John Mahaffie

This entry is post 17 of 24 in the ongoing series Landing Board beekeeping history posts

Maryland beekeeper and author Frank Linton is a strong advocate for beekeepers having an observation hive, so they can learn about bees and become better at beekeeping. His book on the subject is a great source for more on that.¹⁾https://www.amazon.com/Observation-Hive-Handbook-Studying-Honey/dp/1501707264

Frank and Joseph Warder (1655-1724) would find much to agree on. Warder, like Frank, urged beekeepers to watch and wonder at what bees do.

Warder wrote in 1716:

When-ever there comes a warm rainy Day, that they are totally hindered from going out to gather Food, these curious Contrivers set apart that time for the Solemnizing the Funerals of the Dead; and let any who are curious but observe it, and they shall hear them very busy within the Hive, and see them dragging out their white dead young Bees, those that have them in boxes with glass Windows, may with more Satisfaction gratify their Curiousity.²⁾Joseph Warder, The true amazons: or, the monarchy of bees: being a new discovery and improvement of those wonderful creatures, London, J. Pemberton and W. Taylor, 1716.

Observation window in bee hive — A hive from the mid 1800s. It was common advice to construct hives with glass windows for observation through the 18th and 19th centuries³⁾Thomas B. Miner, The American bee keeper’s manual : being a practical treatise on the history and domestic economy of the honey-bee, embracing a full illustration of the whole subject, with the most approved methods of managing this insect through every branch of its culture, the result of many years’ experience, New York: C. M. Saxton, 1849, p. 153.

It’s in fact common in the old beekeeping literature to see advocates for observation hives, often in suggestions in hive designs to include a glass window to see into the hive. We should do more of this today. There is much still to learn.

References[+]

References
↑1	https://www.amazon.com/Observation-Hive-Handbook-Studying-Honey/dp/1501707264
↑2	Joseph Warder, The true amazons: or, the monarchy of bees: being a new discovery and improvement of those wonderful creatures, London, J. Pemberton and W. Taylor, 1716.
↑3	Thomas B. Miner, The American bee keeper’s manual : being a practical treatise on the history and domestic economy of the honey-bee, embracing a full illustration of the whole subject, with the most approved methods of managing this insect through every branch of its culture, the result of many years’ experience, New York: C. M. Saxton, 1849, p. 153.