1889 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTUEE. 



257 



a sign was placed on it, as may be seen, which 

 said, " Candied Honey. No Sugar Here." A few 

 bottles of it had been drained and then stirred, so 

 that not even an expert could tell that it was not 

 sugar, without tasting. The editor of the A. B. J. 

 refers to it in the number for Nov. 14, 1888, page 

 739. The pyramid was originally designed to be 

 eight square; but as only about one-half of it would 

 show, the back half was left off. The next week 

 after the visit of those in attendance at the con- 

 vention, your young man, W. B. Weed, took the 

 pyramid in hand and decorated it and rearranged 

 the honey, and made it a " thing of beauty." In 

 the back concave side of the pyramid your men 

 had a shelf on which they did their writing and 

 kept their stationery, etc. In the rear of the 

 straight shelves they had a bedroom and a ward- 

 robe, the whole being inclosed by a door, as shown; 

 and over the door, and but little shown in the pic- 

 ture, the sign, "Medina Headquarters." On the 

 brace, near the upper central portion of the pic- 

 ture, a sign says, " Honey-producing Plants; " and 

 above that another, on which may be seen, " Ex- 

 hibited by Dr. A. B. Mason, Toledo, O." 



To the left of this picture, and on the same plat- 

 form, was a large exhibit of comb and extracted 

 honey on shelves, 20 feet long, and extending near- 

 ly to the top of the side of the building. This be 

 longed to "Uncle Aaron," whom 1 have before 

 mentioned. In connection with this he made a fine 

 display of very yellow beeswax, molded in differ- 

 ent forms and sizes. It, of course, took the "red 

 ribbon." He also had a display of five gallons of 

 the lightest-colored honey vinegar I ever saw. It 

 was as clear as the best water, and attracted much 

 attention. 



To the left of Uncle Aaron's exhibit was that of 

 Dr. H. Besse, of Delaware, O., occupying 30 feet of 

 the platform, and consisting of comb and extract- 

 ed honey, beeswax in the form of round columns, 

 foundation-mill, smokers, honey-knives, bee-litera- 

 ture, etc. On the platform in the center of the 

 building I also exhibited a Given foundation-press 

 on which foundation was occasionally made, to 

 show people how it was done. Also a U. S. honey- 

 extractor, with duplex reel; and being, as you 

 know, an " extracted-honey man," I shall always 

 want to have a honey-extractor along when show- 

 ing extracted honey at fairs. I also had two single- 

 comb nuclei with glass sides, so arranged on posts 

 as to be readily turned to look on either side for the 

 queen. On top of each was a sign, "Bees and 

 (Queens," and it took only an instant for some of us 

 to gather a crowd around these nuclei, and start off 

 in a "speech," giving a little of the natural history 

 of the queen, workers, drones, etc., and we fre- 

 quently had listeners that were very much inter- 

 ested in what we told, and would ask questions, 

 and sometimes kindly thank us for the informa- 

 tion we gave. Dr. Tinker, Mr. Elias Cole, and C. E. 

 Jones, also had nuclei for showing queens, but 

 they were not so conveniently arranged, as they 

 had to be held, and were liable to be tipped over 

 and broken. 



The description of the exhibit in our department 

 would not be complete without mention of your 

 "one-piece section" machinery. Unfortunately 

 for our display, this, in order to have power with 

 which to operate it, had to be put in Power Hall, 

 fully sixty rods. I should think, from the Bee and 

 Honey building. It consisted of four new ma- 



chines, placed in a space of 12 x 15 feet. An abun- 

 dance of the very nicest basswood blocks had been 

 prepared (in Medina, I suppose), dressed to the 

 right thickness, and cut to the right length for sec- 

 tions and placed in boxes that would hold 500 sec- 

 tions. These blocks were first run through the ma- 

 chine that automatically makes the openings in the 

 sides; then over the "gang" of saws that cut the 

 notches in the ends; then the sections were cut 

 from the side by a saw that left them almost, if not 

 quite, as smooth as if they had been sandpapered. 

 From this machine they were put into one that cut 

 the V grooves. It was a marvel of ingenuity and 

 simplicity, and it was "just fun "to see it work. 

 All the attention it seemed to require was to have a 

 lot of sections, few or many, placed within its 

 reach, and it would, without watching, cut the V 

 groove just right in every section, and drop the 

 sections ail complete, in a box ready to be packed 

 for customers. A great many were given away as 

 samples, and a large quantity of price lists were 

 here judiciously distributed. 



I am not aware that such an exhibit of bees, hon- 

 ey, and the appliances of the apiary, was ever be- 

 fore made in this country. It was a continuous 

 display for forty days (Sunday excluded), and our 

 building almost became a home to some of us. It 

 was the regular sleeping - place for two of your 

 men, Uncle Aaron, and myself, and Uncle Aaron 

 and I "boarded" ourselves. Uncle Aaron gained 

 in health and weight every day, and got a " new 

 lease of life," which to a Christian man worth 

 scores of thousands of dollars, was of more value 

 than money; but to me the blessing came with a 

 loss of over two pounds a week in weight, and 1 

 never felt better in my life. The loss of flesh in my 

 case I attribute to worry. The boys " nagged " me, 

 and poked fun at me, and laughed at me at every 

 crook and turn; and visitors were not in the 

 least loth to do the same. There seemed to be no 

 end to my " putting my foot into it" (you know 

 what that means) at the most inopportune times, 

 and once I came pretty near getting a " licking " by 

 a Chicago man (not our friend Newman), who knew 

 more about "manufactured honey "than we did. 

 I believe I must tell you about it. Owing to my get- 

 ting so badly scared I may not get it just exactly 

 as it was, but it will be near enough for all practi- 

 cal pui'poses. When any of "our boys " found out 

 any thing new, or got "sold," or came across a 

 specially hard or green customer, or one that 

 probably never kept bees, or else kept them in the 

 old-fashioned way, and knew more about them 

 than we did, they were sure to bring such parties 

 to me. Well, one day a company of ladies and 

 gentlemen from Chicago were visiting our "neck 

 of the woods," and one of the men was telling 

 about having bought and used manufactured hon- 

 ey there ten years ago, and that " it was just as 

 good as the honey made by bees." After talking 

 with him awhile, and finding he knew more than 

 I did, I very mildly suggested that it wasn't just 

 right to be telling such stuff, as that way of mak- 

 ing honey was "played out " in Chicago, and re- 

 ferred him to friend Newman. He rather excited- 

 ly said that he guessed a man had a right to say 

 what he had a mind too. With as little discretion 

 as truth I admitted it, but, unfortunately, added, 

 "A man has a. right to Keif he wants to." Well, 

 his looks and actions induced me to get up from 

 the seat I was occupying, and put down a package 



