Johannes Mehring

Johannes Mehring

Memorial plaque at Kleinniedesheim Palace

Johannes Mehring (born July 4, 1815 in Kleinniedesheim ; † November 24, 1878 in Frankenthal ) is one of the most important pioneers of modern beekeeping .

Life

Johannes Mehring was born as a child of little wealthy farmers. After finishing school, he began training as a teacher at a preparation institute, but finished it without a qualification. His parents then sent him to Worms to be a master carpenter. He completes this and goes on a journey of several years as a journeyman. He returned to Kleinniedesheim as a master carpenter, married the teacher's daughter Barbara Wehe in 1845 and built his first apiary in 1849 at the age of 34.

Middle wall

Since the middle of the 19th century, mobile honeycomb construction became increasingly widespread in beekeeping in Germany. However, the mobility of the honeycombs could only be used to increase the honey harvest if honeycombs were always available. The mobile beekeepers, such as August Freiherr von Berlepsch , thought about creating artificial honeycombs. Since no practical method for the production of artificial honeycombs emerged, Andreas Schmid, editor of the Eichstätter and Nördlinger Bienenzeitung , suggested in 1857 that it was sufficient to produce the cells at about half the height.

For Mehring, who started as a new employee of this newspaper in 1857, this may have been the decisive stimulus. He realized that it was enough just to make the middle wall. For this purpose, beeswax was poured into a hardwood mold into which he had cut the honeycomb pattern of worker beehive (9 cells by 5 centimeters) by hand. The first middle walls were made for Berlepsch frames.

In 1858, Mehring presented the first expanded artificial honeycombs at the Stuttgart hiking assembly, thereby creating an essential element of efficient beekeeping.

The bees

As a respected inventor and manufacturer of accessories for beekeeping, he published his book The new system as a basis for beekeeping or How the rational beekeeper gets the highest yield from his bees in 1869 . on the market. The old conception of the tri-essence system (queen, drones, worker bees) could not explain all processes in a bee community. In his opinion, all groups of bees, individual bees and the honeycomb structure form a deeply interlocking body. He drew comparisons between a vertebrate body and the "Einwesen" that one as Bien must designate.

For the publication of his book he was criticized and ridiculed by the representatives of the old school. After investing more than eight years of his time, he was so affected by the criticism that he stopped working for the Eichstätter Bienenzeitung .

With the unity system, Mehring gave an initial definition of a superorganism and the theoretical basis for efficient beekeeping.

Ferdinand Gerstung has further developed his system for the organic conception of bees .

Mehring died in Frankenthal / Pfalz, where a street is still named after him today. There is also Johannes-Mehring-Straße in his birthplace. There is also a diorama behind the Propst-Maudray'schen Castle to remind of his invention.

Appreciations

His services were honored with the Great Silver Medal of the agricultural central office in Munich, the Prussian Medal of Honor and the Imperial French Silver Medal.

Works (selection)

Johannes Mehring had the ability to grasp a difficult problem clearly in every detail and to find an optimal solution with imagination and manual skill. His publications are full of good ideas.

Books

• Johannes Mehring: The new system of bees as a basis for beekeeping or How the rational beekeeper achieves the highest yield from his bees. Based on self-experience. Frankenthal, Albeck 1869. 344 pp.
• Johannes Mehring: The new one-being system as the basis for beekeeping. Based on self-experience. Re-edited by Ferdinand Gerstung . Waetzel, Freiburg i. B. 1901. 68 pp.

items

• On the fertilization of queen bees (1858)
• Description of a stamp for artificial honeycomb beginnings (1858) - He pressed this metal stamp with the outline of the cross-section of a honeycomb onto the underside of the upper frame leg and thus produced artificial honeycomb beginnings as a thin layer of wax. The device, which he sold for two guilders, is considered the forerunner of his honeycomb press.
• The swarm box (1859) - (it is a swarm catcher)
• About the bees' thirst (1859)
• The Fan of the Bees (1859)
• Are the bees in the vineyards harmful? (1860)
• The skull as a honey thief (1860)
• About uncovered and inverted brood (1860)
• Irregular egg-laying of a queen (1861)
• Why do an unusual number of colonies become motherless in winter? (1862)
• To feed the bees (1863)
• Malt syrup as bee feed (1863)
• Impurities in honey (1863)
• Transferring bee colonies from baskets to boxes (1864)
• Contribution to Including the Queen (1865)
• About rocking and planing the bees (1866)
• How do bees find honey? (1866)
• Apiary with movable ceiling (1866)
• Bee eggs in honey (1867)
• Small contribution to the formation of honeydew (1867)
• Renewal of the honeycomb beginnings (1867)
• Recommendation of a new smoking device (1868)
• For flour feeding (1872)
• About foulbrood (1871)

Individual evidence

1. ↑ Fritz Kaiser: Life and Work of the Inventor of the Art Honeycomb ( Memento of the original from October 24, 2008 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was automatically inserted and not yet checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. (accessed on November 6, 2009) 

literature

• Fritz Kaiser:  Mehring, Johannes. In: New German Biography (NDB). Volume 16, Duncker & Humblot, Berlin 1990, ISBN 3-428-00197-4 , p. 625 f. ( Digitized version ).

Web links

• Fritz Kaiser: Life and work of the inventor of the artificial honeycomb