February, igio. 



American "Bee Journal 



^r^-^'*^ 







No. I.— General View Showing Entire Apiarian Display at the Oklahoma State 



Fair. 



without it. Nevertheless, they were 

 severely dealt with. After the flow had 

 nicely started, honey came so fast 

 that i could hardly supply them with 

 empty combs fast enough. For various 

 reasons best known to myself, and not 

 intended to be discussed in this article, 

 I practice taking out full combs when 

 necessary and replace by empty ones 

 during the extracting season. When- 

 ever this work is being done, all supers 

 are generally crowded and combs com- 

 pletely covered with bees. According 

 to the condition of the super, from 3 to 

 5 combs are exchanged at each opera- 

 tion, and, of course, that many combs 

 have to be shaken off, or brushed off, 

 every time. 



It happened that the honey-flow was 

 so profuse this season that I had to 

 make the rounds every 3 or 4 days, 

 making an almost continual shaking 

 compulsory, and, it seemed, the more I 

 shook the more honey they stored. 

 Now, if Mr. Getaz failed to notice any 

 beneficial results from shaking, it may 

 be he did not shake in the right way. 



Chunk or Bulk Comb Honey. 



Then comes Mr. SchoU with his 

 chunk-honey introductory. This opens 

 up a long discussion — too long for this 

 article, if indulged in, but a few brief 

 comments may be admissible. 



If the people in his locality are edu- 

 cated that way, and call for chunk 

 honey, by all means produce it. It is 

 by catering to the demand that we suc- 

 ceed in making sales. It is an unprofit- 

 able job to sell, or try to sell, what peo- 

 ple don't want to buy; and it is the 

 easiest thing in the world to dispose of 

 anything they are looking for. 



Some years ago, before I had my 

 present trade established, a party used 

 to call at my home and bought all the 

 unfinished honey I would sell, paying 

 me the same price per pound as I asked 

 for my finished sections. In a round- 

 about way I found out that he manu- 

 factured a sort of honey syrup, cutting 

 up my unfinished honey and mixing it 

 with I-don't-know-what, which he ped- 

 dled from house to house, and sold by 

 the pound. I cannot say whether he 

 offered his mixture as honey-syrup or 

 honey, but from the innumerable ex- 

 pressions of his former customers, I 



should judge that he called it "honey." 



When I first began to be known as 

 a producer of honey at our city market, 

 which I visit late years regularly once 

 a week, people came to my wagon and 

 expressed themselves something like 

 this: "Some years ago a man used to 

 call at our house and sold honey by the 

 pound ; he dipped it out of a crock, and 

 we had to furnish a dish to put it in. 

 He called it honey. It looked like 

 honey, and tasted some like honey, but 

 it was not like you/- honey. He doesn't 

 call any more since you come to the 

 market. We want J<ti?-c honey, and we 

 know what we bought of you before 

 was fine." 



This is a sample of the stories I 

 heard, time and again, during the first 

 years I visited our city market, and 

 even now, after the reputation of my 

 honey has become an established fact, 

 I hear the same thing occasionally. 



There is one serious objection to 

 Mr. SchoU's chunk-honey management 

 — he offers a helping hand to this ne- 

 farious business of adulteration. Not 

 that I mean to say Mr. S. himself 

 would be guilty of doing any mixing, 

 but after his honey has left his hands, 

 what is to hinder a dishonest dealer 

 (and there are lots of them) to turn in 

 a lot of glucose and sell it all as pure 

 honey? How long would it be before 

 consumers would find out the difference 

 and refuse to buy chunk honey, saying, 

 as some of my customers did, "We 

 want pure honey." The chunk-honey 

 idea will eventually become a sad set- 

 back on our honey-trade. This s my 

 impression. 



But why does Mr. Scholl so persis- 

 tently advocate the production of 

 chunk honey, enumerating the various 

 advantages connected therewith, when 

 the production of extracted honey 

 would give him all those advantages 

 and others besides? Put up in clean, 

 labeled glass cans, it presents a neat 

 appearance, which Mr. S. cannot say of 

 his chunk honey. We are always urged 

 and instructed to make honey displays 

 at fairs, conventions, etc., for the fur- 

 therance of the honey demand ; given 

 frequently photographs of elaborate 

 displays of prominent bee-keepers. 

 Could Mr. S. rig up anything of that 

 kind with his products? 



The people here in the East are so 

 used to seeing all our commodities put 

 up in neat, attractive form, that they 

 would rather pay a little more and have 

 things to suit their fancy. If they want 

 comb honey it cannot be disputed that 

 a nice, white flake of section honey on 

 a tasty desert dish presents a much 

 more attractive, appetizing part of the 

 table outfit than chunk honey in any 

 form it can be served. There is only 

 one class of people in this part of the 

 world who would buy chunk honey, 

 providing they could buy it for less 

 money, and that is the laboring class 

 of foreigners. The American laborer, 

 as a rule, prefers his table-supplies just 

 as neat, tasty, and up-to-date in every 

 respect, as his employer. 



More could be said on this subject, 

 but the wise will take the hint. 



La Salle, N. Y. 



Apiarian Displays at the Okla- 

 homa State Fair 



BY J. C. FRANK. 



The Oklahoma State Fair, held Sept. 

 29 to Oct. 8, 1909, at Oklahoma City, 

 Okla., was a grand success. It was, of 

 course, the sweetest and best exhibit 

 on the grounds, and attracted consid- 

 erable attention. It also proved very 

 interesting to the thousands of people 

 that visited the Apiarian Department. 



The exhibitors were as follows : F. 

 W. Van De Mark, of Stillwater; B. F. 

 Bartholomew, of Norman ; Geary & 

 Geary, of Noble; Geo. H. Coulsoii, of 

 Cherokee; Mrs. J. T. Wallace, of Okla- 

 homa City; and The Golden Apiary of 

 Dodge City, Kans. 



Picture No. 1 is a general view, 

 showing the arrangement of the entire 

 display, consisting of bees, honey, bees- 

 wax, bee-keepers' supplies, and all 

 other products of the apiary. 



No. 2 is a view of B. F. Bartholo- 

 mew's exhibit, showing the arrange- 

 ment of bulk-comb designs in honey 

 and beeswax. Also Mr. B. in the fore- 

 ground ; but the writer knew of no 

 special premium being awarded to him 

 for an exhibit of that kind! 



No. 3 shows the exhibit of F. W. 

 Van De Mark's, who was away eating 

 ice-cream cones at the time this pic- 

 ture was taken. 



No. 4 represents "The Alfalfa Api- 

 ary," with G. H. Coulson, the proprie- 

 tor in the foreground. Mr. C. was the 

 bee-man at the fair, talking bees to all 

 the visitors. 



No. 5 is a view of "The Golden Api- 

 ary," with the writer, who is mana.ger, 

 in the foreground. This was a part of 

 the display from the Kansas State Fair, 

 where it carried off nearly all the first 

 premiums; the rest of this display was 

 lost on the A. T. & S. F. railroad. 



No. 6 is a general view of the .Agri- 

 cultural Building, where the apiarian 

 displays were located. 



The awards were made as given be- 

 low by Prof. Wright, of Stillwater, 

 Okla. : 



Bulk comb honey in glass— ist. B. V, Bar- 

 tholomew. 2d. F. W. Van De Mark; jd. 

 Geary & Geary. 



Section honey, not less than s cases of is 

 pounds each — ist. The Golden Aijiary; 2d. 

 Geary & Geary; .«i. B. F. Bartliolomew. 



