710 
QUINBY 
was foul brood. Rereading the chapter in 
his first book, in the light of modern sci¬ 
ence of contagious diseases and bacteriolo¬ 
gy, shows it to be a marvel of careful ob¬ 
servation and accurate reasoning that 
would do credit to the present day. The 
principles of his treatment of the scourge 
can never be changed. These and many 
other facts Mr. Quinby found had never 
been published; so, being by nature phil¬ 
anthropic, and having an unselfish desire 
to help others in a practical way by shar¬ 
ing his knowledge, he wrote this accumu¬ 
lated experience of 25 years into his “Mys¬ 
teries of Beekeeping Explained, being a 
complete anatysis of the whole subject,” 
as the title-page quaintly states. As I re¬ 
read the book I realize how fully up to 
date it was for 1853', 
and how fundamentally 
correct were his state¬ 
ments and deductions 
on many points. It 
bears evidence of being 
entirely the author’s 
own work. He started 
with no knowledge of 
the subject, but with an 
inquiring and open 
mind; had no help from 
others, and only theo¬ 
retical information from 
the limited literature on 
the subject of bees. 
The keynotes of its 
success appear to me to 
be the scientific attitude 
of its author, unusual 
at that p e r i o d—the 
clearness and plainness of its style, and the 
effort to help and instruct the reader rather 
than impress him with the accomplishments 
of the writer. 
We do not know just when he was able 
to make beekeeping his sole business and 
the support of his family; but he certainly 
did so after his removal to St. Johnsville, 
Montgomery County, New York, in 1853, 
the year his first book was published. Dur¬ 
ing the next ten years he owned the largest 
number of colonies at any time during his 
business career. He began to send large 
amounts of honey to the New York market, 
even while still using the box hive. There 
being only a moderate demand at that time, 
he nearly glutted the market. This was, 
indeed, the beginning of the reconstruction 
period in beekeeping. In 1856 Mr. Quin- 
by’s attention was called to Mr. Lang- 
stroth’s invention of a movable-comb hive. 
He saw its advantages, and at once adopt¬ 
ed it in a modified form. Then followed 
the introduction of Italian bees, honey-ex¬ 
tractor, comb foundation, single sections 
for comb honey, and his own invention of 
the bee-smoker. These were indeed grati¬ 
fying days to Mr. Quinby. Who was there 
in all of the beekeeping world so well pre¬ 
pared as he from the standpoint of prac¬ 
tical experience to meet the needs of this 
wonderful forward movement? 
Mr. Quinbv’s non-swarming standing- 
frame hive enabled him to accomplish large 
results under his management. Much might 
be said in regard to Mr. Quinby’s prefer¬ 
ring the larger frame. Marked success can 
be secured only by extremely populous 
swarms. I have proved the larger frames 
very advantageous to that end.* 
I shall never forget the enthusiasm which 
was caused at our home when the words 
“centrifugal force for removing honey from 
the combs” were received in the report of 
the invention of Major de Hruschka of 
Vienna. An old fanning mill, which had 
been used for cleaning grain, was at once 
* See “Frames, Self-spacing, for a description 
of his self-spacing frame; and “Hives,’’ subhead 
“The Dadant Hive,’’ for a description of the 
merits of the large hive and frame. 
The room where Mr. Quinby wrote the 1853 edition of his book. 
