AMERICAN BEE JOURNAL. 



499 



here. Other things being equal, the 

 more bees we can get in a colony by the 

 commencement of the harvest, the better. 

 It is also possible to get more brood in a 

 10-frame than in an 8-frame hive by 

 June 1st. At least I can usually get 

 8 frames solidly filled with brood earlier 

 when there is an extra comb in either 

 side of the hive, than when 2 of the 8 

 come next to the hive walls. But it does 

 not follow that it is essential to have the 

 most bees at whatever cost. The pos- 

 sible half pound, or such, more of bees 

 that one can get in a 10-frame than an 

 8-frame hive, would be that much better 

 in the latter. But we are no better off 

 with the slightly greater quantity of 

 bees in the larger, than with the lesser 

 quantity in the smaller hive, so far as 

 the crop of surplus is concerned. I be- 

 lieve the reverse is the case. That is to 

 say, as a rule, we can get the bees we 

 can rear in an 8-frame hive into sec- 

 tions earlier than those we may obtain 

 in a 10-frame, each colony in its own 

 hive. The more bees the more honey, is 

 no doubt true in the abstract, but it is 

 not true in the concrete. 



DIMENSIONS OF THE STANDARD LANG- 

 STROTH FRAME. 



On page 183 are given the dimensions 

 of the Langstroth frame as 9j^xl7%. 

 Some years ago Father Langstroth 

 wrote to Mr. A. I. Root that the correct 

 length of the standard Langstroth frame 

 was 17%. Since that Mr. Root has 

 called his frame the " Simplicity." Mr. 

 Root was himself, I think, the first man 

 to make the frame 17% inches long, 

 and I understand he did it in order to 

 suit a brood-case in which a wide frame 

 holding eight one-pound sections could 

 be inserted. 



Mechanicsburg, Ills. 



Price of Extracted Honey in 

 Years of Scarcity. 



Written for the American Bee Journal 

 BY CHAS F. MUTH. 



Wishing to make good use of a rainy, 

 sleety afternoon in the country, which 

 prevents exercise out-of-doors, I shall 

 endeavor to answer a question raised by 

 you or Mr. Root, viz. : " Why is it that 

 the price of extracted honey does not 

 advance in this year of scarcity ?" 



The idea seemed to prevail that adul- 

 teration was the cause of low prices, if 

 I remember correctly. Such theory is 

 not compatible with my experience, as 



we have never sold more honey for 

 family use than we did during the last 

 twelve months. We have, perhaps, 

 never before sold as much in our square 

 glass jars, almost all of which is bought 

 for table use. Honey is cheap— so is all 

 produce but hogs ; they are staple, ruled 

 very low for many years, and com- 

 menced to advance only a few weeks 

 ago. 



Twenty-five years ago, when honey 

 was 35 cents a pound, the whole country 

 did not produce as great a quantity as 

 California, or as Florida, did in the past 

 year of scarcity. Although they were 

 the most favored States in America, 

 neither one had more than 35 per cent, 

 of their expectations realized ; yet, those 

 two States produced more honey in 1892 

 than there ever was consumed in Amer- 

 ica during any one year up to about 10 

 or 15 years ago. 



Who in the world used honey for man- 

 ufacturing purposes 15 years ago ? 

 Whoever heard, 15 years ago, of one 

 manufacturer using 20,000 pounds of 

 honey a month ? We had several such 

 customers during the late years. They 

 have curtailed their orders, not because 

 they are afraid of adulteration, but be- 

 cause we are charging them a cent or 

 two more per pound than we did when 

 honey was plentiful. This convinces us 

 that honey is no staple article yet ; it 

 also proves the fact that cheap sugar 

 has a bearing on the price of honey. 

 Honey is the preferred article, there is 

 no doubt about it, but it is considered 

 " out of reach " by the manufacturer if 

 the difference in price is too great be- 

 tween it and sugar. 



There was a time in my own experi- 

 ence, when my own crop of 500 pounds 

 of honey was an immense quantity. It 

 was about that time when Ohio, or Ken- 

 tucky, or Wisconsin, with present im- 

 provements, when either one of those 

 States could have supplied the whole of 

 North America in a good season. We 

 all remember yet the time when good 

 Southern honey went begging at 33^ 

 cents a pound. The country was over- 

 stocked — there was an over-production. 

 Why? Because the manufacturer had 

 not yet learned the use of honey. With- 

 out the manufacturer, there would be an 

 over-production in the past year of 

 scarcity. He can do without honey, but 

 offer it at a price which seems within 

 his reach, and an over-production of 

 honey will be a thing of the past. 



Extracted honey has worked itself in 

 as one of the family necessaries, to a 

 very great extent, especially among the 

 working classes, while comb honey will 



