310 PROCEEDINGS OF THE 



pounds of honey from November to April, which was the least 

 amount I ever had consumed, or ever heard of being consumed. 

 The combs were as clean as when I put them in, and the 

 colonies seemed to be stronger than when I put them in. The 

 next winter, when I killed those seventy colonies, I put 

 them into the same house. In February they got too warm, 

 and got the diarrhoea, and in three weeks over half of them 

 were killed, and on May 1st I had only four left out of 

 seventy-four. 



Win. Urie: Do I understand you to say that you take the 

 board off from the top altogether? 



0. Thielmann : After the honey season is over the first thing 

 I do is to take them off, and put on the honey board over the 

 frame. 



Wm. Urie: Let me ask you right here, is your soil a clay 

 soil or is it sandy? 



C. Theilmann : It is a little sandy, but for the last nine years 

 I have not wintered any bees outside. I raise my bees up when 

 I put them in winter quarters, from ten inches to a foot above 

 the floor. I make all my hives with a tight bottom board, in 

 fact, I make them so tight now that they hold the feed. I just 

 pour it into the hives and let them take it up themselves. 

 That is the least trouble. 



Wm. Urie: In regard to this, I used to experience a great 

 deal of trouble when I had the Langstroth hive and the bottom 

 board nailed solid to the hive, and of course, the bees glued 

 that tight, but now I want my bottom board loose under all cir- 

 cumstances, but I do not want to go so far as some do in the bee 

 journals. I have had forty-five years' experience with bees, 

 and I have had them in four or five different states, and I have 

 tested them in almost all shapes and forms, and I believe to-day 

 I can take a hundred and fifty swarms of bees and not lose one 

 by that method. My bees came out last spring in perfectly 

 good condition. Bees require fresh air just the same as animals. 

 Many people place them in a close cellar without giving them 

 any pure air. In my discussion, this afternoon, I will give 

 you my whole method. In the first place I do not believe in 

 placing a swarm of bees under ground. It is a false idea. It 

 will cost but little to make a bee house on top of the ground in 

 Minnesota, but I want you to make a building that is frost 

 proof, but arrange it in such a way that on mild days you can 

 let through your bee house a stream of fresh air. You go into 

 my bee house to-day and you will find it just as sweet as this 



