L. L. Langstroth

Rev. Lorenzo Lorraine Langstroth (25 December, 1810 – October 6, 1895), apiarian, clergyman and teacher, is considered the "Father of American Beekeeping."

L. L. Langstroth was born in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. As a youngster, he took such an extraordinary interest in observing the habits of insects that he was punished for wearing holes in the knees of his pants while learning all he could about ant life. He was graduated at Yale University in 1831, and subsequently held a tutorship there in 1834-1835. After this he was pastor of various Congregational churches in Massachusetts, including the South Congregational Church in Andover, Massachusetts in May of 1836. In 1848 became principal of a young ladies' school in Philadelphia. He took up beekeeping in part to distract himself from the serious bouts of depression from which he suffered.

He was married to Anne Tucker (1812—23 January, 1873) of Massachusetts. They had three children, all born in Massachusetts: James (1837), Anna (1841), Harriet A. (1847).

The Leaf Hive, invented in Switzerland in 1789 by Francis Huber, was a fully movable frame hive, but had solid frames that were touching and made up the "box". The combs in this hive were examined like pages in a book. Langstroth acknowledged Huber's contribution: "The use of the Huber hive had satisfied me, that with proper precautions the combs might be removed without enraging the bees, and that these insects were capable of being tamed to a surprising degree. Without knowledge of these facts, I should have regarded a hive permitting the removal of the combs, as quite too dangerous for practical use." ("Langstroth on the Honey-Bee", 1860)

In Europe, both Jan Dzierżon and August von Berlepsch had been focused on side-opened hives. The land resources had been limited and traditionally the bees had been kept in beehouses. The so called presently “bee space” had been incorporated by Berlepsch following Dzierzon’s discoveries, from years 1845-1848, into his frame arrangement (Bienen-Zeitung, May 1852). It means the correct distance between side bar of the frame and hive wall was already there in Europe.

Langstroth revolutionized the beekeeping industry by using bee space in his top opened hive. In the summer of 1851 he found that, by leaving an even, approximately bee-sized space between the top of the frames holding the honeycomb and the flat coverboard lying above, he was able to quite easily remove the latter, which was normally well cemented to the frames with propolis making separation hard to achieve. Later he had the idea to use this discovery to make the frames themselves easily removable. He found that, if he left a small space (less than 1/4 inch or 6.4 mm) between the combs, or between the combs and the sides of his hives, the bees would fill it with propolis thus cementing the combs into the hive. On the other hand, when he left a larger space (more than 3/8 inch or 9.5 mm) the bees would fill it with comb which had a similar effect.

On 5 October 1852 Langstroth received a patent on the first movable frame beehive in America. A Philadelphia cabinetmaker, Henry Bourquin, who was a fellow bee enthusiast made up his first hives for him and by 1852 Langstroth had more than a hundred of these hives and was selling them where he could. Langstroth spent many years attempting to defend the patent without success. He never earned any royalties because the patent was easily and widely infringed. Langstroth hives are still in common use today.

He wrote that "... the chief peculiarity in my hive was the facility with which they could be removed without enraging the bees .... I could dispense with natural swarming, and yet multiply colonies with greater rapidity and certainty than by the common methods .... feeble colonies could be strengthened, and those which had lost their queen furnished with the means of obtaining another. .... If I suspected that anything was wrong with a hive, I could quickly ascertain its true condition, and apply the proper remedies."

Langstroth also found that several communicating hive boxes can be stacked one above another, and that the queen can be confined to the lowest, or brood, chamber, by means of a queen excluder. In this way, the upper chambers can be reached only by the workers, and therefore contain only honey-comb. This made hive inspection and many other management practices possible, and turned the art of beekeeping into a full-scale industry.

At the time, beekeeping was important to many American families since honey was the chief sweetener in American diets, so the new techniques were of great importance. His inventions allowed beekeeping to be more cost effective and practical. His was the first design to have comb that was enclosed on four sides by a wooden frame surrounded by a "bee space" that allowed for easy removal and reuse of the comb. Since four to twelve pounds of honey, and the time, are consumed by bees in the production of one pound of beeswax, honey production could be increased from reuse of the comb alone. Being able to remove surplus honey without having to kill off the bees meant that many more bees were available the following spring to gather honey.

In 1853, he published "The Hive and the Honey-Bee" (Northampton (Massachusetts): Hopkins, Bridgman, 1853) which provided practical advice on bee management and, after more than 40 editions, is still in use today. "Langstroth on the Honey Bee" was published in 1860.

After 1858 he made Oxford, Ohio, his residence, and devoted his time to beekeeping. The site was ten acres and was an ideal place to keep bees. Langstroth planted a row of Linden trees along the street and apple trees throughout his property. He sowed buckwheat and clover seed, using one acre of ground for a formal garden, filled with the flowers which bees like best, calling it his honey garden. The home he lived in from 1858 to 1887 was built in 1856 and is now called Langstroth Cottage. A sculpture commemorating the movable-comb beehive invented by Langstroth is located in the front yard. It is designated a National Historic Landmark. It was donated to Western College for Women and is today home to the Miami University Center for the Enhancement of Learning and Teaching.

He received his first Italian bees there in 1863; Italian bees were more productive than the European bees that were most common at the time. He and his son sold Italian queens at 20 dollars each and in one year sold 100 of them, many being sent by post all over the United States.

In 1887, he removed with his daughter, Mrs. H. C. Cowan, and her family to Dayton, Ohio. Langstroth died in the pulpit of the Wayne Avenue Presbyterian church in Dayton, just as he was beginning a sermon on the love of God. He is buried at Woodland Cemetery, Dayton, Ohio. His epitaph reads as follows:

INSCRIBED TO THE MEMORY OF REV. L.L. LANGSTROTH, "FATHER OF AMERICAN BEEKEEPING," BY HIS AFFECTIONATE BENEFICIARIES WHO, IN THE REMEMBRANCE OF THE SERVICES RENDERED BY HIS PERSISTENT AND PAINSTAKING OBSERVATIONS AND EXPERIMENTS WITH THE HONEY BEE, HIS IMPROVEMENTS IN THE HIVE, AND THE LITERARY ABILITY SHOWN IN THE FIRST SCIENTIFIC AND POPULAR BOOK ON THE SUBJECT OF BEEKEEPING IN THE UNITED STATES, GRATEFULLY ERECT THIS MONUMENT.

The 1885-1895 papers of Lorenzo L. Langstroth are located at the American Philosophical Society Library in Philadelphia.

Patents

* [http://www.google.com/patents?id=6dRJAAAAEBAJ&printsec=abstract&zoom=4&dq=beehive+honey+LANGSTROTH#PPA123,M1 USPatent|9300] -- L.L. Langstroth's patent for a "Bee hive" from Oct. 5, 1852
* [http://www.honeymoonapiaries.com/web_beekeeping/re001484.htm USPatent|RE1484] -- L.L. Langstroth's patent for a "Bee hive" Reissued from May 26, 1863

See also

*Clyde Cowan - his great-grandson, astrophysicist, and co-discoverer of the neutrino.
*Langstroth's Hive and the Honey-Bee, Dover Publications ISBN 0-486-43384-6 (original version, still in print)
*Charles Dadant
*Ron Brown's Great Masters of Beekeeping, Bee Books New and Old ISBN 0-905652-31-2
*Apiology

External links

* [http://www.findagrave.com/cgi-bin/fg.cgi?page=gr&GRid=4454 Find-A-Grave profile for Lorenzo Langstroth]
* [http://bees.library.cornell.edu/cgi/t/text/text-idx?c=bees;idno=5017167 Scan of "Langstroth on the hive and the honey-bee" 1853 edition]