THE BEE-KEEPERS' REVIEW. 



237 



numerous; several times I have counted 

 50 or more on one comb, and many newly 

 hatched queens accompany every swarm. 

 Signor Giovanni Francia has always told 

 me that the Maltese bee has characteris- 

 tics and valuable points which distinguish 

 it from all other races, among which are 

 noteworthy its singiilar activity, the pro- 

 lificiness of its queens and its lack of 

 inclination to rob. He wished to 

 keep bees by Italian methods, but very 



soon hid to change his plan 



The colonies remain at the' same degree 

 of development all the year. ' ' Tlie editor 

 adds this foot-note: "The Maltese bee, 

 of the black race, is doubtless more dis- 

 posed to swarm than the Italian; for by 

 never having a lack of empty cells to de- 

 posite eggs and store honey in, supplying 

 continual work to the home bees by giv- 

 ing them full sheet:, of foundation to draw 

 out, keeping the hive well ventilated in- 

 ternally, shaded from the scorching rays 

 of the sun, and above all, by preventing 

 prcrocioHS drone-rearing, our colonies, as 

 a rule, give no more than 15 per cent of 

 swarms. There are rare seasons, however 

 in which the swarming imjjulse becomes 

 absolutely incoercible. At such times the 

 only efficacious method is that eTnjjloyed 

 b)' the Rev. Cariiana Dingli." 



Montrose, Colo., July 15, 189S. 



EDITORIAL 



fferings 



The Editors of most of the bee 

 journals are taking little outings this 

 season, even if some of the trips are not 

 very extended. Good thing to do. 



ini^^*«^^*«^» 



The Apiary Buii<ding at the Omaha 

 Exposition is 148 feet long by 75 feet wide 

 and there is a skylight on each side of 

 the ridge pole, extending the whole 

 length of the building. 



Hasty was not behind this month, but 

 we were ahead, and had the Revew so 

 nearly up when his copy came, that I 

 thought best to let it go over until next 

 month — then it will surely get in. 



A Week's Outing is what I have re- 

 cently enjo3-ed with my camera among 

 the bee-keepers of Northern Michigan. 

 I shall probably begin next month to tell 

 you "what I saw up North." 



»^li'lt»*Fk»u« 



My Neighbor Koeppen, who has six 

 apiaries, will have at least 20,000 pounds 

 of white comb honey. From some of» 

 his apiaries he may get some fall honey. 

 He had a young man help him about 

 three months this season. 



Mr. Wm. a. Sklser, the honey man 

 of Philadelphia, bottled and sold thirty 

 tons of honey last year. Mr. Sel-ser re- 

 cently visited Mr. Snyder of Kingston, 

 N. Y., and bought his crop of extracted, 

 and while there he told Mr. Snyder of 

 the amount of honey he had sold, and 

 Mr. Snyder in writing me mentioned 

 the visit and this little bit of tale that has 

 thus been told out of school. 



The Width of Sections that I used 

 this year is only one and one-half inches. 

 Several years ago, when I lived at Rogers- 

 ville, I used several thousands of sections 

 of this width. This is the width that bees 

 naturally build their comb, and they 

 build this width of combs more even and 

 straight, without separators, than they 

 do the thicker combs. They complete 

 and cap the combs quicker. Fourteen 

 sections weigh about twelve pounds. I 

 like sections of this width. 



Consolidation among the bee jour- 

 nals is recommended in a private letter 

 that comes to me from the Pacific coast. 

 It is urged that if there were only one bee 

 journal it would or could be made vastly 

 superior to any we now have; and the ex- 

 pense to bee-keepers would be greatly re- 



