90 



THE AMERICAN BEE JOURNAL. 



lects his bees ; so I am convinced tliat 

 all who keep bees are not bee-keepers 

 in the true meaning of the term bee- 

 keeper. 

 FiUmore,K) Ind., Jan. 28, 188.5. 



For the Amerlcun Bee JoumaL 



The Pollen Theory has Gone. 



J. E. POND, JR. 



On page oo, Mr. S. Cornell writes 

 that " The pollen theory must go," 

 and gives an amount of evidence in 

 support of his position that must and 

 will be accepted by the unprejudiced 

 as m-ima facie if not absolute proof. 



On page 58, Mr. C. L. Sweet brings 

 forward still more evidence, and of 

 the most direct and positive charac- 

 ter. Xow, unless we have something 

 more than mere theory, with which 

 to combat the evidence presented by 

 these writers, the " pollen theory 

 must go " most certainly ; for it is 

 impossible to controvert positive evi- 

 dence Willi theoretical assumptions. 



But we are pleased at last to see 

 that no more discussion need be had 

 on this question, for on page 60 we 

 find that the pollen theory has gone. 

 Mr. James Heddon there says : '■ Be- 

 ing aware, as Prof. Cook says, and as 

 I nave formerly said, that bees can 

 winter well with plenty of pollen in 

 the hive, if all other conditions are 

 right." Here we have a direct ad- 

 mission from the author of the "pollen 

 theory," thi\t it is not correct. This, 

 of course, ends the controversy, and 

 bids farewell to the subject. 



Foxboro,ot Mass. 



For the American Bee Journal. 



A Bee-House Destroyed by Fire 



C. THEILMANN. 



On last Sunday one of my bee- 

 houses was destroyed by fire. There 

 were 87 colonies of liees in it. We 

 got all the hives out before it was en- 

 tirely burned down, but some of them 

 are partly burned, and in about 20 the 

 combs are all melted together, and in 

 about 40 there were more or less live 

 bees, In the 40 hives and the balance, 

 the combs are good yet, with con- 

 siderable lioney in them, but it tastes 

 very bitter. Probably not more than 

 10 colonies will live. ' It is the great- 

 est wonder that they were not all 

 smothered to death, as there must 

 have been a dense smoke in the house 

 for nearly three days. The floor was 

 covered witli about 4 inches of saw- 

 dust, wliieh, with the floor, was nearly 

 all burned, and the over-head and the 

 sides were all on fire before we dis- 

 covered it. 



It was evidently set on fire by a 

 spark of hot coal "out of a pot which 

 was put in for heating the room. The 

 house was double-walled with about 

 6 loads of chaff between the walls 

 and 2 loads on the upper floor. The 

 door was threefold, and the pipes 

 were all closed up. Tlie covered pot 

 was put on a piece of cast-iron 4 

 inches thick, on Thursday morning, 

 and no smoke was discovered until 



Sunday morning. The hives were 4 

 tiers high, and in the 2 upper tiers no 

 bees could be seen. I think that they 

 all were driven out first by the smoke 

 and fell into the fire, and those in the 

 2 lower tiers are the ones of which 

 some may probably revive. Nearly 

 all of my best queens were in this 

 house. There was no signs of bee- 

 diarrhea, not a speck can be seen on 

 the combs, and the bees look very 

 slim. 



I have another beeliouse with 44 

 colonies in which I put what bees 

 were alive from the one which was 

 burned. I also have a cave (Mr. Doo- 

 little's plan) in which I have 60 colo- 

 nies which seem to be wintering well. 

 and if they come through all right, I 

 will not be entirely out of bees, 

 though it is grievous for a lover of 

 bees to have his pets burned and 

 smothered to death, not saying any- 

 thing of the loss, which is about S-500. 



For the past two weeks we have 

 had the coldest weather that I have 

 ever seen in Minnesota ; all the while 

 the thermometer indicating a temper- 

 ature of from 10^ to 35- below zero. 

 Can any one tell me how to take the 

 bitter taste from the honey which 

 was damaged by the smoke V Aside 

 from, that, it is nice honey. 



Thielmanton,(x Minn., Jan. 28, 1885. 



For the American Bee JournaL 



Fastening Foundation in Sections. 



JOHN KEY. 



dation. If any try this plan they will 

 be repaid for the cost of all extra 

 comb foundation, by receiving nice, 

 well filled sections of honey which 

 will stand a great deal of handling 

 before the combs break loose from 

 the sides of the section. 



I think that I see two points in 

 favor of fastening the foundation on 

 both ends: 1, It insures straight 

 combs fastened all around and sec- 

 tions completely filled without re- 

 versing them. 2. The comb founda- 

 tion will not sag, stretch, kink or 

 warp. As it is fastened at the top 

 and bottom of the section, it has a 

 sort of brace, and the bees do not 

 cluster directly on the foundation, but 

 half of them "are on the foundation 

 and half on the sides of the section, 

 the J4-inch space seeming to keep 

 them busy fastening the foundation 

 to the wood. 



East Saginaw,© Mich. 



In reply to a correspondent, I will 

 describe my method of filling and 

 fastening foundation in sections. 



I cut the comb foundation for the 

 one-pound {i^xiM) sections 3}4 inches 

 wide and 4'.^ indies long ; this will 

 allow 14 of an inch to fasten the comb 

 foundation on the top of the section, 

 and I4 of an inch to fasten it on the 

 bottom, and 14 ot an inch space on 

 each side of the foundation, which 

 gives the bees a chance to pass from 

 one side of the foundation to the 

 other ; liut by the time the bees have 

 the section filled with honey, they 

 have the sides all built up solid to the 

 wood, and the top and bottom tlie 

 same. In this way the section is com- 

 pletely filled all around, and it looks 

 better and sells better, and it is bet- 

 ter to ship a great distance than a 

 section which is only filled to within 

 /i or I4 of an inch of its bottom. 



To fasten the foundation, I use a 

 Parker foundation fastener, which is 

 fastened to a work-bench. I then lay 

 the comb foundation in the centre of 

 the section, but a little nearer the 

 fastener, just enough so it will fasten 

 I4 of an inch, and make it come in 

 the centre of the section. By revers- 

 ing the section, the other end is fast- 

 ened in tlie same way, wJien I have a 

 section which can be placed on the 

 hives either end up, that is, if an 

 open-end section is used. 



I tried about 100 sections filled in 

 this way, last summer, and I was so 

 well pleased with them that I will put 

 no other sections on my hives during 

 this coming summer, even if I do 

 have to buy a little more comb foun- 



For the American Bee JoumaL 



Bee-Cellars, Report, etc. 



CHAS. NORRIS. 



In Nov, 1883 I put 31 colonies of 

 bees into a newly made under ground 

 cellar. It was built 16 feet square 

 and 8 feet deep in sandy earth, and 

 made frost-proof, where it was not 

 influenced by any artificial heat. I 

 partitioned off one- half of it with a 

 tight, double-board partition, with a 

 well fitting door in the middle for an 

 entrance to the bee-apartment ; and I 

 made shelves 2 feet apart to set the 

 bee-hives on. In the other apartment 

 I kept my vegetables. I also built an 

 8x8 inch ventilating air-drain 3 feet 

 under the ground, and 4 rods long, 

 with the farther end 2 feet above the 

 ground, and the other end entering 

 the bee-apartment 2 feet below the 

 ceiling. I also built a perpendicular 

 ventilatino; tube of boards 12 inches 

 square and 16 feet high, starting one 

 foot ftbove the cellar floor, and con- 

 taining a ventilating valve to govern 

 the draft. I kept the valve about J3 

 open all winter, and the thermometer 

 ranged from 35^ to 40^ Fahr. up to 

 May 0, 1884. 



On May 10 I put the bees on the 

 summer stands with the thermome- 

 ter at GO'-' Fahr., and I found that I 

 had 24 colonies that survived the win- 

 ter dampness of a very damp cellar. 

 Some of the exterior combs on the 

 inside of the hives, that contained a 

 fair quantity of live bees, had from 1 

 to 2 pints of clean, pure water in 

 them on examination of the combs on 

 the day of their first flight. 



Soon after this I let my bees out on 

 shares, and they increased, by divid- 

 ing them, to 48 colonies by July 1, and 

 they were given equal stores and 

 brood at the same time. They soon 

 ceased storing any honey, and s"topped 

 rearing brood, and began consuming 

 the stores which they had on hand ; 

 and on Oct. 1 I examined them and 

 found about half of them in a starv- 

 ing condition, with no pollen or bee- 

 bread. I have since fed them .300 

 pounds of coffee A sugar diluted with 

 I3' of its weight in water, which makes 



