AMERICAN BEE JOURNAL. 



275 



prised that the editor of the Canadian 

 Bee Journal should have printed it with- 

 out making several corrections, for in 

 the same number he prints the World's 

 Fair awards, and they do not "tally" 

 with Mr. Mcknight's article. 



Mr. McKnight says that Ohio received 

 4 awards, when the Canadian Bee Jour- 

 nal says 8 ; Michigan 4, when it was 7 ; 

 Illinois 1, when it was 4 ; Nebraska 1, 

 when it was 4 ; Ontario 14, when the 

 American Bee Journal gives it credit 

 for 16, "with 50 contributors;" while 

 Michigan had only 9 exhibitors, and re- 

 ceived T awards, all on the crop of 1893 

 — and Michigan is not boasting about it. 



Mr. McKnight says that Ontario took 

 over three times as many prizes as any 

 other State. How is this, with New 

 York 7, Michigan 7, and Ohio 8? What 

 new " Rule of Three" has Mr. McKnight 

 found to base his assertions on ? 



Mr. McKnight also says "that in 

 color, flavor, and high speciflc gravity, 

 Ontario honey beats the world." Whew ! 

 I don't believe it ! I think Mr. Mc- 

 Knight is "talking through his hat." 

 Tests made at the Fair and since show 

 that Ontario " is not in it " on specific 

 gravity. New York, Ohio and Michigan 

 had samples that showed better results 

 than Ontario. 



If light color cuts much of a figure, 

 then Colorado showed the finest sample 

 at the Fair ; also the highest specific 

 gravity. 



"Flavor" — well, what is it, and how 

 will we decide it ? The apiarian judge 

 at the Fair — Hon. Eugene Secor — is a 

 man whose mouth was not polluted with 

 whisky and tobacco (thank God)— he was 

 very careful in his examinations, and he 

 don't say in his report that Ontario has 

 any finer flavored honey "than all the 

 world." 



Mr. McKnight is a well posted man, 

 and knew that the honey from Ontario 

 was "not in competition" with any 

 other honey, no more than was New 

 York, Michigan and Ohio, or any other 

 State, in competition. Each and every 

 exhibit was placed on exhibition "on 

 its own merits." If it was "worthy of 

 an award," it received it. Ontario had 

 a good exhibit, and a large one — "yes, 

 a very large one," and it cost a large 

 amount of money — very much more 

 than many of the exhibits in this class. 

 It was iu charge of a gentleman that we 

 were all pleased to meet, and he did not 

 feel that it was beneath his dignity to 

 "labor" for the cause and the benefit of 

 the Ontario exhibit, and he never, to ray 



knowledge, referred to the Ontario ex- 

 hibit as any better than any other. 



We have many friends in Ontario, but 

 we feel it our duty not to let go un- 

 noticed the article of Mr. McKnight. 



Tecumseh, Mich. 



[We think it hardly necessary to add 

 a long foot-note to what Bro. Cutting 

 has said in the foregoing, for he has 

 stated the case so plainly and ably, that 

 about the only thing left for Mr. Mc- 

 Knight to do, will be to get down from 

 his " high horse " as gracefully as pos- 

 sible, remove his hat, and offer the 

 apology that is certainly due from him. 



As Bro. Cutting very truly says, 

 United States bee-keepers have "many 

 friends in Ontario," and we feel sure 

 those friends would not in the least up- 

 hold Bro. McKnight in his boasting and 

 evident unfairness ; but, "in honor pre- 

 ferring one another," they would choose 

 to accord superiority to their neighbors, 

 were it at all necessary to make any 

 comparisons. — Ed.] 



Tie Kiii£-Biri-''Tyraniius Tyrannus.' 



Written for the A.merican Bee Journal 

 BY WILL A. BRYAN, 



{TaxklerniiKt in Iowa Agricultural College.) 



The king-bird — bee-martin, bee-bird 

 or bee-eater — as he is commonly called, 

 is as familiar to the apiarist as is the 

 robin or thrasher to the school-boy. He 

 has gotten unto himself a great name, 

 and one which is likely to stay with him. 



Who has not heard its sharp tseap ! 

 tseap ! from the old apple-tree, and ad- 

 mired his fine "figure" flight, as he 

 cuts a perfect circle or ellipse? or seen 

 its rough-appearing nest composed of 

 small sticks, stravys, strings, or wool, 

 lined with fine roots or hairs, and placed 

 in a horizontal fork of a sparsely-leaved 

 branch ? and held in his own hand the 

 beautiful, creamy-white eggs, spotted 

 and blotched with lilac and brown ? No 

 one, I dare say from Cape Cod to Mount 

 Hood. 



He is a pert, saucy little fellow — al- 

 ways eager to attack the passer-by — let 

 it it be the, majestic red-tail hawk or the 

 unassuming chipping sparrow. Neither 

 does he leave the object of his wrath 

 until it has sailed high in air, or re- 



