HIVES. 117 



we have Phelps', Kidder's, and some others on the 

 same principle, and the leaf hive, recently brought 

 to notice by Underbill, of New York, which very 

 closely resembles the original Huber hive. Of these, 

 the Langstroth hive was the first introduced ; having 

 been before the public nearly eight years, it is there- 

 fore better known than any others. It was, no 

 doubt, an improvement in some particulars over the 

 Huber hive, as improved by Dunbar and Golding 

 (as I have already stated), and Mr. Langstroth is 

 justly entitled to the gratitude and well wishes 

 of the community for his efforts to improve and 

 bring to the knowledge of the people of the United 

 States what had been commenced in Europe by other 

 apiarians, and might very appropriately be called the 

 Huber hive and the Huber system. 



But it is not in man to attain to perfection in any 

 thing; so with the Langstroth hive. Although an 

 important improvement, yet it was found to have 

 difficulties in practice, which have caused other par- 

 ties to experiment for the purpose of overcoming 

 these, and not to injure or detract from the merits 

 of his hive. 



In the first place, it was found that bees would 

 not winter so well in broad, flat hives (in the open 

 air,) as in hives that afforded a greater depth of 

 combs. Another and a serious drawback was, the 

 great difficulty in cleaning out the dead bees and 

 other filth that is ever accumulating on the bottom 

 of the hive ; the length of the hive, from front to 

 rear, being from eighteen to twenty-two inches, the 



