THE BEE-KEEPERS' REVIEW. 



133 



that they are loug-lived, but whether they 

 cluster like our hive-bees and maintaiu the 

 proper temperature when it is cold outside 

 he does not know positively. The drones 

 are about the same size as our own, and it is 

 possible but not probable, that they would 

 mate with our queens. He thinks it worth 

 while for the government to make an at- 

 tempt at their importation. 



Advebtisements have been gotten up at 

 the Review office during the past mouth for 

 the A. I. Root Co., Aniericun Bee Journal, 

 W. T. Falconer Mfg. Co., Canadian Bee 

 Journal, J. B. Case, J. K. W. Shaw & Co., 

 and others. If there is any other advertiser 

 that would be pleased to have me re-set his 

 advertisement, setting it up just as I would 

 for myself, I shall be pleased to hear from 

 him. I am working hard, both by taking 

 extra pains in getting up attractive adver- 

 tisements, and by sending out large numbers 

 of the Review as samples, to increase the 

 value of the Review as an advertising 

 medium, and now if its readers will second 

 my efforts by mentioning the Review when 

 answering an advertisement I shall be grate- 

 ful indeed. 



AIB AS A OONDUCTOK OF HEAT. 



E. R. Root still contends that a dead-air 

 space (so-called) is just as good to prevent 

 the transmission of heat as is the same tilled 

 with some packing material. He says that 

 air pure and simple is the best non-conduc- 

 tor of heat. The latter assertion I cannot 

 oppose because I xion't know the conducting 

 powers of different substances. Perhaps he 

 does not mean that air is a better non-con- 

 ductor than any substance —asbestos, for 

 instance. The main point that I wished to 

 make is just here ; every little while some- 

 body will say that dead-air is just as good as 

 packing if the space could only be sealed up 

 hermetically so that there would be no cir- 

 culation. The point that I wished to bring 

 oat was the fact that there is a circulation 

 even if the space were hermetically sealed. 

 It is not necessary for the air to pass out of 

 a space and be replaced by other air, in or- 

 der to have a circulation : as I explained 

 before, the air in contact with the heated 

 surface becomes warmed and rises and the 

 air against the cool suiface becomes cooled 

 and settles, and this brings about a circula- 

 tion even inside a space that is hermetically 

 sealed. If any one doubts this, let him blow 



a whiff of smoke near the inside of a window 

 in a warm room when the outside tempera- 

 ture is pretty low, and see how quickly the 

 smoke settles, thus showing that as the air is 

 cooled it drops down. It is possible that the 

 packing material used may be so much bet- 

 ter conductor of heat than is the case with 

 air that more heat would be lost when pack- 

 ing is used, even if the circulation is pre- 

 vented. On this point I must admit that " I 

 don't know." 



■•M-mfM^-u^^rm^ 



SPECIALTY AND THE FUTUEE OF BEE-KEEPING 



From the reading of an editorial in the 

 last issue of the Quarterly, one would be led 

 to believe that the editor of the Review had 

 lost faith in specialty, and preferred bee- 

 keeping as a side-issue, or believed that it 

 would be better to follow it in that path. My 

 faith or belief in the advantages of specialty 

 are just as great as ever, but if there are no 

 blossoms, or if there are blossoms and they 

 don't secrete nectar to amount to anything, 

 the more of a specialist a man is the worse 

 he is off. The editor of the Canadian Bee 

 Journal publishes a table showing the num- 

 ber of square miles in nine European coun- 

 tries, and the number of colonies per square 

 mile kept in each country. The number 

 varies from one colony per square mile in 

 Russia to 18.00 per square mile in Holland ; 

 while in Ontario, Canada, there are only .74 

 of a colony per square mile. I don't know 

 as the number of colonies per square mile 

 either argue ■; for or against specialty, but 

 these tables show that in some old countries 

 a large number of bees per square mile may 

 be kept. Perhaps in our own country, twice 

 as many colonies might be kept as are now 

 here and yet the yield per colony remain the 

 same. But when the yield per colony is 

 only two or three ounces, or nothing, or we 

 have to feed to keep the bees from starving, 

 numbers don't help much. I don't think 

 that bee-keeping is going to the dogs, but 

 there are places where it can no longer be 

 followed successfully as a specialty, where 

 the returns are too uncertain, and I see no 

 good in trying to make it appear otherwise. 



THE VEBSATILITY OF THE EDITOB. 



I think that E. E. Hasty is one of the best 

 critics that we have. He does not simply 

 praise, he is fair, and when he has occasion 

 to point out errors he does it in such a way 

 one's feelings are not hurt. 



