1895. 



THE AMERICAN BEE JOURNAL. 



669 



for him, and would give the results of his experiments a much 

 wider and more prompt reading. I think I am safe in saying 

 that as soon as Mr. Taylor shows a little more willingness to 

 co-operate with the bee-papers, they will do their part in 

 reciprocating, and with compound interest. But so long as 

 the Michigan experiment apiary continues to give just cause 

 for thinking it only a local or State affair, 1 do not think it 

 should be thought surprising wheu the general bee-keeping 

 public takes no great interest in it. 



There is another reason, I think, why bee-keepers have 

 appeared not to be deeply interested in Mr. Taylor's work. 

 Some of the results of his experiments have been given in such 

 a concentrated, tabulated form that only an expert account- 

 ant, mathematician, or politician, could ever comprehend them. 

 Life is too short, and too " real " and "earnest" with most 

 bee-keepers, to spend it in a vain effort to understand any- 

 thing very definite from several pages of cold figures. What 

 is wanted, I think, is a plain description of the experiments 

 undertaken, and then as clear a statement of the results, dis- 

 figuring it with as/ei« tables of figures as possible. 



I want to say that I always read Mr. Taylor's reports with 

 much interest and profit, and, as I have often said, I think he 

 is the right man in the right place. But if he'll come down 

 among us common folks a little more when talking to us about 

 his experiments, I think he'll discover a good deal more sym- 

 pathy and interest than he now imagines exists. 



Mr. H. M. Pace, of Kentucky, has sent me a photo- 

 graph of his bee-yard. He started the summer of 189-i with 

 6 colonies, and now has 40, all thrifty for winter quarters. 



Building: a Business.— If you, or any one you may 



know, wish to build a liicle business all your own right where 

 you are, send to the Bee Journal olBce a stamped and self- 

 addressed envelope. 



Lorenzo L,orraine Lang-strotb. 



As noticed briefly in last week's issue of the American, 

 Bee Journal, there passed to The Beyond, on Sunday, Oct. 6, 

 1895, America's grandest and noblest apiarian benefactor — 

 Rev. L. L. Langstroth. Before such a sublime character, how 

 inadequate seems my pen to do him Justice. In fact, I am not 

 equal to the task — who is? — so I take the liberty to extract 

 from the "A B C of Bee-Culture," a short biographical sketch 

 of Father Langstroth, written a few years ago by Dr. C. C. 

 Miller, who knew him well, at least by years of honorable 

 reputation and much correspondence. It reads as follows : 



Lorenzo Lorraine Langstroth was born in Philadelphia, 

 Pa., Dec. 25, 1810. He graduated at Yale College In 1881, 

 in which college he was tutor of mathematics from 1834 to 

 1836. After his graduation he pursued a theological course 

 of study, and in May, 1836, became pastor of the Second 

 Congregational church, in Andover, Mass., which position ill- 

 health compelled him to resign in 1838. He was principal of 

 the Abbott Female Academy in Andover in 1838-'9, and in 

 1839 removed to Greenfield, Mass., where he was principal of 

 the High School for Young Ladies, from 1839 to 184-1. In 

 1844 he became pastor of the Second Congregational church 

 in Greenfield ; and after four years of labor here, ill-health 

 compelled his resignation. In 1845 he removed to Philadel- 

 phia, where he was principal of a school for young ladies from 

 1848 to 1852. In 1852 he returned to Greenfield ; removed 

 to Oxford, Ohio, in 1858, and to Dayton, Ohio, in 1887. 



At an early age the boy Lorenzo ihowed a fondness for 

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

 were not encouraged by his matter-of-fact parents. In 1838 

 he began his real interest in the honey-bee, when he pur- 

 chased two colonies. No such help 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 bee-culture ; but, before the second 

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



which doubted the existence of a queen ! But the study of 

 bees fascinated hiui, and gave him the needed outdoor recrea- 

 tion while engaged in literary pursuits, and in the course of 

 time he became possessed with the idea that it might be possi- 

 ble 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's. None 

 of these, however, were satisfactory, and at length he con- 

 ceived the idea of surrounding each comb with a frame of 

 wood entirely detached from the walls of the hive, leaving at 

 all parts, except the point of support, space enough between 

 the frame and the hive for the passage of the bees. In 1852 

 the invention of the movable-comb hive was completed, and 

 the hive was patented Oct. 5 of that year. 



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

 no other make is more popular than the Langslroth ; but It 

 may not be so well known that, in a very important sense, 

 every hive in use among intelligent bee-keepers is a Lang- 

 stroth ; that is, it contains the most important features of the 

 Langstroth — 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. 



Rev. L. L. Langstrotli, Dayton, Ohio, nt SO Years. 



throughout the world, in every bee-hive, the combs should 

 suddenly become immovable, fixed, never again to be taken 

 out of the hive, only as they were broken or cut out. Yet ex- 

 actly that condition of affairs existed through all the centuries 

 of bee-keeping up to the time when, to take out every comb 

 and return again to the hive without injury to the colony, was 

 made possible by the inventive genius of Mr. Langstroth. 

 It is no small compliment to the far-seeing inventive powers 

 of Mr. Langstroth, that, although frames of different sizes 

 have been devised and tried, and improvements, so-called, 

 upon his hive have been made by the hundred, yet to-day no 

 other size of frame is more popular than that settled upon by 

 him, and, in general, the so-called improvements are one after 

 another dropped into oblivion, and thousands of hives are to- 

 day in use among the best bee-keepers, scarcely varying, if 

 varying at all, from the Langstroth hive as first sent out. 



As a writer Mr. Langstroth takes a high place. " Lang- 

 stroth on the Hive and Honey-Bee," published in May, 1853, 

 is considered a classic ; and any contribution from the pen of 

 its author to the columns of the bee-journals is read with 

 eagerness. Instead of amassing the fortune one would think 

 he so richly deserves, Mr. Langstroth is to-day not worth a 

 dollar. He sowed, others reaped. At the date of his_inveu- 

 tion he had 20 colonies of bees, and never exceeded 125. 



In August, 1836, Mr. Langstroth was married to Miss 

 Anna M. Tucker, who died in Jan., 1873. He has had three 

 children. The oldest, a son, died of consumption contracted 

 in the army. Two daughters still survive. 



Since his twentieth year, Mr. Langstroth has suffered 



