THIS PAGE IS DEVOTED TO COMMEMORATE THE LIFE AND WORK OF JOSEF ANTONIN JANIS!
Who was Josef Antonin Janis?
Josef Antonin Janis also known as Joseph Anton Janisch or Jozef Antonin Janiss (1749 -1821) was born at Lanskroun
in the Czech Republic. Janis was a Catholic priest and agricultural expert and beekeeper. Between 1777 and 1784 Janis was priest at Slabce where he had a large apiary. A Memorial Plaque to honour him was placed on the Parish Building at Slabce in 1969. Across the road is the St. Nicholas Church built at the beginning of the 12th century. Josef Antonin Janis was appointed here in 1777. The photos of the St. Nicholas Church are on the Slabce website: http://www.slabce.cz/
Also Janis was a corresponding member of the Royal Academy and became a member of the Learned Society in the Kingdom of Bohemia in the Austro-Hungarian Empire. At this time Bohemia now the Czech Republic was part of the Austro-Hungarian Empire. You may download the Austro-Hungarian Empire map by clicking a PDF document.
Discovery and Invention
The discovery by Janis that bees (Apis mellifera) are able to build an individual honeycomb from a transverse timber support gave him the opportunity to:
a. Examine honeycombs from both sides.
b. Harvest honey without damage to brood nests.
c. Witness the performance of queen and worker bees.
Josef Antonin Janis is a pioneer of modern style beekeeping. Janis' innovation of keeping honey bees on separate honeycombs in the wooden boxes has now spread all over the world.
Plans for the Hive Boxes Construction
The innovation of keeping bees on the separate honeycombs influenced Janis to transfer bees from the hollow trees
or log or skep hives into the removable wooden boxes which were stacked together to form a beehive. The hives could be placed in any required location. The title page of Janis' beekeeping book shows the new system of keeping bees in an orchard. Please click the PDF document to see how the wooden boxes were built to Janis' plans.
Honey Bee Reproduction
Josef Antonin Janis understood the reproduction basics. Therefore he was able to prove the phenomenon of the parthenogenesis in bees (Apis mellifera) and also to perform a simple queen bee rearing in his apiaries.
Queen Bee Rearing
J. A. Janis was the first in Kingdom of Bohemia and probably the first one in the world who forced the worker bees to breed the queen bees. Janis' new technique to keep bees on separate honeycombs gave him the opportunity to transfer the young bee larvae in a piece of honeycomb from any beehive containing young larvae and hang it into a honeycomb in a hive without any bee larvae and without a queen bee. Janis knew that the natural instinct of survival will force the bees to build the queen cells from which the new queen bees will hatch in a hive without a queen bee.
Author of Books
Josef Antonin Janis wrote two beekeeping books. Janis made a few fundamental beekeeping observations which were published in the German book “Praktische Bienenpflege für den Landmann im Königreiche Böheim” and in the Czech edidition “Aučinlivé sprawowánj Wčel pro obecného Kragana w Králowstwj Cžeském” (Practical Bees Care for Persons
in Rural Parts in the Kingdom of Bohemia) in 1789. In the “Appendix” are plans for the construction of the removable hive boxes. These books have great historical importance because Janis wrote about parthenogenesis and his experiments. The book “Nová včelní kniha” (A New Beekeeping Book) was published in 1790.
In 1792 J. A. Janis was inspired to write in German “Unterricht über den Anbau, die Pflege, Ernte und Zubereitung des Flachses für den Landmann” (Lessons about the Cultivation, Care, Harvest and Preparation of Flax for the Farmers) because there was extensive demand for the flax in Great Britain in the last half of the 18th century due to expansion of her HM Navy and commercial shipping particularly after the colonization of Australia in 1788. The flax fibre was essential for production of linen and manufacturing of clothes and sails, wagon covers, fishing nets, ropes and other products.
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Who was Josef Antonin Janis?
Josef Antonin Janis also known as Joseph Anton Janisch or Jozef Antonin Janiss (1749 -1821) was born at Lanskroun
in the Czech Republic. Janis was a Catholic priest and agricultural expert and beekeeper. Between 1777 and 1784 Janis was priest at Slabce where he had a large apiary. A Memorial Plaque to honour him was placed on the Parish Building at Slabce in 1969. Across the road is the St. Nicholas Church built at the beginning of the 12th century. Josef Antonin Janis was appointed here in 1777. The photos of the St. Nicholas Church are on the Slabce website: http://www.slabce.cz/
Also Janis was a corresponding member of the Royal Academy and became a member of the Learned Society in the Kingdom of Bohemia in the Austro-Hungarian Empire. At this time Bohemia now the Czech Republic was part of the Austro-Hungarian Empire. You may download the Austro-Hungarian Empire map by clicking a PDF document.
Discovery and Invention
The discovery by Janis that bees (Apis mellifera) are able to build an individual honeycomb from a transverse timber support gave him the opportunity to:
a. Examine honeycombs from both sides.
b. Harvest honey without damage to brood nests.
c. Witness the performance of queen and worker bees.
Josef Antonin Janis is a pioneer of modern style beekeeping. Janis' innovation of keeping honey bees on separate honeycombs in the wooden boxes has now spread all over the world.
Plans for the Hive Boxes Construction
The innovation of keeping bees on the separate honeycombs influenced Janis to transfer bees from the hollow trees
or log or skep hives into the removable wooden boxes which were stacked together to form a beehive. The hives could be placed in any required location. The title page of Janis' beekeeping book shows the new system of keeping bees in an orchard. Please click the PDF document to see how the wooden boxes were built to Janis' plans.
Honey Bee Reproduction
Josef Antonin Janis understood the reproduction basics. Therefore he was able to prove the phenomenon of the parthenogenesis in bees (Apis mellifera) and also to perform a simple queen bee rearing in his apiaries.
Queen Bee Rearing
J. A. Janis was the first in Kingdom of Bohemia and probably the first one in the world who forced the worker bees to breed the queen bees. Janis' new technique to keep bees on separate honeycombs gave him the opportunity to transfer the young bee larvae in a piece of honeycomb from any beehive containing young larvae and hang it into a honeycomb in a hive without any bee larvae and without a queen bee. Janis knew that the natural instinct of survival will force the bees to build the queen cells from which the new queen bees will hatch in a hive without a queen bee.
Author of Books
Josef Antonin Janis wrote two beekeeping books. Janis made a few fundamental beekeeping observations which were published in the German book “Praktische Bienenpflege für den Landmann im Königreiche Böheim” and in the Czech edidition “Aučinlivé sprawowánj Wčel pro obecného Kragana w Králowstwj Cžeském” (Practical Bees Care for Persons
in Rural Parts in the Kingdom of Bohemia) in 1789. In the “Appendix” are plans for the construction of the removable hive boxes. These books have great historical importance because Janis wrote about parthenogenesis and his experiments. The book “Nová včelní kniha” (A New Beekeeping Book) was published in 1790.
In 1792 J. A. Janis was inspired to write in German “Unterricht über den Anbau, die Pflege, Ernte und Zubereitung des Flachses für den Landmann” (Lessons about the Cultivation, Care, Harvest and Preparation of Flax for the Farmers) because there was extensive demand for the flax in Great Britain in the last half of the 18th century due to expansion of her HM Navy and commercial shipping particularly after the colonization of Australia in 1788. The flax fibre was essential for production of linen and manufacturing of clothes and sails, wagon covers, fishing nets, ropes and other products.
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A number of visitors have been here before you: