34 



ANIMAL BIOLOGY 



have existed two or three hundred treatises on bees, so that, then as 

 now, beekeeping was a favorite topic with authors. More books 

 have appeared on bees and bee-culture than have ever been published 

 about any domestic animal, not excepting the horse or the dog." 1 



Yet from the earliest times until the middle of the last century 

 there was little improvement in the method of keeping bees. They 

 were allowed to build their combs in hollow trunks of trees or in 



hives so constructed 

 that it was impos- 

 sible to control in 

 any way the work of 

 the bees (Fig. 22). 

 In 1852, however, 

 Rev. Lorenzo Lang- 

 stroth of Philadel- 

 phia invented a hive 

 with mo vable 

 frames, and his in- 

 vention wholly rev- 

 olutionized the bee- 

 keeping industry. 



FIG. 22. Old type of beehive. (From Inter- 

 national Encyclopedia. Dodd, Mead & Co., 

 N. Y.) 



Practically all mod- 

 ern hives through- 

 out the world are constructed on the plan that he introduced, 

 which is essentially as follows. In a rectangular box are sus- 

 pended eight- to ten movable frames, in each of which the bees 

 build their comb, store honey, and develop their young; for 

 this reason this part of the hive is known as the brood chamber. 

 (One of these frames, covered with bees is shown in Fig. 23.) 

 As the season advances, the beekeeper places above the brood 

 chamber successive supers (Latin, super = above), each supplied 

 with little boxes (Fig. 23) which when filled with honeycomb 

 usually weigh about a pound. It is this excess of stored honey 

 that is commonly offered for sale. 



1 Cyclopedia of American Agriculture, Vol. Ill, p. 278. 



