AMERICAN BEE JOURNAL. 



785 



the Bee Journal also this question was 

 asked recently : "What space between 

 the top-bars gives the best results to 

 avoid brace-combs ?" I will try to an- 

 swer, as far as my experience goes. 



My experience agrees with that of Dr. 

 Miller. When I first began keeping 

 bees, I made the hives by hand, and as 

 I had no sample hive, I made them ac- 

 cording to the description in the "A B C 

 of Bee-Culture," with only 1 inch wide 

 top-bars, and % of an inch thick. After 

 using them one year they were full of 

 brace-combs, and I began studying 

 whether the frames could not be made 

 so that the bees would not build any 

 brace-combs between them, and I no- 

 ticed that if there was just }4 of an inch 

 space between the top-bars and cover, 

 there were no burr-combs. The idea 

 suggested itself, if there was only J^ 

 inch space between the top-bars, and 

 they were % inch thick, would they 

 build brace-combs then ? 



I made one hive as accurately as I 

 could. I made the top-bars 1% inches 

 wide and J^-inch thick, thereby making 

 it only ^^-inch space between the top- 

 bars when when placed 1% inches from 

 center to center, and only J^ inch space 

 between the frames and cover. 



I hived a swarm in this hive, and 

 waited for the results. After the bees 

 had built their combs, I opened the hive 

 and the frames were perfectly clean 

 from burr and brace combs, and they 

 are so to-day, after several years' use. 



To test my frames more thoroughly, I 

 took some frames with triangular top- 

 bars, and as these are only 1 inch wide 

 there would be a ^a-inch space between 

 the frames. I put them in the center of 

 a hive, with the other frames in, and 

 after a week's use they were full of 

 brace-combs, and the others were per- 

 fectly free from them. 

 h I have noticed that if the top-bars sag 

 or bend, either from poor or not straight 

 grained wood, they build burr and brace 

 combs on them. But there is a difference 

 in colonies in building brace-combs, just 

 as there is in propolizing. 

 Q Since I began making hives by power, 

 I make the top-bars 1% inches wide by 

 %-inch thick. I don't use any comb- 

 guide, but always use either a starter or 

 full sheet of foundation. 



In regard to the projections or forks 

 of the Hoffman frame end-bars, they 

 will be very narrow, but by not making 

 the V edge, they are a little stronger. I 

 considered the V edge worse than the 

 square, as far as I can see. 

 The honey crop in this locality was 



poor. I got an average of 43 pounds of 

 comb honey per colony, mostly all dark. 

 White clover was a total failure, al- 

 though there was an abundance of it. 

 Linden yielded well for three days, but 

 stopped suddenly. Bees are in a fine 

 condition for winter. 



Lake Mills, Iowa, Nov. 15, 1893. 



Theories Regarding^ the Origin 

 of Foul Brood Examined. 



Written for the American Bee Journal 



BY S. CORNEIL. 



I have been watching with interest 

 for some one to show that, what Mr. 

 McEvoy terms his "Strong chain of 

 evidence which no man on earth can 

 dispute," published in the American" 

 Bee Journal for May 11, 1893, does 

 not contain a particle of evidence in 

 support of his theory as to the origin of 

 foul brood. Now that Mr. Simmins has 

 undertaken to confirm some of Mr. Mc- 

 Evoy's erroneous theories, and has 

 added others of his own, I think the 

 matter should no longer remain un- 

 noticed. 



It will be recollected that Mr. Mc- 

 Evoy's theory of the origin of foul brood 

 is that cells, in which larvae have died 

 from some other cause, are not thor- 

 oughly cleaned out by the bees. While 

 in this foul state Mr. M. claims that 

 the queen lays eggs in them, and that 

 when the eggs hatch, the young Iarva3 

 are obliged to consume the decomposed 

 remains of the former occupants, with 

 the liquid food furnished by the nurses. 

 Mr. McEvoy claims as his discovery, 

 that this rotten matter, when taken by 

 the larvEe with their food, is the " whole, 

 sole, real, true, and only cause of foul 

 brood. "^ 



There are several objections to this 

 theory. We know the microbe which 

 produces the brown, ropy matter, found 

 in foul-brood cells, and we know the 

 microbe which causes the putrefac- 

 tion of brood, dead from other causes ; 

 those who have studied the matter most 

 thoroughly, agree in saying that the 

 latter microbe is never transformed into 

 the former. A prominent bacteriologist 

 says: "Only those absolutely ignorant 

 on the question have ever argued that 

 the one organism can be transmuted 

 into the other." This objection is, of 

 itself, insuperable. 



Again, if Mr. McEvoy's alleged fact, 

 that cells containing remains of rotten 

 larvEe are used by the queen is true, 



