The Tiny Gap That Helped Modern Beekeeping

One foundation of modern beekeeping is a surprisingly small gap called “bee space.”

In 1851, American clergyman Lorenzo Langstroth used the observation that when bees are left a passage about 6–10 mm wide, they usually do not fill it with honeycomb or seal it with propolis.

Using the right spaces around movable frames made it possible to take them out of a hive without cutting the honeycomb. Langstroth was not the first person to notice the importance of these spaces, but his hive design made the idea popular and had a huge effect on modern beekeeping.