The American Bee Journal, Volume VI, Number 3, September 1870

In Short

Edited and published by Samuel Wagner, this issue of The American Bee Journal collects practical reports, heated polemics, and scholarly translations from late-nineteenth-century apiarians. The text moves between European theoretical conventions, Midwestern apiary trials, and personal squabbles over queen breeding and hive construction. It records a transformative moment in agricultural history when traditional practices gave way to scientific management, movable frames, and centrifugal extraction. Its enduring value lies in its unvarnished portrait of American empirical grit and the obsessive, collaborative spirit of early agricultural science.

The Story

The volume opens across the Atlantic, where the Reverend Mr. Kleine addresses a German bee-keepers' convention on the devastating problem of foulbrood. He systematically dismantles earlier scientific theories—such as Dr. Asmusz’s claim that flies cause the disease—and evaluates Mr. Lambrecht’s controversial, proprietary remedy. Kleine urges his audience to subscribe to Lambrecht’s work despite the man's secrecy, arguing that an answer to the world's direst bee epidemic is worth buying, even as he laments that Lambrecht was refused a hearing at a major convention.

From this high-stakes European debate, the focus shifts to field reports and practical guides. A writer detailing Polanisia Purpurea excerpts the harrowing jungle expeditions of a traveler in Borneo, describing wild bee nests, bear attacks on tapang trees, and painful hornet stings relieved by tobacco juice. This exotic account quickly gives way to the rigorous seasonal demands of North American beekeeping. Practical essays outline winter preparation: insulating hives with straw or old woolen clothes, closing fly-holes to half an inch, and regulating cellar temperatures between twenty-five and forty-three degrees Fahrenheit. Writers debate hive geometry, contrasting the deep, vertical hives preferred for severe winter climates with the shallow Langstroth movable-frame hives that maximize surplus honey production.

The journal’s central dynamic emerges in its combative correspondence section. Breeders spar fiercely over the commercialization of Italian queen bees. Henry Alley defends his low-cost queens against accusations of inferior quality from rival breeders, offering open trades and challenging his critics to test his prolific stock. Concurrently, apiarians debate whether "artificial" queens—reared by colonies deprived of a queen outside the natural swarming impulse—are inferior to natural queens. Contributors offer empirical counter-evidence, citing three-year-old artificial queens that remained exceptionally fertile.

A lighter moment arrives via H. C. Blinn of a Shaker village in New Hampshire, who submits a charming essay by a nine-year-old girl observing that a bee "is like a little girl, because it does good when it wants to, and when it does not it will sting you." Yet commercial ambition immediately resumes with an update from "Novice," a producer reporting a staggering harvest of 6,162 pounds of extracted honey using a centrifugal "melextractor." Novice shares practical fixes for broken honeycombs and critiques popular feeding techniques.

The editor, Samuel Wagner, weaves these disparate voices together. He defends the journal's neutrality, responds to queries regarding strange scale insects affecting Missouri hives, and laments the passing of James T. Langstroth's relative. The issue concludes with a vibrant section of regional correspondence spanning Maine, Minnesota, Pennsylvania, and Ontario, recording weather patterns, honey yields, and local debates over upcoming national conventions.

How It Unfolds

The European debate opens The Reverend Mr. Kleine reviews foreign theories on foulbrood in Meppen, Prussia, urging apiarians to investigate every potential remedy for the devastating disease.

Jungle encounters and native bees A contributor shares accounts of Bornean wild bees, detailing jungle bear raids on tall tapang trees and severe hornet attacks suffered by explorers.

Preparing the apiary for winter Contributors outline procedures for wintering stocks, recommending top ventilation, wool covers, and dark, temperature-controlled cellars.

The battle over queen breeding Commercial breeders exchange sharp critiques over the pricing, purity, and longevity of raised Italian queens versus natural swarming queens.

The record-breaking harvest A practitioner known as Novice reports taking over six thousand pounds of honey using a centrifugal extractor, sharing methods to repair broken combs.

Voices from the field Letters from across North America detail regional honey yields, weather extremes, local plant pasturage, and plans for a national convention.

The People

• Samuel Wagner: The editor and publisher based in Washington, D. C. He maintains a rigorous, impartial stance, coordinating international translations, clarifying disputes, and promoting scientific progress without selling supplies himself.
• Rev. Mr. Kleine: A thoughtful German clergyman and scholar who synthesizes European research on foulbrood, advocating for open scientific exchange while urging pragmatic attention to proprietary discoveries.
• Henry Alley: A prominent Massachusetts queen breeder who vigorously defends his affordable Italian queens against claims of inferior quality, offering open wagers and trades to prove his stock's worth.
• Novice: An energetic, innovative contributor who achieves massive honey yields through modern extractors, offering direct, experimental advice on comb repair, feeding habits, and hive management.
• B. Puckett: An Indiana bee-keeper who tests variations of the Langstroth hive, experimenting with frame depth to demonstrate how shallow designs increase surplus honey yields.
• Ignoramus: A humorous North Carolina correspondent who pokes fun at folk superstitions—such as ringing cowbells or flashing mirrors to stop swarming bees—while proposing practical apiary arrangements.

In Its Own Voice

“A bee is like a little girl, because it does good when it wants to, and when it does not it will sting you.”

A young Shaker schoolgirl encapsulates the dual nature of the insect in an essay shared by her community leader.

“Throw away your splints, wires, strings, &c., and simply lay all the pieces of comb, full of honey or not, on a board the size of your frame; put the frame over it in place, and set the whole in the upper part of some hive over night where the bees have access.”

Novice offers a characteristic, common-sense repair method for delicate honeycombs damaged during extraction.

“Let me strongly advise the incorrigibly careless to have nothing to do with bees, either on my plan of management, or any other; for they will find both time and money almost certainly thrown away.”

The journal quotes the famous apiarian Langstroth to remind readers that success demands discipline and vigilance.

What It's Really About

Behind the specialized jargon of brood frames, drone comb, and foulbrood lies a broader story about the democratization of practical knowledge in nineteenth-century America. The journal functions as an open forum where working farmers, clergy, and commercial inventors challenge authority and test theories through direct experimentation.

It captures a transitional moment when traditional folk practices—like banging pans or flashing mirrors to settle swarms—were giving way to systematic observation, thermometer-monitored wintering, and standardized equipment. The underlying debate pits proprietary secrecy against open publication, and commercial profit against scientific advancement. Ultimately, the volume explores humanity's evolving relationship with nature, showing how careful observation can transform a wild insect into a partner in agricultural industry.

Why Read It Today

This issue offers a captivating window into nineteenth-century ingenuity, rural life, and early agricultural science. Readers who enjoy social history, historical craft, or nature writing will find its mixture of technical detail and personal drama surprisingly engaging.

The prose possesses a direct, unpretentious clarity. The contributors write with passion, pride, and occasional prickliness, transforming technical disputes over hive design into lively human drama. The text reflects period realities, including rustic folk remedies, regional biases, and the severe weather challenges of the era. What stays with you is the sheer enthusiasm of these early experimenters, whose meticulous observations laid the foundation for modern apiculture.

<ElicitationsGroup message="Explore this historical period further:"> <Elicitation label="Learn about early American agricultural periodicals" query="What role did 19th-century agricultural journals play in spreading scientific farming in America?"/> <Elicitation label="Examine the history of the Langstroth hive" query="How did L. L. Langstroth invent the movable-frame hive and revolutionize beekeeping?"/> </ElicitationsGroup>