24 FIFTY YEARS AMONG THE BEES 



moving away in 1870 I bought out his stock of hives. 

 The frames were 18x9, ^ of an inch longer than the 

 standard size, and % of an inch shallower. 



CHANGE TO REGULAR LANGSTROTH. 



So little a difference in measurement could make no 

 appreciable difference in practical results, yet after going 

 on until I had three or four thousand of such frames, the 

 inconvenience of having an odd size was felt to be so 

 great that I felt I must change so as to be in line with 

 the rest of the world, and be able to order hives, frames, 

 etc., such as were on the regular list without being 

 obliged to have everything made to order. The change to 

 the regular size cost a good deal of money, and a good 

 deal more in labor and trouble, extending over several 

 years. 



PEABODY EXTRACTOR. 



In that same year, 1870, I got a honey-extractor. 

 With much interest I made my first attempt at extracting, 

 the supreme moment of interest coming when after hav- 

 ing given perhaps 200 revolutions to the extractor I 

 looked beneath to see how much honey had run into the 

 pan beneath. Very vividly I remember my keen chagrin 

 and disappointment when I found that not a drop of 

 honey had fallen. The machine was one of the first put 

 on the market, a Peabody extractor (Fig. 2), the entire 

 can revolving, and it had not occurred to me that the 

 same force that threw the honey out of the comb would 

 .keep it against the outer wall of the can so long as it kept 

 in motion. When the can stopped revolving, a fair stream 

 of honey ran down into the pan, and I resumed my normal 

 manner of breathing. 



TOO RAPID INCREASE. 



I began the season of 1870 with eight colonies, in- 

 creased to 11), and extracted about 400 pounds of honey. 



