438 



THE AMERICAN BEE JOURNAL. 



July 15, 



but whether it was ignorance, or prejudice, or dishonesty, no 

 one, except the one who did the bribing, knew. Since then it 

 has leakt out that the judge was " bought," with two cases 

 of honey, to favor a certain exhibitor. 



I believe that, as a rule, there is more satisfactory judg- 

 ing done in the more important departments of the fair than 

 in the minor ones like bee-keeping. More pains is taken in 

 the leading lines to secure the services of experts, and a man 

 who is an expert is usually enough of a r/wi/i to care something 

 for his honor. In bee-keeping it sometimes happens that a 

 judge is pickt up on the grounds — some one who has kept a 

 few bees at some time in his life, or some dealer who has 

 handled honey or something of this sort. However honest 

 such men may be, they never give satisfaction. What is needed 

 is an expert, one who has made a specialty of bee-keeping, 

 and if he has had experience with fairs and exhibits of bees 

 and honey so much the better. To a certain extent the bee- 

 keepers are themselves to blame for this state of affairs. If, 

 at their State convention, they would pass a petition asking 

 the fair management to appoint a certain man as judge of 

 their exhibits at the State fair, he would be appointed. The 

 managers are anxious that a competent judge be chosen, but 

 they don't know who is competent, and no one with authority 

 informs them, and it is left to the superintendent of the de- 

 partment to select his own judge ; and at some fairs this sup- 

 erintendent has in charge several departments and has his 

 hands full, and the selecting of judges is left to chance. Let 

 the bee-keepers say who would be their choice for a judge, 

 making a second or even a third choice, in case the first choice 

 cannot be secured. 



Another thing that makes trouble in judging apiarian ex- 

 hibits is the lack of a system of scoring. In judging butter, 

 for instance, there is a score of 100 possible points, that is, 

 100 points is perfection. There are so many points for color, 

 so many for texture, so many for flavor, so many for salting, 

 etc. The judge takes one crock of butter and goes on and 

 scores it, marking upon a score card the number of points to 

 which each characteristic is entitled. He then takes another 

 crock of butter and passes upon that, audit is not until he 

 adds up the points at the end and compares the results that 

 he knows which lot of butter is entitled to the first premium. 



Illinois is, I believe, the only State in which has been at- 

 tempted a system of scoring in judging apiarian exhibits ; tut 

 no score cards are provided, and last fall the judge did not pre- 

 serve his scoring, or did not show it, if he made any, and there 

 was some dissatisfaction and surprise at some of the awards, 

 as the exhibitors could not comprehend how such and such re- 

 sults could be reacht by the system of scoring in use. But a 

 system of scoring is a step in the right direction. It is a guide 

 for the judge, relieving him of much responsibility and assist- 

 ing in his work, and it is also a guide to the exhibitor, as it 

 shows him upon which points of excellence the decision is to 

 be made. In the Illinois code of rules for scoring, quantity is 

 given 40 points in a possible 100. 



Many of the items and suggestions are taken from the 

 Illinois code. 



COMB HONEY. 



Quality 50 



Style of display 50 



Points of quality should be — 



Variety 5 



Clearness of cappings 10 



Completeness of cappings 10 



Completeness of filling 10 



Straightness of comb ". 5 



Uniformity 5 



Style of section 5 



By variety is meant different kinds of honey, with refer- 

 ence to the sources from which it is gathered ; by clearness of 

 cappings, freedom from travel-stain and a water-soakt appear- 

 ance ; by uniformity, closeness of resemblance in the sections 

 composing the exhibit ; by style, neatness of the sections free- 

 dom from propolis, etc., and the size of the sections, the 4'4 

 by 43f, being the standard, should take preference over all 

 others. 



It is very difficult to make an exact score for all of the dif- 

 ferent points that enter into "style of display." An illustra- 

 tion or two may be given. Honey put up in ordinary shipping- 

 cases, in which the front side of only one section in seven is 

 shown, and these cases piled up In a cubical pile, Is an exam- 

 ple of very poor display. Other things being equal, honey so 

 arranged as to show every section should score the highest 

 style of display, and everything that adds to the tastiness and 

 attractiveness of an exhibit should bo considered. Sections of 

 honey built up into a church, a castle or a fort, or some fanci- 



ful shape, should score higher than that which is simply piled 

 up in a cubical pile. 



EXTRACTED HONEY. 



Quality 50 



Style of display 50 



The points of quality should be. — 



Variety 5 



Clearness of color 5 



Body 10 



Flavor 10 



Style of package 10 



Variety of package 5 



Finish 5 



In style of package, glass should have preference over 

 tin, and flint glass over green glass, and small vessels over 

 large, provided the latter run over two pounds. By finish is 

 meant capping, labeling, etc. 



The remarks about style of display under the head of, 

 comb honey will apply here. For instance, rows of bottles of 

 honey set upon shelves, drug-store style, is the most common 

 and the poorest style of display. Put the honey up in fanci- 

 ful glass packages and set them up in the air upon some form 

 that will give to the whole an attractive appearance. 



NUCLEI OP BEES. 



Color and markings 75 



Queen 10 



Style of comb 5 



Style of hive 10 



A nucleus from which a queen is omitted should score zero 

 on that point. 



The straightest, smoothest and more complete comb should 

 score the highest in "style of comb." 



That hive which is the neatest and best made and shows 

 the bees to the best advantage should score the highest. 



In all departments, and under each of the several heads, 

 the best or leading exhibit should be taken as a basis, and 

 scored the highest of the others marked in proportion. It is 

 not likely that any two exhibits will rank equally on all points 

 or in the aggregate. 



If any of the fair managers wisht to adopt this set of rules 

 for judging, or if any association of bee-keepers wisht to ask 

 their fair managers to adopt them, and they were considered 

 too lengthy to be printed in the premium list, a note could be 

 added to the list saying that the exhibit would be judged ac- 

 cording to the code of rules printed in such a paper for such a 

 date. Intending exhibitors could supply themselves with 

 copies of the paper containing the rules, and the superinten- 

 dent could supply the judge with a copy of the paper. — Coun- 

 try Gentleman. 



CONDUOTBD BY 

 DR. O. O. aUXtER, ALARENGO, IZ,!,. 



[Questions may be mailed to the Bee Journal, or to Ur. Miller direct.') 



Wanti to i^lop S%varmins. 



I commenced the past spring with two colonies, and they 

 have swarmed twice each. Is there any danger of their 

 swarming again this year? If so, what can bo done to stop 

 them ? Illinois. 



Answer. — You needn't do anything. There's scarce a 

 shadow of a chance that they'll swarm again. Sixteen days 

 after the first swarm Issues you needn't look for any more 

 swarms. 



An VuiiNiial <liiecii. 



I expect a big honey-flow this year, as there Is white clover 

 everywhere. Some of my hives have three supers of 32 sec- 



