AMERICAN BEE JOURNAL. 



329 



Xlie Standard l>ictioiiai'y.— A 



work of exceptional interest and impor- 

 tance is the " Standard Dictionary of the 

 English Language," issued by Messrs. Funk 

 & Wagnalls, of New York city. The work 

 will be complete in two volumes ; and the 

 first volume, covering the alphabet from A 

 to L, has been received. It is a superb 

 volume, the illustrations are finely ex- 

 ecuted, and the colored plates are a marvel 

 of clear and elegant printing. In the prep- 

 aration of the work, there have been some 

 interesting particulars. The outlay in 

 money will be nearly $1,000,000. There 

 have been engaged upon the work since its 

 beginning, four years ago, about 250 office- 

 editors and specialists, many of whom are 

 scholars of international reputation. Dr. 

 I. K. Punk, the editor-in-chief, had asso- 

 ciated with him Prof. March, the well- 

 known philologist, as consulting editor; 

 and John D. Champlin, Rossiter Johnson, 

 and A. E. Bostwick as office editors. 



The feature which distinguishes this dic- 

 tionary from others in common use, is the 

 order of definition. If a word has two or 

 more meanings, the most common meaning 

 has been given first ; that is, preference has 

 been given to the " order of usage " over 

 the historical order. The aim has been to 

 remove everything that stands between the 

 vocabulary word and the meaning most 

 generally sought after by the average 

 reader, and, in this way, to enable him to 

 get the information desired with ease and 

 certainty. The obsolescent and obsolete 

 meanings and the etymology are given 

 last. The value of such an arrangement 

 for busy people will be appreciated by none 

 more than by those who have occasion to 

 use dictionaries most. The vocabulary will 

 be found extraordinarily rich and full, and 

 — although the rules for exclusion of use- 

 less words and phrases that have been fol- 

 lowed are most exacting — far exceeding 

 that of any dictionary that has preceded 

 this. The following will show to what pro- 

 portions the language has grown. The full 

 number of words and terms in our standard 

 dictionaries for the entire alphabet is as 

 follows: Johnson, 45,000; Stormonth, 50,- 

 000; Worcester, 105.000; Webster (Interna- 

 tional), 135,000; Century (six volumes, 

 complete), 225,000 ; Standard, nearly 300,000. 



The German double-hyphen is used 

 throughout to distinguish compound words 

 from divided syllables. As to spelling, the 

 editors have manifestly decided in favor of 

 the phonetic principle wherever that was 

 practicable. When two ways of spelling 

 the same word are used by recognized au- 

 thorities, preference has been given usually 

 to the simpler form. 



Altogether the distinguishing features of 

 this work are so marked and so well de- 

 veloped that the work will have its value 

 even where the most elaborate lexical ap- 

 paratus is in use. -, 



Dr. C. C. Miller, of Marengo, 111., so well 

 and favorably known to bee-keepers every- 

 where, had the distinuguished honor to be 

 selected to furnish the apiarian terms and 

 definitions for this dictionary ; so it ought 



to be more correct in our line than any 

 other dictionary now published. 



It is to be sold by subscription only, and 

 will appear in one and two volume editions. 

 The two volumes bound in leather will cost 

 $15 ; in full morocco, $20 ; one volume in 

 leather, $12 ; in morocco, $16. 



answered by 

 Marengo, III. 



In this department will be answered those 

 questions needing immediate attention, and 

 such as are not of sufficient special interest to 

 require replies from the 'JO or more apiarists 

 who help to make "Queries and Replies" 80 

 Interesting- on another page. In the main, it 

 will contain questions and answers upon mat- 

 ters that particularly interest beginners.— Ed. 



Most Desirable Hive and Frame. 



1. Which is the most desirable hive 

 for out-of-door wintering '? 



2. Which is the most desirable size of 

 brood-frame for comb honey. F. J. J, 



Clayville, N. Y. 



Answers. — 1. Perhaps the old-fash- 

 ioned straw hive. Among frame hives, 

 perhaps the chaflf hive. 



2; I'm not sure that will ever be en- 

 tirely settled. At least not so that all 

 will agree upon it. The fact that after 

 a great many sizes have been tried a 

 very large number to-day prefer about 

 the size first settled upon by Father 

 Langstroth, seems to indicate that it 

 is at least as good as any. Perhaps it 

 doesn't make much difference. The 

 original Langstroth frame was 17 %x 

 9}'s. To accommodate the use of one- 

 pound sections, the frame was made JC 

 inch shorter and called the "Simplicity" 

 frame. 



Transferring — Introducing — Poultry. 



About 10 years ago I was with my 

 uncle who run a large apiary in In- 

 diana, and I learned something about 

 bees then, but it has been so long, and 

 without any practical experience, I for- 

 got almost all that I learned then ; but 

 I caught the bee fever, and it has been 

 growing on me ever since, in conse- 



