October, '13] GATES: APIARIAN EXHIBITS 419 



two-fifths are provided by the Fair management. The management 

 also provides a building 75 x 50 feet, well lighted and equipped with 

 tables. So excellent are the displays that the management regards 

 the beekeeping show as much a feature as the poultry or floral sections. 



The premiums offered are large in comparison to similar premiums 

 at other fairs. For instance, for the largest and most attractive dis- 

 play of honey, the first premium is $24.00, the second, $16.00 and 

 third, $8.00. Liberal premiums are also offered for queen rearing 

 outfits, being $16.00, $10.00 and $6.00 respectively. With these 

 seemingly large awards, sufficient interest is aroused among the bee- 

 keepers to cause keen competition. One of the exhibitors this year 

 realized $130.00 on premiums. 



The benefits to beekeeping derived are, the results of keen competi- 

 tion wherein the beekeeper makes supreme effort to produce the finest 

 sections of honey, to grade them with the utmost discretion, to clean 

 the sections a little better than his competitor, and to pack them in 

 the most attractive form which he can devise. In this way the methods 

 and interest in producing and marketing honey cannot help but be 

 improved. On the other hand, the consumer is enlightened concerning 

 honey. One who is skeptical can satisfy himself that he is procuring 

 the best of pure honey at the fair. He learns to know honey in the 

 open market and acquires a taste for this most wholesome sweet. 

 Furthermore, the public learns that honey differs, — it may be comb, 

 extracted or candied, — and how to use it, for the Fair displays an 

 assortment of culinary products in which honey is used. 



The general beekeeper is not without benefit, also, for a most remark- 

 able display of bees is made. In 1913, approximately fifty colonies 

 of different races were on exhibition, and the beekeepers could be 

 seen inspecting the superiority of the premium stock. This collection 

 of bees, without doubt, represented the most choice material available 

 in the country. 



Novice beekeepers and the public are afforded opportunities to 

 learn fundamental manipulations of bees, how to handle them so 

 as to avoid stings, to know the features and construction of hives, 

 and to see the brood, the internal features of the colony, through the 

 numerous demonstrations given in the wire cloth-cage by experienced 

 experts. Those who witness such demonstrations, realize how fascinat- 

 ing they are and what crowds are attracted. 



From the educational standpoint, furthermore, a relatively unique 

 feature of the Connecticut display is the Section entitled ''Competi- 

 tion for Novices," in which it is prescribed that "no one previously 

 exhibiting or receiving premiums shall be considered in this Depart- 

 ment. " It is at once apparent what this provision affords to the new 



