THE AMERICAN APICULTURIST. 



233 



CORRESPONDENCE. 



visit to the new england fair. 



Mr. Editor : 



Having just returned from a 

 visit to tlie New England fair, and 

 Eastern Maine State Fair at Bangor, 

 Me., I tliought I would write you a 

 short letter on what I saw at the N. 

 E. fair. 



Owing to the fact that there were 

 no premiums offered for exhibition 

 of bees or honey, the show of apia- 

 rian exhibits was somewhat limited, 

 but what it lacked in quantity it ex- 

 celled in quality. The first thing 

 which met the eye of the visitor upon 

 entering the hall was the large and 

 varied display of Mr. W. H. Norton of 

 No. Madison, Me. In a prominent 

 place, where their movements could 

 be readily observed by the delighted 

 visitors, were shown two full colonies 

 of bees in observatory hives : one 

 colony of finely marked Italians, and 

 one of Holy Land or Syrian bees. 



Near by was shown a large honey 

 extractor containing combs, showing 

 the manner of extracting honey, and 

 judging from the number of questions 

 with which Mr. N. was assailed, was 

 something entirely new to most of 

 the people present. 



Mr. Norton also had on exhibi- 

 tion the different styles of hives with 

 both crosswise and lengthwise frames ; 

 the various kinds of surplus cases ; 

 honey in all kinds of marketable 

 styles ; boxes containing combs in all 

 the chfferent stages of construction 

 and to add to these, the indispensa- 

 ble smoker, a new and fine founda- 

 tion mill (Pelham make) ; beautiful 

 foundation both heavy and light ; 

 nice section cartoons or paper boxes 

 for retailing comb honey, and, in fact, 

 nearly every thing appertaining to 

 modern bee culture, and you have 

 an idea of the fine display made by 

 Mr. N. 



Mr. Norton, although a young 

 man, is evidently an enthusiast on 

 the subject of apiculture, and was 

 21 



kept constantly busy answering ques- 

 tions from the steady stream of visi- 

 tors which crowded around the apia- 

 rian department. 



Mr. Norton certainly deserves the 

 thanks of the beekeepers of New 

 England for the successful display 

 made by him, in the face of the fact 

 that there were no premiums to be 

 awarded. 



In conversation with him, he in- 

 formed me that the season had been 

 a very good one in his locality, and 

 in answer to our question, Which do 

 you consider the best race of bees, 

 all things considered? he repHed 

 promptly, I think the Holy Lands 

 are decidedly the best, and when 

 their good qualities are more fully 

 understood by the people, they will 

 at once take the front rank as honey 

 producers. Adjoining the collection 

 of Mr. N., was shown a large and 

 splendid pyramid of comb honey, 

 which was produced by Mr. W. M. 

 Chapman of Dixmont Centre, Me., 

 whose snowy combs called forth 

 tokens of admiration from all observ- 

 ers. 



Mr. C. bespoke for his brother api- 

 arists a much larger collection of 

 "bee fixings " at the coming Maine 

 State fair at Lewiston, as liberal pre- 

 miums were to be offered there, 

 thereby encouraging people to do 

 their best toward educating and in- 

 teresting the masses in the science 

 of beekeeping, which is fast becom- 

 ing one of the recognized industries 

 of the United States. 



Luther E. Burnham. 



Essex, Mass., Sept. g, 1883. 



ST. JOSEPH (Mo.) exposition. 



The St. Joseph Exposition for 

 1885 was a grand success. We had 

 the largest and finest display in the 

 Bee Department we have ever had. 

 The Board gave us all the space we 

 wanted, and everyone had a chance 

 to display his goods to the best ad- 

 vantage. Too much cannot be said 



