134 



THE AMERICAN APICULTURIST. 



double glass walls, the fractional 

 ^ was retained to prevent confusion 

 by departing even to so small an ex- 

 tent from the size then so widely 

 disseminated. It is, however, very 

 easy to exaggerate the inconven- 

 iences which have resulted from 

 these slight variations. One will 

 contend that the standard L. frame 

 cannot be used in the Root and 

 Newman L. hive, and many will 

 actually prefer that size of hive 

 for them, as giving more room for 

 the safe and rapid handling of 

 frames. If both hives and frames 

 are very carefully made, / find no 

 trouble in using the R. and N. 

 frame in the standard L. hive. 

 The great length of the top-bar of 

 the L. frame enables me, after re- 

 moving one frame from the hive, 

 to take out the others with great 

 ease, thus : 



When the frame 1 is lifted out, 

 the end C of frame 2 is drawn 



towards the operator, without an}' 

 lifting until the angle is large 

 enough to remove it without danger 

 of hitting the sides of the hives, 

 so in replacing it the end 2 is first 

 put on the rabbet and C can then 

 be moved readily to its place. 

 The long leverage of such frames 

 greatly favors such manipulations. 

 I would say here, that a variation 

 of only ^ from front to rear, if it 

 is on the side of making the hive 

 smaller (say only 18 inches), is, 

 for divers reasons, a much more 

 serious matter than the extra ^ 

 inch ; for in such hives it is well 

 nigh impossible to have any free 

 manipulation of the longer frames. 

 I am using in my own apiary 

 the Root size of frame in the stand- 

 ard L. hive, and find no trouble 

 at all in doing so. I would even 

 prefer, with hives and frames made 

 as accurately as they should be, I 



inch space, manipulating in the 

 manner above described, to ^ inch, 

 if the frames had to be squarely 

 lifted out. 



The conclusion of the whole 

 matter seems to me to be this : The 

 standard L. hive is 18-| inches 

 from front to rear, and ten inches 

 deep, all in the clear, and the 

 standard L. frame is 17|, and 

 not 17f; and I advise all who 

 make new hives, if they can do so 

 without too much loss, not to vary 

 at all from these measurements. 

 I certainly have no right to de- 

 mand that the parties who are 

 using the extra i incli, both for 

 hive and frame, should return to 

 the old standard ; l)nt I hope that, 

 instead of calling their hives the 

 standard L. hives, they will call 

 them the Root L. hives, as Mr. 

 Root first used the extra ^ inch. 

 I presume that Messrs. Root and 

 jNewman, and other hive-makers, 

 if not willing to return to the 

 standard L., will have no objections 

 to tilling orders for Simplicity, 

 chaff, or other styles of hives of 

 the L. standard size. 



Intending in another article to 

 give in detail my reasons for adopt- 

 ing my standard size of frame, I 

 will close by saying that I no more 

 claim perfection for it now than I 

 did in 1853, when in the full gush 

 of enthusiasm over an invention 

 which I hoped would revolutionize 

 practical beekeeping. — Gleanings. 



A New Bee Enemy, bv Prof. 

 A. J. Cook. — It has long been 

 known to chicken fanciers that our 

 poultry often suffer serious injury 

 fi-om a small mite. I liave seen these 

 little pests, red with the internal 

 juices, so thickly clustered on 

 boards, etc., in the poultry house, 

 that to grasp the board meant 

 death, by crushing, to thousands of 

 these infinitesimal pests. 



