DEVOTED TO BEEH AND HONEY, AND HOME INTERESTS. 



Vol. VIII. 



OCTOBER 1, 1880. 



No. 10. 



A. I. ROOT, 



Publisher and Proprietor, \ 



I 

 Medina, O. 



Published Monthly. 



Established in lS7S.[iTS. t0CluU mau 



f TFRMS: $1.00 Per Annum, in 

 I Advance; 2 Copies for SRI .90; 3 

 \ for $2 75; 5 for $"4.00; 10 or 

 j more, 75c each. Single Number, 10c. 

 be made at 



NOTES FROM THE BANNER APIAUV 



No. 11. 



ATTENDING FAIRS. 



/jpjk NE year ago I attended our county fair. 1 took 

 hLJB considerable pains to make the "af-fair" a 

 ^~"^ success financially. I had been writing bee- 

 keeping articles for our county paper, and just be- 

 fore the fair there was an " item " in the local-news 

 column, which informed my friends that I would 

 make an apiarian exhibition at the coming fair. I 

 obtained board at low rates at a private house, and 

 paid for it in honey; and the man who carried my- 

 self and " traps and calamities" to the fair was paid 

 in "dicker;" in fact, I left no stone unturned to 

 make the enterprise a profitable one. I believe I 

 even found myself imagining how I should tell 

 Gleanings all about it, and perhaps "bra^ " a little 

 about how much money I made. How did I expect 

 to make anything? Well, read on and you will see. I 

 exhibited two Simplicity hives filled with combs, an 

 extractor, three full-sized frames filled with fdn. in 

 different stages of its "growth," honeyin one-pound 

 sections, extracted honey, grape sugar, chaff eush- 

 ion«, Italian queens and bees, sample copies of the 

 different bee-papers, ABC books, and cold-blast 

 smokers; and I expected to make some money by 

 selling books and smokers, and taking subscriptions 

 for the bee-papers. I prpsume I judged other bee- 

 keepers by myself, and thought that they would 

 spend their last dollar if they came across a new 

 bee-book. Mrs. H. said she didn't think it would pay 

 to go, but I wanted to try it. 



I sold 20 or 25 pounds of honey, two ABC books, 

 took one subscription for Gleanings, and sold 

 " nary " a smoker. I saw lots and lots of bee-keep- 

 ers, and had a real good time, even if some of the 

 ladies did ask if the honey-extractor was a patent 

 churn. Every one seemed glad to meet me; but they 

 came to the fair to have a good time, and not to buy 

 bee-books — they could buy them at any time. As to 

 smokers, the season was about over; they would 

 have but little use for one this season; they would 

 wait until next spring, and then buy one. I received 

 a discretionary premium upon fdn., and a premium 

 for having the greatest and best variety of apiarian 

 implements and products was awarded to me, but, 

 through some mistake or misunderstanding, it was 

 never paid. 



My father-in-law, Mr. Clark Simpson, of Flushing, 

 Mich., also attended the fair, and exhibited a lamp 

 nursery, a chaff hive, Italian bees, honey, smokers, 

 shipping-crates, etc. He received several discretion- 

 ary premiums. 



Our attending the fair did a little good, however, 

 as, last year, there was only $1.50 offered as premi- 

 ums in the apiarian department, while, this year, 

 there is $15.00 offered. 



I shall not attend the fair this season, as I can not 

 afford it; besides, the " little folks " at our house cry 

 for " papa" if he is away nights. 



Oh, yes! the next day after the fair, a man came 

 and bought six queens. It was seeing me at the fair 

 that brought him. 



ADVICE TO WOULD-BE yUEEN-BKEEDERS. 



Each year the number of queen-breeders seems to 

 increase; and, as the number of breeders increases, 

 there seems to be a corresponding decrease in the 

 price of queens. If prices go much lower, some of 

 the breeders will probably " drop out," so that those 

 who keep right along in the business will probably 

 make as much as ever. In spite of the prospect of 

 low prices, however, there are. I presume, quite a 

 number of bee-keepers who are thinking of entering 

 the ranks as queen-breeders. To such, let me say a 

 few words. Although I have been in the queen 

 business only three years, I have been in earnest, 

 and have learned a good share of the " wrinkles." 



Of course, you can buy an imported queen and 

 raise " dollar " queens, even if your own and your 

 neighbor's bees are blacks; but I would not advise 

 you to do it. I presume it is such " doings " as this 

 that has caused so many to condemn dollar queens. 

 If your own apiary is not Italianized, do it this fall— 

 it isn't too late. You can introduce queens as long 

 as the weather is warm enough to handle bees. Do 

 as I told you last month — buy dollar queens, and in 

 the spring you can destroy those that produce hy- 

 brids, and then either divide the stocks up into nu- 

 clei, or else buy tested queens to put in the places of 

 those destroyed, and your apiary will be stocked 

 with pure Italians at the loivcst possible cost. If you 

 can get your neighbors to buy queens at the low 

 prices at which they are now offered, you would bet- 

 ter do it, even if you have to introduce the queens 

 for them, and run the risk of their being accepted. 

 If they will not buy the queens, trade with them for 

 lomo of their bees, or something else; that is, if you 



