22 
THE HIVE AND HONEY-BEE. 
culture which has excited so much interest in Germany; 
I desire also to have the testimony to the merits of ray 
hive, of Mr. Wagner, who is extensively known as an able 
. German scholar. He has taken all the numbers of the Bee- 
Journal, which has been published monthly for more than 
nineteen years, in Germany; and he is undoubtedly more 
familiar than any other man in this country with the state 
of Apiarian culture abroad. 
1 wish, also, to show that the importance which I attach 
to my system of management, is amply justified by the 
success of those who, by the same system, even with infe¬ 
rior hives, have attained results which to common bee¬ 
keepers seem almost incredible. Inventors are prone to 
form exaggerated estimates of the value of their labors ; 
and the public has been so often deluded by patent hives 
^yhich have utterly failed to answer their professed objects, 
that they can scarcely be blamed for rejecting every new 
one as unworthy of confidence. 
An American Bee-Journal, properly conducted, would 
have great influence in disseminating information, awaken¬ 
ing enthusiasm, and guarding the public against the 
miserable impositions to which it has so long been subject¬ 
ed. Three such journals have been published monthly, in 
Germany; and their circulation has widely disseminated 
those principles which must constitute the foundation ot 
any enlightened and profitable system of bee-culture. 
While many of the principal facts in the physiology of 
the honey-bee were long ago discovered, it has unfortu¬ 
nately happened that some of the most important have 
been the most widely discredited. In themselves, they 
are so wonderful, and to those who have not witnessed 
them, ofter so incredible, that it is not strange that they 
have been rejected as fanciful conceits or bare-faced 
inventions. 
