I 



148 BOARD OF AGRICULTURE. [P. D. 4. 



"While Massachusetts has had for years an acknowledged repu- 

 tation of having from two to five queen producers, lately these 

 have discontinued their business, and but few queens are now 

 locally produced for sale. A physical limitation on Massachu- 

 setts queen rearing is the nature of her late springs, wherein 

 only with difiiculty are the first few weeks of the queen-rearing 

 season carried on. 



Displays at Fairs and Expositions. — Akin to some of the 

 proposals herewith outlined is the importance of making dis- 

 plays of bees, beekeepers' equipment and especially products, 

 from an educational standpoint, at local and State fairs and 

 expositions. The dairy show of this year has particularly de- 

 monstrated the possibilities, which as yet have been but par- 

 tially worked up. Educationally, this problem has two phases, 

 — the benefit to the beekeeper and the benefit to the consumer. 

 The beekeeper has opportunity for consultation, the learning of 

 new methods and the seeing of new materials, while the public 

 increases its insight into the nature of honey, how it is pro- 

 cured and produced, and gains a closer contact with the bee- 

 keeper. The public enjoys buying of the producer. In many 

 instances, through a display at a fair, the public gains its first 

 acquaintance with honey. Those few beekeepers who have 

 made sales of honey at fairs know how eager the public is to 

 buy. This sale of honey at fairs, while yet immature in its 

 development, has peculiar educational value. Even though the 

 marketing of the crop of 1916 has been phenomenal, showing 

 that there is a public demand for very large quantities of honey, 

 yet it is only due the public to further demonstrate to them 

 the value of the use of honey in the home. This in turn would 

 be of direct assistance to the beekeeper. 



Miscellaneous Work. 



Publications. — As usual the apiary inspection service has 

 distributed large numbers of bulletins, including publications 

 issued by the United States Department of Agriculture. This 

 department, however, has not issued this year any publication 

 suitable for distribution to the entire mailing list in Massachu- 

 setts, as has been heretofore customary. 



Bulletin No. 10, which has been issued in divided form as 



