For the American Bee Journal. 



Standard Langstroth Hive. 



Within the past two years I have seen 

 some inquiries and replies in regard to the 

 size and shape of the hive and frame pre- 

 ferred by Mr. Langstrotli ; but have seen no 

 correct figures upon tlie subject. By exam- 

 ining tl)e directions for making hives in the 

 revised edition of Mr. Langstroth's book, it 

 will be seen that the inside of the hive is 18 

 inches in length, 14}^ inches in width, and 

 10 inches in depth. The outside length of 

 the frame is 17^^ inches, instead of 17% 

 inches as given by Messrs. Newman and 

 Root. This is an important mistake, as it 

 destroys the interchangeableness of the 

 frames. The hive being 18 inches long, and 

 the frames 17^^ inches, the space between 

 the end of the hive and the frames is pre- 

 cisely 5-16 of an inch. This is ample space, 

 and was decided upon by Mr. Langstroth 

 after much experimenting. At the time Mr. 

 L.'s book was revised, he preferred to have 

 the top-bars of the frames 1)4 inches wide, 

 but it I am not mistaken, he afterwards 

 came to the conclusion that it was better to 

 have them only % of an inch wide, which is 

 now generally the preferred width. Mr. L. 

 makes the top bars lOJ-g" inches long, but I 

 think if he had used them only 18% inches 

 long he would have liked them better. The 

 width of the hive, whether 14, 14)^ or 14J^ 

 inches is not so essential, as any of these 

 widths will answer for 10 combs. But the 

 main thing is the depth and length of both 

 the frame and the box. These should always 

 be the same, if the object is to make the 

 standard Langstroth hive. 



St. Charles, 111. M. M. Baldbidge. 



[True ; we desire, above all, to be exactly 

 correct. Preferring to have Mr. Langstroth 

 decide the point, we sent him an advanced 

 proof for his decision. His answer is as 

 follows :— Ed.] 



[Mr. Baldridge is in error in supposing 

 that such slight variations as he notices 

 destroy the interchangeableness of the 

 frames. Considering the accuracy which 

 may be obtained in making the frames stiff 

 and perfectly square, I prefer the measure- 

 ments of Messrs. Newman and Root. While 

 beginners may get along better with % 

 width for the top bars, I still prefer, all 

 things considered, l)i. For more than ten 

 years I have made the triangular guide very 

 imall (not much over J^ of an inch), and a 

 part of the top bar, so as to need no nailing. 

 This causes the bees to lengthen the pen- 

 tagonal foundation cells so as to get a little 

 better attachment than when they are built 

 on a plane surface. With the old % triangular 

 guides, they usually closed the pentagons 

 very near the shank edge, and heavy combs 

 •often fell out, when not very carefully 

 handled.— L. L. Langstroth.] 



For the American Bee Journal. 



Theory and Experience. 



We are told that a pure queen of the 

 Italian blood will produce pure queens. If 

 her daughters mate with black drones, their 

 progeny as queen and workers will be 

 hybrids ; but their drones will be pure 

 Italians. Now, if these pure drones mate 

 with hybrid queens, would it not purify the 

 queens and workers, and tend to restore the 

 Italian blood ? Then, suppose one should 

 re-queen an entire apiary in one summer 

 with the daughters of a pure queen, so that 

 all the drones shall be pure next year, why 

 should not the queens and workers become 

 purer and purer by the force of the law of 

 nature as propounded in the theory ? Still 

 more, should they now and then mate with 

 a black drone, why should not the great 

 dominance of Italian blood rule outall black 

 blood in course of time. But is it not true, 

 in fact, that the apiarist to get pure Italian 

 blood and keep it pure, must be ever infus- 

 ing the pure blood of a foreign queen, or 

 of one of undoubted purity— a daughter 

 purely mated ! Still more, how many bee- 

 keepers receive imported queens which 

 produce three-banded drones and their 

 daughters do the same. My experience is 

 not very exteusive, but I begin to suspect 

 that the notion that the drones of pure 

 queens which mate with black drones are 

 more or less tainted as well as the queens 

 and vv^orkers. If I had time, I should try 

 one drone-laying queen from an imported 

 mother, and supply every hive with all the 

 drones I wanted tolerated in my yard. And 

 then I would see what effect this would have 

 on the next queens and their brood. To my 

 mind, the common sense way would be to 

 secure a pure queen for raising queens and 

 a prue drone-laying queen, for drones. Has 

 any one tried it thoroughly ? If so, your 

 readers would I think be glad to read an 

 account of the process pursued and the 

 results. Novitiate. 



For the American Bee Journal. 



Comb Foundation. 



In reading the November No. of Ameri- 

 can Bee Journat^, one here and there 

 finds the complaints of comb-foundation 

 sagging when used in the brood-chamber, 

 and a remedy is sought after in various 

 ways. Friend N. N. Betsinger, even experi- 

 mented to the amount of $1,000, and still 

 without the desired result. 



I have now used comb-foundation forthree 

 seasons, the last two seasons quiteextensive, 

 in fact every comb in my apiary built this 

 season, was built on foundation. When I 

 first used the foundation, I used them 9 

 inches deep, they stretched in the upper 

 half, so that about 3 inches of its width was 

 not used by the queen for breeding purposes 

 the first year; but the following spring I 

 found to my dismay that every comb had a 

 piece of drone-brood about the size of my 

 open hand, which had to be cut out and 

 replaced with a piece of worker comb, in 

 order to fully control my drone supply for 

 queen rearing. 



