acquainted with Mr. Langstroth, and 

 was told he was subject to spells of mental 

 depression. I finally corresponded with him, 

 and by my enthusiasm I waked him up, so 

 to speak, so that I got him to make me a 

 visit. Before I speak of that visit, however, 

 I am going to branch off for a little time 

 and take up something that is not exactly 

 bee culture. 



When I began watch repairing in Medina 

 there were two jewelers already in the town, 

 and people naturally thought it was prepos- 

 terous to start a third store, especially by 

 a young boy who had had but little expe- 

 rience. One summer day a stranger came 

 in from the West with a covered wagon, 

 leading a pretty little pony which he wanted 

 to sell (as he was out of funds) to enable 

 him to get to his destination. In those days 

 " horse-jockeys " were a common thing, and 

 some of those fellows loafing around the 

 street planned to cheat this poor man out 

 of his pony. They offered him a good price, 

 but wanted to turn in a gold watch. He 

 brought it to me and asked if it was really 

 a gold watch. I told him it was low-carat 

 gold, something that jewelers knew at that 

 time as "Philadelphia gold." Then he asked 

 if it was worth fifty dollars. I told him that 

 fifteen dollars would be nearer its actual 

 value. Then he asked me to test it with acid. 

 I demurred, telling him it would leave a 

 spot on the watch; but he so stoutly insist- 

 ed that I just touched the case with acid. I 

 tried to polish it off so the spot would not 

 show. The trade was broken up, and then 

 for the first time in my life I learned that 

 it might be sometimes a little dangerous to 



