value to bee-keepers, and doubtless he 

 will reap from this alone an abundant 

 reward. 



In the letter from Mr. Thurber pub- 

 lished by you, he says that " pure glu- 

 cose is as wholesome as honey." If 



this is so, why so much about the "com- 

 ing war ?" 



Allegan, Mich. 



For the American Bee Journal. 



Standard Langstroth Hive. 



M. M. BALDRIDGE. 



On page 427 of the American Bee 

 Journal, for December, I stated that 

 the standard Langstroth frame, as 

 given in Mr. Langstroth's book, is pre- 

 cisely 17| inches long, outside measure, 

 and not 17| as given by Messrs. Boot 

 and Newman. It seems that the matter 

 was referred to Mr. Langstroth for his 

 decision, who responds by saying that 

 he should prefer 17* to 17*. What Mr. 

 L. now prefers has nothing to do with 

 the point at issue. If the reader will 

 turn to page 372, of Mr. L.'s revised 

 work on bees, these measurements of 

 the standard frame, as given by Mr. L. 

 himself, will be found : Top-piece 19£x 

 l*x5-16 ; bottom piece 17*xf xi ; end 

 pieces, each 8fx£xi. 



As the bottom piece is nailed to the 

 end pieces it must be apparent that the 

 outside length of the frames is 17* , as I 

 have stated. It will be seen also that 

 the outside width of the frame is pre- 

 cisely 9 3-16. Near the top of the same 

 page the precise inside width of the 

 hive is given as 14£, and the outside 

 length at 19*. As boards precisely $ 

 inches thick are used then the exact 

 inside length of the hive is 18i and not 

 18, as given in my former article. This 

 gives a space of * between the ends of 

 the frame and the hive and not 5-16 as 

 before stated. So much for facts and 

 figures. 



I will now give the measurements for 

 the standard frame that I prefer : Top 

 piece 181 x£x5-16 ; bottom piece 17fx3x 

 3-16 ; end pieces Stxfx*. 



It will be seen that I make the top- 

 piece I less in length and i less in width 

 than Mr. Langstroth recommends. I 

 find in practice that the projection is 

 ample. Mr. L. thinks beginners may 

 get along with a top bar only % wide, 

 but he prefers 1*. Still, if i is wide 

 enough for beginners it ought to be 

 with men of experience. I will venture 

 the assertion that nine-tenths of the 

 "old hands" in bee-keeping are now 

 using top bars exactly I wide. There 

 are several very good reasons why this 



width is better than H, and none why 1* 

 is better than *. I make all my stand- 

 ard hives 18 in. long, inside measure, 

 and find the space 5-16 at the ends of 

 the frames is ample. Langstroth recom- 

 mends * and Quinby i. I think Quinby 

 gives too much space for a shallow 

 hive, but perhaps none too much for 

 such deep frames as he recommends. 



From the above it will be seen that 

 my standard frames will fit any standard 

 hive made by other parties, and that 

 their frames will fit my make of hives 

 by simply cutting off each end of the 

 top piece 3-16 of an inch. But I cannot 

 use a frame 17*, in my 18 inch hive, with 

 any degree of satisfaction ; because 

 there would be only 3-16 space between 

 the hive and ends of the frames and 

 this space is liable to be filled with 

 propolis. When thus clogged, the 

 frames would be practically, or at least 

 disagreeably, uninterchangeable. 



St. Charles, 111. 



[Mr. Baldridge is right about the 

 desirability of securing uniformity in 

 the size of frames. Nothing is more 

 annoying than to have frames vary just 

 enough to be useless for interchanging. 

 Many will vary the size from I to 2 

 inches just to suit a notion. Such 

 should never be done. Uniformity is 

 exceedingly desirable.— Ed.] 



For the American Bee Journal. 



Wintering, Adulteration, &c. 



M. E. LOEHR. 



Scientific bee .culture in northern 

 Indiana is as yet little practiced, many 

 believe in "luck" and "chance," 

 though superstition is on the decline. 

 Box hives are almost universal, yet 

 many improved hives are used. The 

 number of colonies in this (Kosciusko) 

 county has been reduced dining the last 

 two winters, more than one-half, especi- 

 ally those who have left their bees un 

 protected on their summer stands. The 

 present winter has been an extremely 

 cold one, the thermometer standing 

 as low as 23° below zero ; it was below 

 zero for nearly one month. I have had 

 the best success wintering in the cellar. 

 I never saw bees winter as well out of 

 doors as in the cellar. I never lost a 

 colony in the cellar. The one I use is 

 so dry that it is almost dusty. I 

 put them in when the hives were full 

 of ice, water and snow, but in a few 

 hours the hives were dry and nice. The 

 hives have abundance of upward venti- 

 lation. With closed-top hives, such as 



