April, 1916. 



''ifki>"- 



Am^rican ISee Journal 



villages only native honeys are easily 

 sold, though bottled honeys, if mild in 

 flavor, sell fairly well. Alfalfa comb 

 honey, white sage comb honey, and 

 even comb honeys from Illinois and 

 New York State do not sell well in the 

 smaller towns of New England. The 

 comb honey of New England is more 

 often than not a blended honey and 

 any foreign honey fails to taste right. 

 Nearly all people buy comb honey for 

 the enjoyment of eating it. If it does 

 not taste as it did "at grandfather's" 

 then it is not pure. 



In our manufacturing towns the vast 

 population of foreign born, not know- 

 ing the taste of New England honey, 

 buy the western honeys if the retail 

 price is not too high. From these facts 

 I reason that New England is not a 

 good market into which to ship comb 

 honey, but excellent for extracted 

 honey. In this locality, this very win- 

 ter, Connecticut comb honey brought 

 a dollar more per case than western 

 honey. The grocers preferred to pay 

 the difference rather than load up with 

 a honey which they might have to carry 

 on their hands until they finally sold it 

 at less than cost. 



New England doubtless has flowers 

 which yield enough nectar to produce 

 honey enough for all her markets. Un- 

 fortunately the business of honey pro- 

 duction is too precarious to encourage 

 many to go into it on a large scale. 

 There are rare localities where more 

 than 50 pounds per colony can be 

 counted on. The weather conditions 

 which prevail in New England are most 

 uncertain. Almost every honey flow is 

 doomed to be broken into several 

 pieces by storms of uncertain duration, 

 and there are few years when one does 

 not have to feed more or less for win- 

 ter. 



NorwichtOAn, Conn. 



Advertising at New England 

 Fairs 



BY A. W. YATES. 



FOR the purpose of advertising 

 honey and its uses, stimulating a 

 larger consumption and creating 

 that favorable impression necessary to 

 its universal use, what better method 

 can be employed than bee and honey 

 exhibits at fairs .'' Since honey is used 

 much more freely during cold weather, 

 fall is the proper time to do this adver- 

 tising. Almost all fair associations 

 are willing to allow exhibitors the 

 privilege of selling at the same time, so 

 long as they do not impair their dis- 

 play. Thus the exhibitor is more or 

 less repaid for time and expense in- 

 curred and his advertising will be 

 gratis. As an exhibitor, at the Hart- 

 ford fair since its inception, I have 

 found this method of advertising of no 

 small advantage, assisting in the dis- 

 posal of about 8000 pounds of honey 

 this season and a considerable number 

 of bees and queens. Being much more 

 interested in the rearing of choice 

 bees and queens than in honey produc- 

 tion, my energy is expended largely in 

 that direction, and I know a great 

 many spring orders can be attributed 

 to this source. 



As superintendent of this department 

 for the past seven years, I find that it 



requires a good deal of time, energy, 

 and enthusiasm to keep it up to its 

 high standard, but when the time ar- 

 rives and everything is set up and in 

 order, and we hear visitors saying, 

 "This is the prettiest place on the 

 grounds," I feel well repaid for the ex- 

 ertion. 



Wc had about 12 tons of honey on 

 exhibit, this past season, of different 

 shades and quality, coming from all 

 sections, of which probably three- 

 fourths was extracted. This with some 

 40 or 50 colonies of bees in single 

 frame observatory hives, representing 

 different races, drew a crowd of inter- 

 ested sightseers, who were led to think, 

 "How wondrous are His works"! 



Several different exhibits of queen- 

 rearing outfits, including cell-cups, cells 

 in diflferent stages under development 

 and mating-hives, with large displays 

 of hives and fixtures, were shown and 

 their uses explained. 



The culinary department received its 

 share of attention. The cookies, gin- 

 gersnaps, cakes, canned fruits and pick- 

 les, in which honey was used for 

 sweetening had recipes attached that 

 were copied by many and will encour- 

 age a more liberal use of honey in 

 cooking. 



Honey sandwiches, a roll with a slice 

 of comb honey inserted, and honey 

 phiz, a concoction of extracted honey, 

 cream and carbonated water, were sold 

 near the entrance of the building, 

 where those passing were invited to 

 try a sample at 5 cents. About 1200 

 sections, averaging eight sandwiches 

 each, and between 200 and 300 pounds 

 of extracted honey in the drink, were 

 disposed of in this way. 



Our building, which is 50x75 feet, is 

 situated near the main entrance where 

 about 150,000 people are obliged to 

 pass in going to and fromthe grounds. 

 Being occupied solely by "Bees and 

 Honey," it is a distinctive feature of 

 the fair. The large, open windows 



provide plenty of light and air, and it 

 is lighted at night with hundreds of 

 electric lights and a large electric sign, 

 " Bees and Honey." 



But how do we get up such an exhi- 

 bition as this ? There must be some 

 inducement or we could not get this 

 large amount of bees and honey to- 

 gether. The premium list, which foots 

 up to $500 or a little more, is spread 

 out into classes, with three liberal 

 awards to each class, so that each ex- 

 hibitor does his best to obtain one or 

 more of these, and they long ago found 

 out what the consequences would be if 

 negligent in any way. The competi- 

 tion is very keen, but usually each gets 

 something. 



To defray the expenses of the fair 

 committee, which are very light, an 

 entrance fee of 25 cents in each class 

 is imposed. This has thus far been 

 more than sufficient, and the balance 

 has been turned into the treasury of 

 the association. 



The largest award last fall, of $153, 

 which was received by the writer, was 

 allotted on the following classes: 1st, 

 Carniolan queen, queens in cages, queen 

 rearing, display of honey, fixtures and 

 sweepstakes. 2d, Golden queen, Cau- 

 casian queen, largest collection of dif- 

 ferent races, 10 sections, one case 

 packed for market, and 24 jars of 

 chunk honey. 



Amounts of the awards were : 



W. K. Rockwell, $98; Allen Latham, 

 $51; H. W. Coley, $33; C H. Clark, 

 $39; J. T. Cullen,$8; Wm Ehouse, $17 ; 

 J. G, Griswold, $39; A. G. Bristol, $16; 

 A. E. Crandall. $6. 



The balance of the $500 was awarded 

 to the ladies of the culinary depart- 

 ment, and this year as before, whether 

 it was the sweet in the articles them- 

 selves or in those that prepared them 

 that influenced the judge in his decis- 

 ions, I am unprepared to say, but when 

 I noticed his light appetite at dinner 

 afterwards I wondered whether it was 



BEEKEEPING EXHIBITION HALL AT HARTFORD, CONN, 



