AMERICAN BEE JOURNAL. 



149 



exhibiting them at such a place for such 

 a great length of time as they were on 

 the Fair grounds. 



But with honey it was different. The 

 large and beautiful exhibit of honey was 

 like an open book — a silent educator to 

 the vast multitude of humanity that saw 

 it so often. Such exhibitions will always 

 popularize the use of honey. 



I was in daily attendance (Sundays 

 excepted) for nearly four months, and 

 had every opportunity to study the dif- 

 ferent phases of the benefits of honey 

 exhibits, and am well satisfied that to 

 make the sale of honey popular, you 

 must exhibit it in an attractive manner 

 as much as possible. In many cases 

 persons bought honey that said they 

 never bought a pound before. In five 

 different cases parties bought a single 

 section, and came again and bought in 

 12 and 15 pound lots. 



In my own case, I bought 300 pounds 

 of what I considered the finest extracted 

 honey on exhibition, and it is selling at 

 16 cents, and I can buy plenty of honey 

 here at 7 cents that has not been at the 

 World's Fair. 



In Chicago, at the close of the Fair, 

 comb honey went begging at 11 cents in 

 several instances, when several lots that 

 were on exhibition have brought from 

 15 to 20 cents. During the Fair honey 

 sold in the majority of cases at 20 cents, 

 the buyer willing to pay this price be- 

 cause it was on exhibition. 



Several merchants that never handled 

 honey before, were induced to buy honey 

 to keep on sale, because it was so well 

 exhibited at the Fair. In spite of the 

 terribly depressed labor market, mer- 

 chants informed me that they were sell- 

 ing more honey than ever before, and 

 said much of it was attributable to the 

 fine display of honey at the Fair, their 

 customers always speaking of the ex- 

 hibit. 



Visitors at the Fair had an oppor- 

 tunity to see the different grades and 

 test the quality of the many varieties on 

 exhibition. It was one grand object les- 

 son to all interested honey-producers. 

 The many different grades, the manner 

 of putting up, the different opinions in 

 regard to grading, will not soon be for- 

 gotten. It showed to any observing per- 

 son that the grades that had been 

 adopted were " away off." Two differ- 

 ent lots on exhibition were above any 

 established grade. We should have an 

 "ideal" grade — one that we should 

 strive to work up to, then the producer 

 that can put up that grade of honey on 

 the market will get some extra pay for 

 his knowledge. 



I think it will be consuming valuable 

 time for me to enumerate the many in- 

 stances that would go to show the bene- 

 fits of making large, beautiful and at- 

 tractive exhibits of honey. 



H. D. Cutting. 



The foregoing essay was reaji at the 

 home of the Review, and there was no 

 formal discussion following it. Mr. 

 Hunt mentioned that his sales had been 

 greatly increased by his exhibitions at 

 the Fairs. The meeting here drifted 

 into a social chat, and after sampling 

 the California honey, the members said 

 good night, to meet again in the morn- 

 ing at the usual place. 



SECOND DAY. 



The first thing on the programme 

 when the association came together on 

 the morning of the second day, was an 

 essay from Mr. S. Cornell, of Ontario, 

 Canada. It was entitled. 



Moisture in the Bee-Cellar ; What It 

 Can Do and What We Can Do. 



In the Bee-Keepers' Review for No- 

 vember I mentioned the fact, that when 

 honey is consumed, a quantity of water 

 is produced, which, when added to the 

 free water in the honey, is equal to 

 about % of the weight of the honey 

 used. That is, 100 colonies, each con- 

 suming one ounce per day, or at the rate 

 of about two pounds each per month, 

 will produce over 4)^ pounds of water 

 per day. 



In summer we often see small drops 

 of clear liquid discharged by the bees, 

 while on the wing. It is, I believe, gen- 

 erally agreed that these drops are the 

 excess of water, either from the nectar 

 gathered, or produced from the con- 

 sumption of food. Bees have urinary 

 organs which separate water from the 

 blood, and carry it to the intestines to 

 be discharged. But while confined to 

 the hive in winter, they must depend 

 wholly upon the evaporation which 

 takes place in the breatjgng tubes, and 

 at the surface of the body, to eliminate 

 the superfluous water. The efiQciency 

 of evaporation for this purpose depends 

 upon the dryness of the air breathed. If 

 it contains not more than % of the 

 quantity possible for it to contain at a 

 temperature of say 45°, the heat of the 

 cluster will probably make it greedy 

 enough for moisture to take up, in the 

 form of vapor, the water from the blood 

 of the bees, as fast as it is produced. If 

 the air in the hive is already saturated, 

 the evaporation will be too slow, and 



