244 



THE AMERICAN BEE JOURNAL. 



The other dimension, which we shall 

 call the widtii, is that which regulates 

 the size of tlie frame. The internal 

 dimensions of a Woodbury frame, 

 whose end bars are % inch wood, and 

 bottom rail Jg inch, will be isy inches 

 by 81^ inches. I am in a position to 

 say that this size of frame is pretty 

 general in England and Ireland as 

 well as in Scotland. 



I have been tlius particular in re- 

 gard to dimensions, not that I may 

 ride a liobby, but because tliis particu- 

 lar frame contains witliin its measure- 

 ments a unit I think ought to be in 

 any frame claiming to be a standard. 

 That unit is i}4 inches, the dimen- 

 sions either way of the American 1 lb. 

 section. The Langstrotli frame, most 

 generally used in America, tiolds 

 eight of these sections ; the frame I 

 have described holds six exactly as to 

 depth, butwith about three-eiglitlis of 

 an inch of room tosi)are in thelengtli. 

 All bee-keepers who work sections in 

 frames, either in tlie body of tlie hive 

 or in a top story similar to that below. 

 will at once see the force of my pro- 

 posal tliat the dimensions of tliis sec- 

 tion should be taken as the unit of 

 measure in the British standard 

 frame. 



It seems to me, tlierefore, that there 

 is ground for claiming that ttie stan- 

 dard that is to be should eitlier be the 

 improved Woodbury or the Lang- 

 strotli. The latter hive is scarcely 

 used in tliis country, and we believe 

 its frames are too long for our short 

 seasons and moist winters. Certainly 

 it is more difficult to handle. 



Bees as Weather Prophets.— The 



California Apiculturist remarks as fol- 

 lows on this subject : 



Nature in her generous giftand lib- 

 eral economy has not endowed man 

 alone with premonitions of changes 

 of the weatlier, but to all living crea- 

 tures, more or less. It is said that the 

 swine lierald the coming storm, by 

 running to and fro carrying straw, 

 weeds or other material for tlie for- 

 mation of a bed. Likewise geese, by 

 running, flying, and by a continuous 

 quacking and chatter. But from tlie 

 close experience of a learned German 

 apiarist, it would seem that nature 

 has endowed tlie -'blessed bee" with 

 more instinct in this respect than slie 

 has most of the animal kingdom. As 

 we liave never given tlie subject much 

 attention ourselves, we give the fol- 

 lowing from a bee-keeper who has 

 done so : 



" When on Wednesday your colony 

 leaves the hives, coming out of tlie 

 holes in a mass, and hover about, you 

 may be certain that on Sunday tlie 

 weather will be nice, or at least, will 

 bring a good swarming day. Sliould 

 this happen on Thursday, tlie good 

 weather will set in on Monday, etc. 

 At least, here in Germany this is the 

 case; but whether in America it is 

 likewise, must be ascertained from 

 observation. When bad weather is 

 about to set in, or a scarce time for 

 the bees, the signs are as follows : 

 Shoul.d the bees fly later than usual in 

 the evening, it will generally rain the 



next day. Should they sit thick around 

 the entrance-holes, lift the abdomen 

 up, flapping with their wings, or move 

 backward or forward with the head, 

 as if they wished to chink up the 

 place (we call this movement Ilobeln), 

 from 8 to 14 days of scarcity for the 

 bees will follow, which days are no- 

 ticeable for continued rain, wind and 

 cold." 



Adulteration Frauds.— Mr. G. W. 



Stanley in the Empire State Agriail- 

 turist, Rochester, K. Y., remarks as 

 follows on this subject : 



Since the oleomargarine frauds have 

 come to the public notice, and since 

 the facts li.;ve become known that 

 some extensive dealers have seen (it 

 to manufacture syrups and extracted 

 honey of glucose or corn sugar, some 

 persons, from what cause I know not, 

 liave seen lit to advance the idea that 

 comb lioney is also being manufac- 

 tured and sold for the genuine arti- 

 cle. Now, if there is one article that 

 we eat, aside from our meat and pota- 

 toes, that conies to our hands in just 

 the shape that it should, that article is 

 comb honey. If those wlio are in- 

 clined to tliiiik that this is made in the 

 way spoken of. which is to make the 

 comb of parafflne complete, and then 

 run in the melted corn sugar and seal 

 over with a hot iron, will stop to think, 

 they will at once see the mechanical 

 imiiossibility of the thing. I know 

 from long experience that it takes a 

 vast amount of patience and some 

 skill to make comb foundation as thin 

 as the bees make it, without even at- 

 tempting to make tlie side walls to 

 the cells ; and when we come to real- 

 ize that tliese side walls are so thin 

 that it takes 192 of them to make an 

 inch in thickness, and at the same 

 time those walls are made % of an 

 inch high in ordinary comb honey, it 

 will be very easily seen that tlie thing 

 is impossible. There is no Yankee 

 yet so smart that he has invented a 

 machine that will make comb founda- 

 tion with base as thin as natural comb, 

 and at the same time with walls 1-16 

 of an inch high. 



This adulteration ot food is bad 

 enough, but let us enjoy, while we can, 

 the blessing of knowing that some 

 articles of food are still handed to us in 

 their purity. If the adulteration of 

 sweets could be stopped, the honey 

 producers could then sell an article.of 

 extracted honey for 15cts.per lb. that 

 would be equally as good an article as 

 the comb honey, for which lie pays 

 20 cts. per lb., and still his profits 

 would be as large and the consumer 

 would get more for his money ; but if 

 we wish to find what can be done with 

 a nice lot of extracted honey in tumb- 

 lers, we rush to some of the large 

 dealers in our cities and we get the 

 answer : " We cannotsell your goods 

 in that shape, as our customers want 

 the goods put up fresh." Now, what 

 does this word "fresh" mean V It 

 means, you send ns your honey in bar- 

 rels, ami we will take out 5 per cent, 

 commission and pay you 9 or 10 cts. 

 per lb. for it, delivered, and mix it 

 with glucose that costs us Sets, per lb. 



and sell it for 20 cts. per lb. in tumb- 

 lers. Tlius the producers and con- 

 sumers are alike swindled, and our 

 honey loses its reputation, and the 

 dealer makes 200 per cent. ; the con- 

 sumer eats glucose, and tlie man who 

 produces the honey realizes about 8 

 cts. for his extracted honey. If those 

 buying honey, either extracted or 

 comb, would buy from the producer 

 and not from the dealer, they vi'ould 

 get a better article of extracted honey 

 for 1.5 cts. than they now get for 20 

 cts., and the same comb honey that 

 now costs 25 to 2S cts. at retail, could 

 be had for 20 cts. in 25-lb. crates. 

 _ You need have no fear of getting 

 Impure comb honey, but when you 

 buy extracted honey at the grocery, see 

 tliat it has the name and address of 

 the producer on the label, with guar- 

 antee of purity, and the nearer that 

 producer is located the better. 



Be Kind to the Bees.— The Rural 

 Canadian says : 



Considering that during the honey 

 season, when we have most occasion 

 to handle bees, their average life is not 

 over three months, there is but little 

 chance to cultivate friendship with 

 them. Besides, tlie first smell of you 

 they decide vv'hether to treat you as a 

 friend or a foe. No kind treatment 

 that you can give them will ever 

 change their dislike of you into love. 

 Be gentle witli them always, but gen- 

 tleness will not conquer their aversion 

 if they have taken a " sconner " at you. 

 It is people who are bee-loved who 

 should make a life-work of apiculture. 

 The most that others can do is to let 

 the little insects know from the start 

 that they have their master. 



Buying Bees and Transferring. — The 



Indiana Farmer remarks as follows : 



To those who contemplate buying 

 bees, we would say do so at once, so as 

 to take advantage of all the season's 

 work. A good colony now may well 

 be expected to pay in honey its first 

 cost or more. If you cannot afford to 

 buy full colonies, get good strong nu- 

 clei, and they will soon grow into 

 quite large colonies, especially if you 

 help them with comb or foundation. 

 The very best time for transferring 

 bees is during fruit bloom. If you 

 contemplate doing any of this kind of 

 work, you sliould get your hives and 

 fixtures all ready at once, so as to be 

 in complete readiness when the time 

 comes. 



Preparation of Honey for the Mar- 

 ket, including the production and care 

 of both comb and extracted honey. 

 This is a new pamphlet of 32 pages 

 which wehave justpublislied. At the 

 last meeting of the North American 

 13ee-Keepers' Society, we were ap- 

 pointed on a committee to prepare in- 

 structions on the Exhibition of Bees 

 and Honey at Fairs ; this is also added 

 to the above. Price, 10 cents. 



