AMERICAN BEE JOURNAL. 



785 



necessary to spend much time, and bet- 

 ter still in these hard times, any money, 

 to determine that point. This may put 

 Dr. Sternberg out of a job, but it will be 

 "all for the better." 



I believe that I can assure Mr. C. that 

 every spore of foul-brood that has ever 

 been in melted beesvt'ax during the pro- 

 cesses of rendering, refining and sheet- 

 ing for foundation, is as dead as an 

 Egyptian mummy. How do I know ? 

 Why, Mr. C. proved it to me in his last 

 article. The funny part of it is he does 

 not see it in the same light as I do, and 

 that none of the veterans like the 

 Dadants and the Roots have "caught 

 on " to the point. 



But to the proof: Just turn to page 

 714 of the American Bee Journal, 

 where Mr. C. quotes a paragraph from 

 Mr. Dadant's article, in which the latter 

 says : " Sometimes we find bits of paper, 

 which, soaked with wax, are so trans- 

 parent that it seems impossible to 

 separate the two substances, yet, when 

 our cakes of wax are cold, we find the 

 paper altogether clear of wax." See, 

 then, how Mr. C. goes to work and 

 proves, in a very wise experiment, that 

 Mr. D. is mistaken, that paper once 

 saturated with wax cannot be freed from 

 it by any amount of boiling in water, 

 and that he concludes thus: "It must 

 now be clear to the reader that in Mr. 

 Dadant's molds all foreign matters, in- 

 cluding foul-brood spores, remain like 

 the paper encased in wax. 



Now, mark well the words, "incased 

 in wax." Was it not rather saturated 

 with wax ? Was it not so well satur- 

 ated that no amount of boiling in clean 

 water would free it from the wax ? And 

 why should Mr. C. continually talk of 

 " foul-brood spores encased in wax ?" 

 Are not dry foul-brood spores certain to 

 be not only encased, but saturated with 

 wax ? And, being once saturated, does 

 Mr. C. think that any amount of boiling 

 would ever free them from wax ? Re- 

 member that Mr. C. himself says, right 

 at the top of page 714, that the dry and 

 indurated spores are the most obdurate 

 to the effects of heat. Now, any one at 

 all used to melting much wax knows how 

 very penetrating hot beeswax is. Stick 

 in a piece of dry wood and it will be 

 soaked so that you can never free it 

 from the wax. Heat your finger and put 

 it, perfectly dry, into wax even moder- 

 ately hot, and it is next to impossible 

 to get the wax off without taking parts 

 of the cuticle along. Then why should 

 foul-brood spores alone be only " en- 

 cased" in wax, and not saturated? I 

 think they are saturated. And does any 



one think that any such saturated spores 

 as remain in foundation can be infused 

 with life ? Well, I for one do not. But 

 I am open to conviction. 



Twill only, in conclusion, state that I 

 do not think it requires very hot wax to 

 be penetrating ; that, directly after it 

 has passed the melting stage, it will 

 penetrate dry substances of any kind 

 which can be at all penetrated, provided 

 they are of the same temperature as the 

 wax, and left in contact with it for 

 awhile. 



Terre Haute, Ind. 



Bee Notes from Nebraska. 



J. M. YOUNG. 



Having fully recovered my health, I 

 pen a few more notes for the American 

 Bee Journal : 



My apiary has been sadly neglected 

 for some months, as well as my corres- 

 pondence, just for the want of my own 

 personal care and attention. 



My bees have been packed away for 

 Winter, and have received all the atten- 

 tion they will get until Spring opens. 

 All the new colonies are in single-walled 

 hives, where they stood on the summer 

 stands. The rest of the bees are in 

 Winter chaff-hives, carefully packed 

 with chaff and forest leaves above the 

 frames. 



If the Winter is mild, perhaps the bees 

 in the dovetailed single hives will come 

 through all right without the chaff pack- 

 ing, otherwise, should the Winter be 

 severe, nothing else can be expected 

 than that there would be a number of 

 empty hives. 



Just how much our crop of honey has 

 amounted to I am not able to say now, 

 but hope to announce at some future 

 time. I have an acQOunt of every pound 

 of honey sold, and generally at the close 

 of the year a showing is made of the 

 number of pounds sold, and for how 

 much. These accounts give interesting 

 information to the bee-keeper, if kept 

 properly, from year to year. Beginners 

 should try them and see for themselves. 



Bees were flying in this locality on 

 Nov. 30 and Dec. 1, when the weather 

 was quite warm, and the prospects 

 to-day are that they will be out again. 

 A good "fly" early in December is a 

 good indication that bees will come 

 through the Winter well, and be in fair 

 condition next Spring. 



A short visit to Mr. Noah Clemons a 

 few days ago, who lives some five miles 

 south, disclosed the fact that he has a 



