Agriculture Reference
In-Depth Information
the top of the box and lift out a frame in order to inspect and manage the hive and col-
lect the honey. In 1789, before Langstroth's innovative design, Swiss inventor François
Huber designed a hive that opened and closed like a book, with frames bound in like
pages. It was called a Leaf Hive. But it was Langstroth's discovery of
bee space
that
brought beekeeping into the future.
WOVEN BEE SKEP
Langstroth wrote about this discovery in his 1853 book titled
The Hive and the
Honeybee
.Hediscoveredthatiftherewasmorethan⅜inchofspaceanywherewithina
hive,thebeeswouldbuildcombinthatgap,whichhecalledbeespace;iftherewasless
than a ⅜-inch space, the bees would fill the gap with sticky propolis, making the bee-
keeper's job of removing frames much more difficult. Langstroth's hive design revolu-
tionized beekeeping because it had movable frames, spaced not less than ⅜ inch apart,
whichaddressedtheconceptofbeespace.In1859,aGermannamedJohannesMehring
produced the first premade beeswax foundations for Langstroth's frames. Embossed
with a honeycomb pattern, these foundations gave honeybees a head start in building
honeycomb. Then, in 1866, Austrian Franz von Hruschka, after observing milkmaids
swinging buckets of milk in circles, invented the first device to extract honey from the
comb using centrifugal force.
• • •
Search WWH ::
Custom Search