300 



tunate circumstance the fact that all 

 exhibitors of bees and their products 

 were not accommodated under one 

 roof, as the display would have cer- 

 tainly been much more impressive ; 

 and many interested— friend Abbott 

 among others — would not have gone 

 home without seeing all. As it was, 

 every inch of room in the " Chateau de 

 I'Insect " was assigned long before the 

 Exposition opened, and a large number 

 of apiarists had to content themselves 

 with space in their different govern- 

 mental departments. Their exhibits 

 were none the less interesting for this, 

 but bee-keeping, as an industry, lost 

 much of the force it would otherwise 

 have had in a grand and united display. 



I presume the multiplicity of other 

 sights monopolized so much of Mr. Ab- 

 bott's time and attention that he failed 

 to notice, while here, the elaborate dis- 

 play in the American department made 

 by Messrs. H. K. &F. B. Thurber & Co., 

 for in the July number of the British 

 Bee Journal, he says the American ex- 

 hibits were conspicuous by their ab- 

 sence. The Thurbers' always try to be 

 abreast, and to this lirm's enterprise 

 the bee-keepers of the United States 

 owe a tine exhibition of their honey. 

 This firm called particular attention 

 to the superior quality of American 

 honey; straight, well-filled combs, 

 stored in convenient boxes, which are 

 in turn packed into neat crates, well 

 adapted for general sale and transpor- 

 tation. Many people, probably in our 

 country, are unaware of the wide range 

 of this firm's trade, and but compara- 

 tively few are really aware how much 

 labor, capital and pluck-, is needed to 

 sell even a box of honey or a cake of 

 beeswax. It would appear bat simple 

 matters, and yet under careful manipu- 

 lation of good business men, really im- 

 ply vast commerce, wide as the earth 

 itself. 



It was very gratifying to me, as an 

 American, to liear the prize boxes and 

 crates, as well as the very fine honey 

 they contained, so universally praised 

 by Europeans. Every box was an in- 

 disputable witness that although we 

 are called young Americans, in the 

 present of bee-culture we are really the 

 elders of all the world ! 



I cannot refrain from recording my 

 regret that some of our enterprising 

 bee-keepers did not utilize photography, 

 and in this manner illustrate a flourish- 

 ing American ai)iary and our methods 

 of raising bees for profit. You know 

 how badly Richard wanted a horse and 

 how anxiously Blucher or daylight was 

 looked for, but you will never know 

 with what earnestness I wished for a 



patent bee-hive man. Strange and al- 

 most incredible as the statement may 

 appear, not one of tliese indefatigable 

 ones were to be seen, and not one Amer- 

 ican hive or implement was on exhibi- 

 tion ! It was refreshing, however, to 

 find the American Bee Journal, and 

 the Bee-Keemrs'' Magazine displayed 

 conspicuously ! They were nailed to 

 the counter of Messrs. Thurber's ex- 

 hibit in such a manner as enabled those 

 interested to read them, and they have 

 been thumbed imtil they are ragged. 

 Your own very beautiful poster occu- 

 pied a prominent position — and tliese 

 were the only specimens of bee-litera- 

 ture I saw at the Exhibition. 



All the way from Skaneateles to Paris, 

 via Syracuse, New York City, American 

 Institute Fair, through the critical ob- 

 servation of a hundred bee-keepers, 

 across 3,000 miles of the deep sea, on 

 the counter of the Liverpool Exchange, 

 to the largest establishment in London, 

 Hull, Leith, Glasgow and Belfast, back 

 to London, across the rough channel to 

 finally rest, like a brass kettle in the 

 sunshine at the Paris Exposition, came 

 Doolittle's cherry-crate of Honey ! ! 

 What a history this little crate has 

 had ! ! ! I can, in my mind's eye, see 

 friend Doolittle, working over his 

 bench at the crate, and the look of sat- 

 isfaction which pervaded his counte- 

 nance when he first unveiled it, (I mean 

 the crate), to his New York friends ! 

 Why, he looked like the gambler who 

 held four aces in his hand and the fifth 

 up his sleeve ! He knew he could sweep 

 the deck! Then, again, I see three 

 gentlemen bathed in perspiration, dis- 

 cussing the merits and demerits of this 

 same little crate of honey ; they were 

 so long in deciding that the gas was 

 turned off and they were left alone in 

 the dark in the middle of the night to 

 determine its beauty. I remember what 

 a disturber of the peace it became, and 

 how the little dictator, after all, has 

 obliged the world to acknowledge that 

 these boxes are the " most marketable 

 shape," and win from yoti the title of 

 "prize box!" 



In the monotony of a sea voyage, 

 after all the books and papers had been 

 read, and every nook and corner of the 

 steamer had been seen, the purser ci'e- 

 ated quite a sensation by announcing 

 that as all hands were anxious to be en- 

 tertained, he had on board the ship an 

 exhibit intended for the Paris Exhibi- 

 tion, that he would show them. He 

 said upon his '* word of honor," and 

 without the least desire to exaggerate 

 the matter at the expense of truth, that 

 that which he was about to show them 

 had required 20,000 individuals a long 



