OR, MANUAI< OF THE APIARY. 21i 



tor of this hive, and always proclaimed its usefulness. Well 

 did the late Mr. S. Wagner, the honest, fearless, scholarly, 

 truth-loving- editor of the early volumes of the American Bee 

 Journal, himself of German origin, say : " When Mr. L,ang- 

 stroth took up this subject, he well knew what Huber had done, 

 and saw wherein he had failed — failing, possibly, only because 

 he aimed at nothing more than constructing an observatory 

 hive suitable for his purposes. Mr. L,angstroth's object was 

 other s.n6. higher. He aimed at making frames movable, inter- 

 changeable, 3.n&. practically serviceable in bee-culture." And 

 how true what follows : " Nobody before Mr. L,angstroth ever 

 succeeded in devising a mode of making and using a movable 

 frame that was of any practical value in bee-culture." No 

 man in the world, besides Mr. I^angstroth, was so conversant 

 with this whole subject as was Mr. Wagner. His extensive 

 library and thorough knowledge made him a competent judge. 



Mr. L,augstroth, though he knew of no previous invention 

 of frames contained in a case, when he made his invention, in 

 18S1, does not profess to have been the first to have invented 

 them. Every page of his book shows his transparent honesty, 

 and his desire to give all due credit to other writers and inven- 

 tors. He does claim, .and very justly, to have invented the 

 first practical frame hive, the one described in his patent, 

 applied for in January, 18S1, and in all three editions of his 

 book. 



For this great invention, as well as his able researches in 

 apiculture, as given in his invaluable book, "The Honey-Bee," 

 he has conferred a benefit upon our art which can not be over- 

 estimated, and for which we, as apiarists, can not be too grate- 

 ful. It was his book — one of my old teachers, for which I have 

 no word of chiding — that led me to some of the most delightful 

 investigations of my life. It was his invention — the Lang- 

 stroth hive — that enabled me to make those investigations. 

 For one, I shall always revere the name of Langstroth, as a 

 great leader in scientific apiculture, both in America and 

 throughout the world. His name must ever stand beside those 

 of Dzierzon and the elder Huber. Surely this hive, which left 

 the hands of the great master in so perfect a form that even 

 the details remain practically unchanged by many, I think 



