128 MODERN BEEHIVES. [Ch. m. 



been contributed by all other observers since the time of 

 Aristotle. We have here introduced a description of 

 Ruber's leaf hive (and should be glad to exhibit one) 

 for the sake of its historic interest in connection with 

 apiarian science. Though entirely gone out of use it 

 was invaluable for Huber himself, and it suggested to 

 other apiarians the adoption of the present plan of 

 vertical bars and frames. 



In connection with this last point of interest it seems 

 fitting to introduce here some very brief account of the 

 development of the movable-frame hive. From " time 

 immemorial " there have existed bar hives — indeed, they 

 have been traced to the ribbed carcase of Samson's lion. 

 But in most cases the bars were not movable ones — they 

 were simply designed to aid the purpose of keeping an 

 upper story in some degree clear of the queen's inter- 

 meddling. And even when they were capable of removal 

 they added but a sHght step in advance, and the credit 

 of the inventions of Golding in England and Dzierzon 

 in Germany is due not td the bars themselves but to 

 their mode of affixing, and especially to the guide-comb 

 attached beneath. At about the same date with these 

 there appeared a Russian hive known as the Prgpo- 

 kovitsch, which consisted in an arrangement of several 

 stories of frames inserted endways and resting on cross 

 pieces below them. Thus one invention supplied bars 

 without frames, while the other offered frames without 

 bars. But the right idea had now been caught, and it is 



