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AMERICAN BEE JOURNAL, 



Dec. 27 1900. 



small a compass. The finest views were to be had from the 

 Seine, or from the Eiffel Tower. 



The apiarian exhibits were scattered over a g-reat deal 

 of ground. This is because each countrj' had a special ex- 

 hibit, in which all its products were gathered, while there 

 was also a general exhibit for each special industry. If I 

 am not mistaken, the different exhibits of America were 

 scattered in some 35 different spots. But the American ex- 

 hibit of apiculture was confined to three manufacturers as 

 faras I could find— The A.I.RootCo.,The W.T.FalconerMfg. 

 Co., and our own firm. It consisted solely of apiarian im- 

 plements, sections, foundation, a few smokers, an extractor 

 or two, and some hives — no honey, no beeswax ! No indi- 

 vidual or collective exhibit of the products of the bee I 



It is true that these exhibits had been considered 

 worthy, for they were each rewarded with a medal, and the 

 few g-oods that were there were certainly superior to what 

 they have in Europe, so much so that I wondered whether 

 the people who saw them would realize that they were only 

 fair samples of what is made in America, for the mechan- 

 ical finish of what they use in bee-culture is very inferior. 

 But. nevertheless. I felt that we were outdone by Canada, 

 for they exhibited, in their own building, a stack of the 

 finest hone)' that it is possible to see. This was evidently 

 under the auspices of the Ontario Bee-Keepers' Association, 

 and intended to show to the world what Canada could do. 

 But the names and addresses of the producers were attacht 

 to all the samples. They may be less practical than we are, 

 individually, but they take more pains, collectively, to bring 

 their products forward. 



Yet the United States is rich enough and successful 

 enough to make the finest exhibit that can be made in the 

 bee line. Just think of California, Arizona, Colorado, 

 Utah, uniting with New York, Ohio, Michigan, Illinois, 

 Wisconsin, and other States, to make a honey exhibit! 

 What a grand display we could have 1 And are we not in 

 honor bound to do something of this kind for the nest In- 

 ternational Fair, wherever it may be held, but especially if 

 outside of our land ? This should not be left to individual 

 enterprise, but each State and local association should take 

 pride in sending samples of the products of its members 

 labeled with the producer's name, under the supervision of 

 the National Association. Thus we may hold our rank 

 with any other country in an international exhibit. If 

 there was a single pound of United States honey on exhibi- 

 tion at Paris, I neither saw it nor heard of its being there. 



The main apiarian exhibit consisted of a number of 

 hives of all styles and shapes, under the control of the 

 French Association, in an open-air annex, close to the main 

 building of the Champ De Mars. The best of this exhibit 

 was from Mr. Gariel, of Paris, who showed a very nice 

 assortment of practical apiarian supplies. One exhibitor 

 of a newly invented hive, guaranteed returns of SO percent 

 annually, on the money invested, to purchasers of his 

 invention. The quacks are not all in America. 



One thing astonishes me. It is the number of honey- 

 presses exhibited side by side with honey-extractors. This 

 comes from the persistent use of the straw skep which is 

 well represented here, in all sorts of shapes. Owners of 

 bees in straw hives have no use for an extractor. Stopping 

 a few minutes to hear the remarks of passing visitors, I 

 find that the bee-keepers there do not know anything about 

 the extractor, while the press seems familiar to them. A 

 little farther on, I notice a coarse wooden dish hinged on a 

 lid which seems to be made to fit inside of it and is attacht 

 to a long lever. It is labeled " Honey -press of the eleventh 

 century." It looks old enough, indeed. 



But the French honey exhibit was a very fine display. 

 This exhibit located in Class 42, contains show-cases from 

 eight or ten local associations, besides personal displays 

 from a number of honey-producers. Here we see American 

 section-boxes, filled with French honey. The exhibits are 

 tastefully arranged, and two or three gold medals show that 

 the jury was appreciative. A number of the largest exhib- 

 itors show the pains taken with the bees, by exhibits of 

 comb honey in the shape of words, diagrams, circles, etc. 

 In the main exhibit, Mr. Duviquet has represented the 

 words, " SociETE CenTk ALE D'ApicrLTUKE." in letters 16 to 

 18 inches in length, made of comb honey. E. Moret takes a 

 gold medal with the finest honey display, some of which is 

 evidently from previous years, and we are told that this 

 honey has already taken the medal at other exhibitions. 

 Here also Mr. Gariel has a fine exhibit and a gold medal. 



The products made with honey, or partly from honey, 

 are numerous, especially honey-cakes, gingerbread, metheg- 

 lin, both sweet and dry, and especially honey chocolate. 

 It would appear that chocolate sweetened with honey is 



making its way freely in France, altho the manufactur of 

 his article isa recenj I tasted of it and found it 



Excellent. 



Another bee-exhibit, I was told, was to be found at the 

 \ ncennes annex, where they said American machinery 

 took a very prominent position, in all sorts of industries, 

 but I had no opportunity to go to Vincennes, which is quite 

 distant from the Exposition grounds. Was there not 

 enough to see right there ? We went many times, but could 

 not hope to see it all. And, besides, there was enough to 

 see in Paris outside of the Exposition, even in the Louvre 

 alone, to occupy the two short weeks we had to stay. 



Here, as in every other place we visited, business ac- 

 quaintances or friends of ray young days whom I happened 

 to meet proved most hospitable. We thought ourselves 

 total strangers in Paris, but found one cousin, one former 

 schoolmate of mine, and last, but not least, our business 

 correspondent in Paris, Mr. Gariel, whom I have mentioned 

 as having so fine an exhibit, and whom we found to be one 

 of the pleasantest and most hospitable of men. He directed 

 us to a good lodging, invited us several times to dine and 

 spend the evening with his pleasant family, showed us 

 thru the exposition grounds, and accompanied us to Ver- 

 sailles on the Sunday following our arrival. There he 

 proved to us that a Parisian of small stature could outwalk 

 a resident of Illinois, for he kept me a-going from noon 

 until about six o'clock, with scarcely a minute's rest, thru 

 the immense park of the old kings of France. We tried to 

 see, in that short time, what could not be seen in detail by 

 a two weeks" stay, and I have in my memory a medley of 

 beautiful groves, grand avenues, gardens, marble statues, 

 fountains, palaces without end, thru throngs of visitors 

 who came as we did, in the two-story excursion trains, to 

 "do" Versailles in a half day. 



Early Drones— How to Get Them. 



BY JESSE M. DONALDSON. 



BREEDING queens for quality is fast superseding the 

 old craze of breeding for color. Almost all bee-keepers 

 will agree that it is a move in the right direction. Sev- 

 eral breeders are offering for sale queens of superior strains. 

 No doubt many of these queens possess all the good quali- 

 ties claimed for them, but even with one of those good 

 queens for a breeder, our progress will be very slow if we 

 allow her queen progeny to mate with common or inferior 

 drones. 



If we could secure the mating of queens in confinement, 

 all would be easy sailing, but, as all bee-keepers know, re- 

 peated trials have proved that to be one of the impossibilities 

 of bee-keeping. 



But we can lessen the chances of our queens mating 

 with poor drones, by not allowing them to be reared in our 

 yards, and encouraging drone-rearing only in colonies that 

 show good qualities. These drones should be in the fields 

 early in the season. 



I have experimented on these lines till I have workt out 

 a plan by which I get good drones much earlier than I 

 would if I allowed the bees to take their own time about it. 

 Of course, it means some extra work, or, as some would call 

 it, " fussing," but in the long run I find that it pays. 



Before giving my plan, I will say that I use the eight- 

 frame dovetail hive, and a winter-case high enough to ad- 

 mit an Ideal super, which I fill with planer-shavings. 



When preparing the bees for winter, all drone-comb is 

 removed from the colonies that I do not want drones from. 

 I then select the ones that I intend using for drone-rearing ; 

 for this purpose I prefer colonies with queens at least one 

 year old. In the center of these colonies I place two or 

 three frames that have previously been prepared by remov- 

 ing the drone-comb from the corners, and replacing it with 

 worker-comb, and grafting a small piece of drone-comb in 

 the center. We now have our drone-cells in the center of 

 the hive, just where the queen begins laying. I now make 

 sure that these prepared colonies have plenty of stores for 

 winter, which ends my work with them till spring. 



When spring comes, I crowd the bees on just the num- 

 ber of frames that they can cover, and place the extra 

 frames outside of the division-boards. The enameled-cloth 

 is now placed on the frames, and over it the super filled 

 with planer-shavings. An extra rim is now placed on the 

 winter-case, which gives it a slope from north to south. In- 

 stead of the regular winter cover, I now use one made of 

 glass. 



As soon as these colonies can take care of it more brood 



