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(! T. K A N 1 N O S T \ Ti K 



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Beekeeping as a Side Line 



N the list 



of llaniiuo- 



ii.Mines tliat 

 tlirill tli(> lice- 

 kiH'peis of tlu' 

 world, Francois 

 II u b e r (1750- 

 IS.U), the blind 

 Swiss naturalist 

 nicntionod last 



month, stands first. Johann Dzierzou 

 (1811-1906), the Gc'rnian preacher who 

 gave to the world the parthenogenesis of 

 drones, is another. 



Recent Scientists. 



Many other investigators have discov- 

 ered facts about the bees that most prac- 

 tical honey producers, or enthusiastic 

 backlot beekeepers, are not equipped to 

 discover for themselves. They have not 

 iilways agreed, however. In liS8.'5, for in- 

 stance, came Schiemenz, claiming after 

 careful research that larval food is pro- 

 duced by certain glands (lateral pharyn- 

 geal). Three years later came his coun- 

 tryman, Schonfeld, claiming that the valve 

 at the mouth of the stomach passes for- 

 ward to the oesophagus to let the contents 

 of the stomach be ejected thru it, to be 

 fed to the larvae. In the same year, the 

 respected English Cheshire, in his ''Bees 

 and Beekeeping," upheld Schiemenz. 

 Then in 1904 the English Cowan and our 

 own A. J. Cook entered the lists, each up- 

 holding Schonfeld. But in 1910, out from 

 the Bureau of Entomology at Washington, 

 spoke E. L. Snodgrass, in ''The Anatomy 

 of the Honeybee,'' saying the proventri- 

 culus cannot thus jiass forward without 

 beng torn. All that the beekeeper knows 

 is that the larvae are fed. As to the com- 

 position ,of this food, we have so far only 

 von Planta 's analysis of 1888; some day 

 some one else will undeitake this, with 

 newer methods of research. 



D. B. Casteel of the Bureau of Entomol- 

 ogy has contributed studies in "Manipu- 

 lation of Wax Scales'' and ''Beha\'ior of 

 tlie Honeyliee in Pollen Collecting.'' 



The Bureau of Entomology. 



In fact, the Bureau of EntouKdogy 

 stands like a strong coniu>cting link be- 

 tween these strictly scientific studies and 

 the practical work of the honey producer, 

 having issued many other bulletins, cov- 

 ering nearly every phase of apiculture — 

 the winter cluster, wintering in cellars and 

 in packing cases, foul brood, comb honey, 

 transferring, and all such practical ])rob- 

 lems. In connection with this work there 

 instantly flashes to every beekeeper the 

 name of Dr. E. F. I'hillips, in charge of 

 these investigations. All reading beekeep- 

 ers know an<l respect him. Thru his bul- 

 letins he reaches them all. Thru his book, 

 "Beekeeping," he reaches all who are in- 

 teresttMl in a sjilendlv organized presenta- 

 tion of the whole subject, at once scholar- 



3 



Grace Allen 



LJ 



(' r r. T U R E Skptkmp.ek, 1921 



ly and practical. 

 And thru con- 

 V e n t i o n s and 

 short courses, he 

 has met and per- 

 sonally reached 

 hundreds of par- 

 ticularly fortu- 

 nate students of 

 bee culture. 

 Langstroth and Quinby, Twin Giants. 

 The great twin giants of the nineteenth 

 century in the beekeeping world were L. 

 L. Langstroth and Moses Quinby. Both 

 born in 1810, each one issued a book in 

 1851! — books which have become classics 

 in American beekeeping annals: "The 

 Hive and Honeybee" by Langstroth, and 

 "Mysteries of Beekeeping Explained" by 

 Quinby. 



Quinby gave to beekeepers not only his 

 book, with its wealth of observation, i)rac- 

 tice, and advice, but also that most essen- 

 tial and useful of all apiarian tools, the 

 bellows smoker. Langstroth gave to bee- 

 keepers not only his book, with the record 

 of his close accurate observations of the 

 bees, but also the movable-frame hive. 



It is hard to put relative values on dis- 

 coveries and inventions — but certainly 

 there is nothing in all beekeeping jirogress 

 to be placed above the movable-comb hive. 

 Huber had really made the first; yet, tho 

 it enabled him to make those great dis- 

 coveries of the inmost secrets of the bees, 

 for the production of honey on a large 

 scale, they were crude to the point of im- 

 ])Ossibility. Yet in them lay the great 

 principle. Dzierzon, also, had movable 

 combs; yet it remained for this American 

 ])reacher, L. L. Langstroth, to ])erfect the 

 idea and embody it into the complete hive 

 of today, with its unlimited power of ma- 

 nipulation and expansion. 



How imagination likes to re\ive those 

 old days! There was Langstroth playing 

 and working with his bees — and studying 

 them — while acting as principal of a 

 ladies' academy in Massachusetts; and 

 there was Quinby playing and working 

 with liis bees — and studying them — while 

 doing cabinet work in an old mill in New 

 York State. 



While living in l*hiladel])hia, Langstroth 

 had read Huber. Now Langstroth was a 

 man whose reading of Huber meant some- 

 thing. He was a thinker. Probably on 

 many a rainy day he sat looking out thru 

 a window on the quaint quiet Philadel- 

 phia of those days, building in his mind a 

 hive like Huber 's, only more so. How ho 

 must have studied his own primitive hives 

 — ^" Now if I can just put eaeli of these 

 combs in a frame so it can be picked up 

 an<l examined — and leave just the right 

 space between for the bees." 



After going to the ladies' academy in 

 Massachusetts, he found, U]! among the 



