1910 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE 



307 



T then changed back to the ten-frame, and, presto! 

 my luck returned. Since then I have had good 

 success. My specialty was comb honey. A few 

 bee-keepers ask my advice, and I always recom- 

 mend the ten-frame, but tell them that sales are 

 mostly for the eight-frame, and they can take their 

 choice. I also note your footnote on p. 249 in regard 

 to spring feeding. This I have advised for a long 

 time, and in accordance with your idea. I .some- 

 times feel that .vou and 1 would agree on the care 

 of bees. 

 Syracuse, N. Y. F. A. Salisbury. 



It is our opinion that the great ni?ijority 

 of the eight-frame hives now in use among 

 the old-time bee-keepers continue to be used 

 because of the fact that they can not afford 

 to change over to the ten-frame size. This 

 is only another way of saying that many of 

 these men, at least, would change over to 

 the ten-frame hives if they were to start 

 over again. 



We are coming more and more to the 

 conviction that the ten-frame hive will hold 

 its own anywhere at any time. In late 

 spring an eight-frame hive will often be 

 jammed full of brood. To put on an extra 

 story to accommodate the queen gives too 

 much room. Two extra frames, as can be 

 given with the ten-frame hive very nicely, 

 accommodate the average good queen. 

 From extended travel and observation, cov- 

 ering a period of fifteen or twenty years, we 

 have been slowly coming to the conviction 

 that the eight-frame hive is just a little too 

 small, and that the ten-frame is about right. 

 If it is necessary to have a reduced body ca- 

 pacity, better by far make the reduction on 

 vertical than horizontal lines. 



It is a great nuisance to the bee-supply 

 houses and bee-keepers in general to have 

 two kinds — that is, two widths of hives, for 

 the same kind and depth of frame. P'very 

 supply house must carry a full assortment 

 of the two sizes. Somebody must pay for 

 this duplication, confusion, and expense, 

 and, naturally enough, it comes out of the 

 bee-keeper. We hope the time may speedi- 

 ly come when there will be only one width 

 of cover and bottom-board, one width of su- 

 per and one width of brood-nest, especially 

 since the varying capacities of brood-nests 

 to suit individual and local needs can easily 

 be taken care of by increasing or diminish- 

 ing the depth. A ten-frame-width shallow 

 or deep brood-nest will fit any cover or bot- 

 tom-board or super, and this is a matter of 

 supreme importance. One can work shal- 

 low brood-chambers, medium shallow, stan- 

 dard full-depth Jumbo, or extra-deep Lang- 

 stroth hive-bodies and supers in the same 

 yard without any inconvenience; but he can 

 not work satisfactorily two widths of hives 

 in the same yard. 



THE ENFORCEMENT OF THE NATIONAL, 



PURE-FOOD law; HEADACHE CURES, 



AND SHORT WEIGHTS IN FOOD 



STUFFS. 



The food and drug department of the 

 United States Department of Agriculture is 

 evidently going after the adulterators of 

 foods and drugs, especially those who have 

 misbranded. As some of their decisions 



bear upon the honey business, directly or 

 indirectly, it will be proper here to refer to 

 a few of them. For instance, one company 

 has plead guilty, and been fined for sending 

 out maple-sugar syrup, as the syrup con- 

 tained almost entirely cane syrup and only 

 a very small amount of maple syrup. The 

 bottles were labeled "Cane and Maple Su- 

 gar Syruj:);" but the words "Cane and" 

 were put in small letters, so as to be incon- 

 spicuous. As this is contrary to the provi- 

 sions of the national pure-food law, the au- 

 thorities decided that the packages were 

 branded and labeled so as to deceive and 

 mislead the purchaser thereof. 



Another concern was fined for selling 

 packages of preserves that were short in 

 weight. The label stated, "This package 

 contains one full pound." This statement 

 was false and misleading, in that each of 

 said packages contained less than one full 

 pound; to wit, an average of 14.5 ounces. 



The "O. K. Headache Cure," claiming to 

 cure any kind of headache, and perfectly 

 harmless, "was misbranded in that the con- 

 tainers failed to indicate to or advise the 

 prospective purchaser or consumer of said 

 preparation that it contained alcohol and 

 acetanilide, the presence and quantity of 

 which substances are required by law to be 

 declared on the package containing the 

 same, and which was further misbranded in 

 the following particulars, that it was not a 

 cure for headache, and it was not perfectly 

 harmless, because acetanilide, a dangerous 

 drug necessitating skill and caution in the 

 administration thereof, was present in said 

 preparation." 



There is provision in the national pure- 

 food law by which the use of false geograjDh- 

 ical names is prohibited. It seems there 

 are concerns that were selling Rocky Ford 

 muskmelons and Indian River oranges; but 

 neither the canteloups nor the oranges came 

 from the localities indicated. The law holds 

 that these geographical names should be 

 applied only to the product of the strict 

 area of melons grown in the Rocky Ford 

 district of Colorado and oranges in the In- 

 dian River district of Florida. In brief. 

 Uncle Sam says, "All labels must make no 

 misstatement, either as to weight or char- 

 acter of the substances used in the food or 

 drugs. If any substance is dangerous to 

 life or health, the exact quantity must be 

 stated on the label." 



By the way, why should any one buy 

 patent-medicine headache cures? There 

 are records of a number of deaths occurring 

 because the cures contained some deadly 

 drugs that stopped the heart action and 

 caused death. Bee-keepers do not need to 

 be cautioned against headache cures more 

 than any one else; but they should thor- 

 oughly understand that, when a label spec- 

 ifies one pound or any definite quantity of 

 honey, there should be exactly that amount, 

 A can or bottle that weighs gross a pound, 

 and contains net 14 ounces of honey, when 

 labeled as containing a pound, is a violation 

 of the national pure-food law. 



