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AMERICAN BEE JOURNAJL. 



was as white and delicious as the white 

 honey of California. In his comments 

 upon the honey exhibited at the Fair 

 just mentioned, he said that he was sur- 

 prised that the sections were not better 

 filled out at the edges. In the East, he 

 said, the bees seemed to fill out the sec- 

 tions clear to the edge of the wood, 

 which gave the section of honey a much 

 prettier look than that of the California 

 section. In ray observations, I find that 

 this is occasionally true, but it is not the 

 rule every year. 



But I am getting away from what I 

 had seen at the Fair. As is well known 

 to American bee-keepers, one end of a 

 gallery in the great Agricultural Build- 

 ing at the Columbian Fair was set apart 

 for the apiarian exhibit. A fair amount 

 of space was thus afforded the bee-keep- 

 ers in which to exhibit their wares and 

 products. At our California Interna- 

 tional Exposition the management has 

 been equally liberal — in fact, I am in- 

 clined to the belief that they have been 

 far more liberal than were the Colum- 

 bian managers, for here I find that one 

 whole end of the gallery forming nearly 

 half of the southern portion of the Hor- 

 ticultural and Agricultural building, is 

 at the disposal of the bee-keepers. And 

 yet I am sorry to say, as I have already 

 intimated, our apiarists have failed to 

 avail themselves of this liberal allot- 

 ment of space. 



Why, in this, I might almost say, vast 

 space, the honey exhibits take up so 

 little room that one would almost pass 

 it by without seeing it, so insignificant 

 does it appear to the casual observer. 

 And such a place to have it ! It stands 

 close to the rotunda beneath the dome, 

 near the edge of the gallery, and it is 

 perched, apparently, so insecurely upon 

 a table or stand, that one should sup- 

 pose that with a slight and accidental 

 pressure it would be precipitated over 

 the railing and dumped in a promiscuous 

 mess upon the beautiful exhibits of fruits 

 and wines below. 



Looking more carefully at this 

 "show," for it is the queerest honey 

 show that I have ever seen anywhere, I 

 find that it comes from several of our 

 well-known honey-producers in the 

 southern part of the State. I have not 

 the least doubt but every ounce of this 

 honey was of the choicest kinds when it 

 was placed where I saw it, but the ex- 

 cesssive light that streams in through 

 the immense glass dome above it, to say 

 nothing of the heat that is produced by 

 so much glass and Old Sol, has had the 

 effect of candying nearly every ounce of 

 extracted honey shown in jars and exhi- 



bition oil-bottles. This candied honey 

 does not look like honey when in this 

 condition : it is more like lard than any- 

 thing else. I was surprised to see so 

 much of the honey in this form. 



The comb honey looked more inviting, 

 still it was not all that it should be. As 

 I did not pay particular attention to the 

 names of the exhibitors of the honey in 

 this portion of the building, I shall not 

 at this time say anything about the 

 separate lots forming the exhibit. 



I trust that something will be done 

 before long to make this exhibit more 

 sightly; it should be one of the finest 

 exhibits in the building. I think it is 

 the duty of every bee-keeper in the 

 State to ask theManagementof the Fair 

 to do something for the apiarists of the 

 State, to make their exhibit a creditable 

 one. I know that the Management of 

 the Fair cannot very well spare any of 

 its funds toward defraying the expenses 

 of getting a honey-show together, yet 

 they might do something toward having 

 some one of the several attaches of the 

 building look out and see that the ex- 

 hibit is not ruined by heat, light and 

 dust. Of this part of the honey exhibit, 

 as well as that shown on the main floor 

 below, I shall say more in another letter. 



Before I close, I wish to say that the 

 honey display made by Ventura county 

 is quite creditable ; a nicer one was 

 never made in this country, and I had 

 the pleasure of seeing the one made at 

 Chicago last year. Of course it is not as 

 large, by any means, as some of those 

 made at the White City. What I regret 

 is, that this display was not consolidated 

 with that on the gallery above, and both 

 located in some prominent and suitable 

 situation in the building. It is not yet 

 too late to get all the honey at the Fair 

 together in one place, and thereby do 

 the State justice. This along with what 

 honey that might yet be sent in, would 

 give the State a display of the product 

 of the bee-hive that would attract con- 

 siderable attention. 



Already the display of fruit at this 

 Fair has been grand ; it has shown that 

 California is pre-eminently a land of 

 fruit and flowers. The fruit exhibits 

 made by some counties are better than 

 those made by some of the so-called 

 " fruit States," of the East. "By their 

 fruits shall ye know them," is true of 

 the exhibits of the counties of California 

 that are especially devoted to fruit cul- 

 ture. But the "fruit of the bee-hive" 

 of the Golden State is not shown at the 

 Midwinter Fair as it should be. 



If California bee-keepers do not bestir 

 themselves better in the future than 



