402 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE 



M. J^ Sain's apiary in y young apricot orchard. 



bee-ajjpliances, is 144 feet long by 70 feet 

 wide. More than $700 is appropriated for 

 the maintenance of this building. Besides, 

 there is appropriated $1168 for premiums 

 on honey, wax, and bees, making a total of 

 nearly $1900 annually devoted to the en- 

 couragement of beekeeping. 



The premium honey is all displayed in 

 fourteen glass cases arranged around one 

 side and both ends of the building, about 

 five feet from the wall, so visitors can go all 

 around each and every case to inspect the 

 display, and also so all the honey is visible 

 at one glance inside of the building. In 

 the center, against the other .side wall, is 

 conducted a demonstration of extracting 

 honey. 



In 1913 this extracting demonstration 

 was one of the big sensations of the fair, 

 when Francis Jager, now professor of bee 

 culture at the University of Minnesota, 

 brought 12,000 pounds of honey to the 

 Minnesota State Fair in nice, clean, white 

 extracting-frames, just as the bees made it, 

 in well-painted, well-constructed supers. 

 This honey was uncapped, extracted, bot- 

 tled, and labeled during the fair week, for 

 the entertainment and instruction of the 

 public. 



A speaker on the platform explained how 

 the bees gather honey, pollen, and propolis; 

 how bees make wax; the difference between 

 comb and extracted honey, and explained 

 in detail the workings of the extractor, 

 which was kept running all the time. Two 

 men were uncapping honey with steam and 



electric heated knives over a Peterson cap- 

 ping-melter. Another man managed the 

 four-frame power-driven extractor and 

 pump which emptied the honey into two 

 one-hundred-gallon storage tanks. 



Above the bottling-table was a honey- 

 heater which could be regulated to heat the 

 honey to any desired temperature before 

 putting it into bottles. Two girls were busy 

 draining the honey into quart, pint, and 

 small bottles. Two more girls at a counter 

 near by were giving free samples of honey 

 on triskets to the public. In this way 57,000 

 helpings of honey were passed out during 

 the week, and about 15 gallons of honey 

 were used up. 



People crowded around the place all the 

 time. The daily papers of St. Paul and 

 Minneapolis had write-ups about this dem- 

 onstration every day for ten days. It cer- 

 tainly pays to advertise, especially when 

 the advertising doesn't cost anything, and 

 we did not pay the newspapers one cent in 

 money; but we did occasionally slip a bottle 

 of honey to some of our good friends who 

 helped our cause. I am convinced that a 

 small bottle of honey well placed will do 

 more good than a ten-dollar note. 



This demonstration alone cost the fair 

 management about $500. They insist that 

 we must have it again, and this year we are 

 planning on extracting 30,000 pounds of 

 honey, using all the different kinds of ex- 

 tractors, wax-melters, and implements used 

 by up-to-date beekeepers. We also will try 

 to work up some kind of contest to show 



