Dadant purchased land on the rolling tallgrass prairie in Hamilton, western Illinois, where he built a simple log house.

As his horse would plod along, Dadant would read the works of French biologist Jean-Baptiste Lamarck and the theories of the socialist Charles Fourier.

When he moved to America, he modeled his beekeeping business on socialist principles by working alongside his employees.

By the end of the American Civil War, he had nine colonies of honeybees, and traveled with his young son across the Mississippi River to sell honey and beeswax in a neighboring town.

Charles Dadant contributed articles on beekeeping to numerous bee journals, both American and European.

He was not the first to bring Italian queens into the United States, selling for up to half the price ($12) asked by his competitors.

It provided a large, deep brood chamber with plenty of room in which the queen could lay, and shallower supers for honey storage.

Here, the modified large Dadant-Blatt hive, named after Swiss beekeeper Johann Blatt, became the standard in many countries.

It is compatible with the Langstroth hive and became famous in Europe by honorable buckfast bee breeder Karl Kehrle (Brother Adam) in Devon, England.

For international beekeeping, it is important that the magazine hive system used in professional international beekeeping as Dadant-Blatt is standardized by AFNOR according to "NF U82-101:1950-03-01" and maintains bee space at all points,[5] which ensures intercompatibility and reduces production and operating costs.