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Author Topic: Rev. Langstroth  (Read 1494 times)

Offline KONASDAD

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Rev. Langstroth
« on: August 06, 2008, 03:10:48 pm »
I frind sent me this email. thought it might interest some of you!



By IRMARIE JONES

[ Originally published on: Friday, August 01, 2008 ]

A press release sent to The Recorder newsroom reminded me how important Lorenzo Lorraine Langstroth is to agriculture. You've never heard of him? There is a small monument in his memory on the lawn at the side of the Second Congregational Church in Greenfield, honoring him for inventing the modern beehive in 1851 -- the same type of beehive that is used today by most beekeepers.

The press release is from Marc Hoffman of Silver Spring, Md., who has written a one-man play, ''Bee Man,'' about Langstroth and is now performing it in that area.

The play is in three acts, the first act in Greenfield, 1854. The next two acts are in Oxford and Dayton, Ohio. I love the note at the bottom ... no live bees will be used during the performance.

On the church monument, there is a small carving in the stone of a beehive, which really just looks like a few wooden boxes on top of each other. It says, ''1810-1895, Lorenzo Lorraine Langstroth, minister, 1843-1848. Inventor of moveable frame beehive, which made modern beekeeping possible, 1851.

''This tablet is erected as an acknowledgement of the debt beekeepers of the world owe to his skills and unselfish leadership, scholar, observer, author, friend of mankind. July 19, 1848.'' Hoffman writes, ''Rev. Langstroth's contribution to our lives today is inestimable. He invented the modern beehive, which has made intensive cultivation of some crops possible and has greatly increased the yield of others.'' We forget how important bees are in carrying pollen from one plant to another. I remember once being told about a man who cleared some land in a woods to raise cucumbers and he got virtually no crop, because the woods were so dense bees didn't go there.

Hoffman stresses that Langstroth's 1851 design is still ''the most economical and effective.''

''Langstroth was a family man, a scientist, an inventor, a writer, an abolitionist and a manic-depressive -- but, above all, a minister. But, poor health prevented him from being a very long pastor in his own church. He supplied pulpits as much as he could during the healthy periods in his life.

''Rev. Langstroth died in 1895 at the age of 85 on a Sunday morning in the pulpit, beginning a sermon. The beekeepers of his day erected a monument at his grave in Dayton, Ohio,'' Hoffman wrote.

Apparently, he wears a wig and costume to perform his play. I wonder if the Second Church would like him to come here to present the play.




"The more complex the Mind, the Greater the need for the simplicity of Play".

Offline indypartridge

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Re: Rev. Langstroth
« Reply #1 on: August 07, 2008, 07:44:24 am »
For members in the mid-Atlantic part of the country, you might consider going and seeing this play. Sounds interesting.
http://www.langstrothhive.com/

 

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