XH© SEMERICa'^ BE»^ JQJJMmMI^. 



517 



secure the attention that a prompt 

 denial from a bee-pajters might fail to 

 tlo. In one case Mr. Gerard \vrote an 

 article to the Brickett News. In the 

 other case a ladj- bee-keeper (and what 

 editor wonld not give one of the oppo- 

 site sex a fair hearing ?) called upon 

 the city editor and enlisted his interest 

 so that he even wrote to A. I. Root for 

 information. 



The point is, that refutation or denial 

 should appear in the paper in which the 

 falsi hood has been published ; in other 

 wonls, those in whose minds the false 

 impression has been created should 

 ha\f a speedy denial. These large 

 pajuM-s will rarely deign to publish any 

 thiii^' from a small paper, but the^- 

 will take something first-handed, as 

 a g«-iieral thing, providing the right 

 inlliienees are brought to bear. Now, 

 then, we suggest that, instead of send- 

 ing so manj- of these clippings to us, 

 you sil down yourself and write to the 

 editor of the paper in whose columns 

 the fal.se statement appeared. We 

 will furnish free all the $1,000 reward 

 carils you can use. and other matter 

 you may call for. The more bee-keep- 

 ers wlio will do this, the more effect it 

 will have. 



Be sure to write in a gentlemanly 

 manner. Do not call them a " pack of 

 fools " or a " set of liars ;" but write in 

 such a waj' that they will respect the 

 writer. Of course we shall not cease 

 pecking away at the falsehood, as we 

 ha\c done in the past, but we solicit 

 the most hearty co-operation of our 

 subscribers. Do not forget that when 

 the item appears in your local paper, a 

 prompt denial from yourself especially 

 if you are a man of influence, and one 

 whose word even the editor has no 

 reason to doubt, will have more effect 

 upon the editor than the denial from a 

 bee-paper perhaps several hundred 

 miles awa}". Do not leave any local 

 editor uuvisited, who dares to slan- 

 dei- our industry b}' publishing any 

 thing about "artificial conilis deftly 

 filled and capped over by appropriate 

 machinery." 



These earnest words of Bro. Root 

 are excellent suggestions, and we en- 

 doi-se them most fully. We hope our 

 readers will be on the alert, and strike 

 the nail on the head every time. The 

 only way to kill this venomous, hydra- 

 headed snake of comb-honey slanders, 

 which extends its loathsome presence 

 all over the country, is for every bee- 

 keeper to consider himself a committee 

 of one to chop off a head every time it 

 appears in sight. Then send a mark- 

 ed copy of the local paper when the 

 amputation is chronicled, to the bee- 

 papers.which will cheerfully applaud it. 



Bee and Hone i ,) iiibitions at 

 tlie JBxpo!iition§. 



The following is a letter from Mr. S. 

 B. Pratt, father of E. L. Pratt, editor of 

 the Queen-Breeders'' Journal, published 

 at Marlboro, Mass. It will be read 

 with interest because It is the impartial 

 testimony of one who is traveling 

 abroad for the benefit of his healtli, 

 and who sees things from an American 

 stand-point : 



1 spent one day in the great English 

 Agricultural Exposition at Windsor, 

 with my family. I gave much of tlie 

 day to the Bee-Department. It was 

 very fine. A large building was given 

 up wholly to an exhibition of every 

 kind of bee-appliances. Large prizes 

 were given for hives, smokers, honey 

 displays, etc. There were some very 

 fine models of large bee-farms. At a 

 little distance there was a large tent of 

 mosquito-netting, within which an ex- 

 jsert operator ever}' two hours gave a 

 lecture to a large crowd, handling the 

 bees and instructing as to how to do 

 the whole business. He was vcrj' 

 bright and well posted. 



The Baroness Burdette-Coutts took 

 great interest in the bee-department, 

 and the Queen herself visited the bees 

 when the great awards were made. 

 The boxes of honey were verj' fine. 

 Some very curious work in the way of 

 names and ilates were displayed in 

 comb filled with honey. Much credit 

 was given to America for new sugges- 

 tions. Flat sections, made in Wiscon- 

 sin, have been introduced by manj' 

 English apiculturists. Every leading 

 displaj' contained these American sec- 

 tions, although most of the honey shown 

 had been stored in paste-board boxes 

 of the same size, with glass front and 

 back, and trimmed around the edges 

 with fancy paper. One exhibitor had 

 sections made wholly of glass, held in 

 place by hoops of fine wire. 



All the honey .shown seemed to be of 

 very superior quality, every section 

 being filled even to the corners. The 

 honey from some localities was golden 

 colored, from others very white, while 

 some was very dark colored. 



Many styles of honey extractors were 

 shown, and immense displays of 

 extracted and granulated honey, put 

 up mo.st beautifully in cut-glass jars. 



The English have a great many 

 devices for feeding bees, some of them 

 ver}- small, while other feeders covered 

 the whole size of the bee-hive. Many 

 Englishmen still cling to the old-fash- 

 ioned, conical straw-hives. The lecturer 

 declared that these straw-skeps were 

 the greatest obstacle to bee-progress. 

 Most of his exhibitions were given with 



ers in England still destroy the bees 

 by sulphur, to get at the honey. 



The Carniolan queens are daily 

 becoming more popular in England. 

 The black bees had the whole field to 

 themselves. The Italians had a hard 

 fight to gain recognition, but the Aus- 

 trian bees are winning great favor. 

 The only criticism I heard on them 

 was by one man who declared that the 

 capping to tlie cells was too thin for 

 transportation. 



Australia has a large building devo- 

 ted to bee-products. One large show- 

 case was filled with honey in the comb, 

 and in glass and earthenware. This 

 honey had been brought such an 

 immense distance, that it arrived 

 in very poor condition. It seemed 

 to be made mostly from the bloom 

 of the encat^'ptus tree, having a very 

 peculiar and unattractive taste. 



Xlie Pai-is Exliibilioii. 



We have given two daj's to the great 

 Paris Exposition. I found there a 

 small di.splaj' of bees from Luxembourg. 

 These are all kept in hives about the 

 standard American size, and covering 

 every hive was a wooden screen, look- 

 ing for all the world like green blinds 

 of heavy slats. 



The .English display of bee-products 

 here was very good. America, also, 

 had some large show-cases filled with 

 the most recent inventions ; but no one 

 seemed to be in direct charge, and it 

 looked as though these inventions had 

 been pulled about and left in more or 

 less disorderly (;onfusion. The moral 

 to be drawn from these distant contri- 

 butions in both the great national exhi- 

 bitions would indicate thatimless these 

 contributons are under the constant 

 watch and guard of some friend, who 

 will give his whole attention to their 

 proper display, they had better not be 

 sent. 



America has more bee-papers than 

 any other nation, and a copy of each 

 publication was on file hei-e, including 

 the Ajiekican Bee Journal. 



Manj- other countries sent bee and 

 honey displa3s, but the French display 

 outranked the combined results of all 

 other nations, and was more extensive 

 and grand than we expected to see. 

 Tons of honey, in the most attractive 

 forms, were displayed. One straw 

 super that we noticed, was filled with 

 over 150 pounds of dark-colored honey. 

 Many individual exhibitors were in 

 attendance, and everything was done 

 to charm and fascinate the visitors. 

 S. B. Pkatt. 



Xlie Britisit Bee Journal has been 

 reduced in price to one-penny, or about one- 

 dollar a year. It is published weekly, and 

 is well edited and printed. The extra pos- 

 tage to America is 50 cents. It will be 



„j, ,. . „ . „ -, , clubbed with the American Bee Journal 



sti aw-hiv es. A gi eat many bee-keep- 1 in the United States and Canada for S2.40. 



