476 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE. 



June 15. 



apiary. Still further, it is the only State, so 

 far, that has a nice lot of white section honey. 

 You know that last season was not the best for 

 getting nice honey, and last year's honey is not 

 generally expecied to be improved by standing 

 till the last of May. So it is not to be wondered 

 at that the honey in general, what little there 

 is of it, is not such as would always take a first 

 premium at a county fair. 



I'll tell you what those New York fellows did. 

 Last fall they secured about 16,000 pounds of 

 best section honey. It was kept through the 

 winter in a room heated by steam to about 50 

 degrees. It was brought to Chicago in any 

 thing but nice cases, and a lot of empty cases 

 were brought along, brand new, beautifully 

 white, and packed in close boxes so as to keep 

 them clean. The best half of the sections were 

 sorted out for exhibition, the rest being dispos- 

 ed of, and these white cases with white sections 

 piled straight up in the large showcase. In the 

 niches left between the cases made by rounding 

 the corners are put pound bottles of extracted 

 honey of different colors. Although only part of 

 one case was yet filled, there was enough of it 

 to make it a beautiful show, and one that a bee- 

 keeper would gaze long upon after being told 

 that it had been kept over winter. 



O. L. Hershiser is in charge of the New York 

 exhibit, assisted by a Michigan bee-keeper, C. 

 H. Hoyt. I couldn't find out just what amount 

 New York had appropriated, but I think 16000 

 or more will be spent on their exhibit. 



Iowa's case contains a small display, all white 

 honey, the idea probably being, as in most 

 cases, to put in a fresh and larger exhibit of 

 this year's crop as soon as it can be obtained. 

 The exhibit was put in place by the veteran 

 Kretchmer, a much younger-looking man than 

 I expected to see. A notable feature in his case 

 is a full-sized " Alternating " hive, made entire- 

 ly of beeswax, 50 pounds of wax being used in its 

 construction. Friend Kretcmer has also a dis- 

 play of hives and implements on tables. 



E. Whitcomb, president of the Nebraska 

 State Association, is in charge of the Nebraska 

 case. This exhibit excels in fullness of varie- 

 ties. It is largely of extracted, each kind being 

 labeled, the different colors being so mixed as 

 to make a very pretty show. Besides the hon- 

 ey in the case are articles manufactured from 

 wax. and a fine collection of pressed honey- 

 plants prepared by Prof. C. E. Bessy. The 

 Nebraska appropriation is SIOOO. 



C. A. Hatch and Frank Wilcox have put the 

 Wisconsin case in shape, with only $300 appro- 

 priation from the State. Pound sections are 

 made into semicircular arches, with a diameter 

 of perhaps 4 ft. " J. J. Ochsner. Pia. du Sac, 

 Wis." appears in large letters of comb honey, 

 nicely designed; but the unfinished cells in a 

 few of the letters show that last season was not 

 a booming one in Wisconsin. 



A. G. Hill has boarded up against the wall 

 some 12 or 14 ft. high, with two elevations pro- 

 jecting something like counters in front, with 

 four or five different kinds of articles well 

 spread over the wall and counters. 



Of A. I. Root's very full display I will not 

 attempt a description, as one will probably be 

 given in detail elsewhere. 



. Ontario's exhibit was on the ground, but not 

 yet to be seen in place. Its case was filled with 

 shelves arranged terrace fashion, but the 

 shelves were yet empty. I saw some of the emp- 

 ty glass bottles or jars that are to be filled and 

 placed on the shelves, and I suspect there will 

 be a very fine display. For these glasses alone 

 about $300 has been expended, the largest cost- 

 ing about $3.00 each. At some distance from 

 the Ontario case is a sort of office and store- 

 room, 9x15, in which matters may be stored and 



the exhibitor can, if he chooses, entertain vis- 

 itors. It will be entirely covered outside, I 

 think, by a display of all kinds of implements. 

 Some 3000 to 4000 pounds of honey have been 

 brought from the Canadian side; and, if I un- 

 derstand the matter rightly, the government 

 has not made a specific appropriation, but un- 

 dertakes to foot the bills necessary to make a 

 good show. I shall be much surprised if the 

 show is not a fine one. 



Tome the most interesting part of the Onta- 

 rio exhibit was Allen Pringle. Tall, spare, 

 earnest-looking, and genial withal, you'll like 

 to meet him and have a talk with him; and he 

 always knows what he's talking about. 



The Ohio case contained a sort of framework 

 of gas-pipe having strung on it a lot of things 

 that looked something like iron shoemaker's 

 lasts, and a fat man dressed in blouse and over- 

 alls. The intention is to take out the man with 

 blouse and overalls and put in some shelves of 

 glass to be filled with honey. When you get near 

 enough to see the man's face, you will have no 

 difficulty in recognizing it as that of the jolly 

 two-times president of the North American, Dr. 

 Mason. 



I can't tell you a thing as to what is to be in 

 the other cases, as they were entirely empty. 

 At the eleventh hour Illinois has an appropri- 

 ation of $3,500, but I don't know what the 

 display will be. Perhaps nothing till the bees 

 furnish something of this year's crop. 



Marengo, 111. C.C.Miller. 



THOSE OLD BEE-BOOKS, 



ANOTHER PEEP AT THE "GOOD OLD TIMES." 



The next book that claims our attention is 

 the oldest one in the lot, and is entitled "But- 

 ler's Feminine Monarchie." It was printed in 

 Oxford, England, in 1609 — two years before the 

 English Bible was published under the sanc- 

 tion of James I., and two years after Jamestown 

 was settled. The pages are 4x6 in size, and 236 

 of them. The book is nicely bound in leather, 

 and is so well preserved that it seems not to be 

 over a year old; and yet when the binder laid 

 it down he would have had to wait 166 years 

 for the American Revolutionary War to begin. 

 How one wishes it could talk, and tell us where 

 it has been all these years! The other book, 

 noticed in our last, was printed in 1657; and in 

 going back to 1609 we notice a rapid decline in 

 regularity of spelling, beauty of letters, and 

 knowledge of the '■ fubiect" treated. The let- 

 ter j is not used, but " long s " is. The author, 

 "Chas: Bvtler Magd.," says, in the title- 

 page, that his book is " A treatise concerning 

 bees, and the dve ordering of them; wherein 

 the truth, found out by experience and observa- 

 tion, discovereth the idle and fond conceipts, 

 which many haue written anent this subiect." 



The above is useful as showing that the soul 

 of even Mr. " Bvtler" was grieved by the ig- 

 norance of those who went before him. How 

 fortunate for Adam's standing in society that 

 he did not write a bee-book, providing bee cul- 

 ture has improved from the first! A specimen 

 of the spelling of those days is here given for 

 the benefit of Jake Smith: 



Onlie, hir. haue, lad (land), vnles, hovve, vn- 

 luckely, etc. The letter w is made of two v's, 

 the letter v often standing for u, and u for v. 

 The letter n is often omitted after^a vowel, over 

 which is placed a mark; thus, " cocealing " for 

 "concealing." To a printer, the pages of this 

 book present a remarkable appearance in that 

 every line is spaced very closely; that is, the 

 words are all very near together. This method 

 is impossible in common print, for we divide 



