272 



THE AMERICAN BEE JOURNAL. 



For tbe American Bee Jouroal. 



Bees and Honey in Lucas Co., Iowa. 



A. KEUSCH. 



Tlie following Table represents the 

 bees and honey in Lucas Co., Iowa : 



E 

 < 



1 



2 



3 



4 



5 



6 



7 



8 



9 



10 



11 



12 



13 



14 



15 



o 



In Cave 

 Sum. Stand 

 Sum. Stand 



Cellar 

 Sum. Stand 

 Sum. Stand 

 Sum. Stand 

 Sum. Stand 



House 



I Cave 



(Sum. Stand 

 16|Sum. Stand 

 17 Sum. Stand 

 18 

 19 

 20 

 21 

 22 

 23 

 24 

 2.5 

 26 



Cellar 

 Sum. Stand 



a 



200 



ion 



19 



18 



14 



13 



8 



14 



14 



.5 



4 



8 



7 



11 



4 



3 



4 



3 



5 



5 



3 



3 



1 



3 



5 



3 



ox 



I" 



iiOO 



88 



19 



17 



14 



11 



8 



10 



14 



5 



2 



8 

 6 

 9 

 3 

 3 

 4 

 3 

 .5 

 5 

 3 

 3 

 1 

 3 



2C^ 



•fa 



170 



132 



.56 



23 



30 



.35 



8 



18 



35 



12 



19 



22 



13 



28 



9 



8 



16 



9 



7 



17 



6 



7 



5 



7 



3 



7 



477 448 702 .5950 39,380 



1800 

 1240 



1150 

 600 

 375 



"60 



48 

 2.50 

 150 



2&5 



12 



O 3 



■ccq 



15,000 

 10,000 

 2,200 

 775 

 1,600 

 1,500 

 1,400 



400 

 375 

 7.50 

 640 

 700 

 615 

 600 

 .500 

 300 

 3.50 

 .500 

 485 

 135 

 200 

 120 

 100 

 65 

 70 



Kftr the American Bee Journal. 



The Standard Langstroth Frame. 



JAMES HEDDON. 



If I am not misinformed, Mr. 

 Laugstroth, after inventing his hive, 

 Issued a book, in which he gave the 

 exact dimensions of his hive and 

 .frame. Tliis was Mr. Langstrotti's 

 standard. The booli did tiie worli of 

 introducing that hive and frame. Tliat 

 book gave the dimensions that I claim 

 are the standard. Soon after, the 

 National Bee-Hive factory was started 

 at St. Charles, 111., and ni,ade and sold 

 these hives on the most extensive 

 scale of any house in the United 

 States, thousands of bee-keepers 

 bought them, and have patterned 

 after them, or, at least, the frame, 

 ever since. 



Mr. G. M. Alves. of Kentucky, 

 submits the following propositions 

 why 17%, and not \1% inches, should 

 be universally accepted as the stand- 

 ard length : 



1. There are more Langstroth 

 frames in use of tliat length than any 

 other. 



2. The largest manufacturers of 

 hives, and the greatest number of 

 them, have adopted this size. 



3. This size will exactly take eight 

 standard one- pound sections — a very 

 important consideration witli tliose 

 who prefer to take their honey in 

 frames. 



4. Tlie editors of the principal bee 

 periodicals have, and do now, give 

 this size as the standard, and (on tlie 

 autliority of the Editor of the Ameri- 

 can Bee JouitNAL,), Mr. Langstroth 

 himself has approved the change. See 

 American Bee Journal for 1882, 

 page 251 . 



In reply, I will say: First, Mr. Alves 

 is undoubtedly mistaken about there 

 being very many more of the altered 

 Langstroth frames in use than of the 

 old standard. I have been agreeably 

 surprised to find a much larger num- 

 ber of the true standard in use than I 

 expected. But if the question of what 

 is the true standard frame rests with 

 numbers of them, then I will build a 

 large " brick factory " run by an " en- 

 gine," and make enougli of tlie 17?8 to 

 make that once more the true stan- 

 dard frame. I had heard that this 

 principle applied to lying, that is, a 

 man could tell a lie so many times 

 that he would finely believe it himself, 

 but until now I did not know that the 

 true standard frame could be made 

 the false one by making enough 

 frames of an odd size. I dislike to 

 make so many of these frames as to 

 make Mr. Alves change all of his, but 

 I see no other way to avert the trouble 

 of changing my hundreds of hives and 

 the thousands t have sold to others. 



2. I admit that the largest manu- 

 facturers of hives have adopted the 

 mongrel size, and for aught I know, 

 originated it, but large folks are often 

 in the greatest error, and " truth is 

 often on the scaffold, and wrong often 

 on the throne." This proves nothing 

 but the mistaken method of Mr. A.'s 

 reasoning. 



The question is, " What is the .stan- 

 dard Lnngstrotli frame V" I^ot Smith 

 frame, or Brown frame, or Jones 

 frame V Let us stick to the subject. 



3. Mr. A. tells us that the new 

 mongrel size will exactly take 8 stan- 

 dard one-pound sections. In reply to 

 this, which has no bearing upon the 

 question under discussion, I will say 

 that the Langstroth brood frame 

 does not take sections at all. A broad 

 frame can be perfectly titled to the 

 true standard, and the 4I4 sections at 

 the same time by just making the end 

 pieces a trifle thinner. Further, tliat 

 this style of adjusting sections is now 

 doomed, and is rapidly being super- 

 seded by much better methods. 



4. This simply proves that editors 

 can be mistaken ; and further, Mr. 

 Langstroth can no more change the 

 standard frame than any one else; 

 when he changes the dimensions, he 

 simply gives us another frame ; this 

 second frame might become the stan- 

 dard, but it has not as yet. There is 

 this one thing in our favor; where- 

 ever we find the true standard, we 

 find the measurements accurate. Of I 



this mongrel, we find a great varia- 

 tion in depth, as well as lengtli. The 

 " large manufacturers " seem to get 

 in too great a hurry to keep their ma- 

 chinery from varying, often times 

 more than the difference over which 

 we are discussing. If Mr. L. had made 

 a few frames 17^ and then abandoned 

 them for 17%, and booked this latter 

 size, then I should say Mr. A. was 

 right, but I find that he, after much 

 figuring and experimenting, settled 

 upon, and gave publicly to the world, 

 the 173^ ; and until he notifies us in 

 the same manner that 17% is not the 

 standard, we shall insist on it, that it 

 is the standard Langstroth frame. 



Mr. L. may now " prefer" the 17^, 

 but to entertain any such preference 

 is scarcely based upon any laws in 

 nature, but rather favoring some ones 

 convenience in the matter ; is it not ? 

 As regards the two lengths, we can- 

 not believe that any one would realize 

 any difference in them, except where 

 fixtures were to be exchanged from 

 one hive to the other, and in this case, 

 many of us have done it successfully. 



Dowagiac, Mich. 



[The inventor of the frame, and 

 author of the book, Mr. Langstroth, 

 has publicly given his sanction to the 

 frame 17% inches long. No amount 

 of discussion vi'ill be able to change 

 the thousands of both sizes now in 

 use, and we fear none of the manu- 

 facturers will be willing to change 

 unless an agreement can be entered 

 into to make a new standard frame 

 for America. This, in many ways, 

 would be desirable if all would con- 

 form to it. — Ed.] 



For the American Bee JuumaL 



Central Illinois Convention. 



In answer to a call for a meeting of 

 bee-keepers of the association of Cen- 

 tral Illinois, 22 members assembled 

 at the Surveyor's office in Burlington, 

 Iowa, April 11, 1883. 



The forenoon session, which was a 

 short one, consisted in the reading of 

 the minutes of the previous meeting, 

 the report of financial standing of the 

 association, and giving some experi- 

 ences in working with bees. 



In the afternoon session the subject 

 of " hives and sections " was taken 

 up, and President Wolcott thought 

 more depended on proper manage- 

 ment than the kind of hive, for 

 success. 



Mr. Cox believed if we had a stan- 

 dard hive it would be much better, 

 but did not expect such a hive would, 

 very soon, become universal. 



Mr. Butler asked what kind of 

 frame was best to winter on V 



Mr. Cox : A deep frame. 



Mr. Corbett thought bees worked 

 better in surplus frames at the sides. 



Mr. Butler used the Langstroth 

 hive, with frames running crosswise, 

 and was decidedly in favor of the 

 chaff hive for wintering, and the 43^- 

 x4J^ section for surplus. 



Jas. Foindexter considered large 



