1884 



GLEANINGS IN L5EE CULTURE 



:n 



EXHIBITING GOODS AT PAIRS, ETC. 



APIARIAN INTERESTS, AND THE WAY IN WHK H 



THEV ARE ENCOURAOEI) AND REI'RESENTEK 



AT COUNTY AND STATE FAIRS. 



0F all the g-oods roceived from you, I sold at tlir- 

 tail- hilt 6 of those little cans; the other lew 

 items enumei-at<'d as not returned I kept for 

 my own use. No A B (' sold, no subscriptions 

 for Gi.EANiNCS received; of honey I sold 1'.. 

 1I)S. If you ask how such results came about, I 

 must tell you the whole story. Four weeks before 

 the fair, I applied for space indoors, statinji' my ob- 

 ject. The ofticers promised me all the si»ace t 

 wanted in " Ao-rieultiiral Hall." I should cull some 

 day in the week befor*- the fair; they would assign 

 me my space. When T did so I was put off from 

 one day to another until Saturday afternoon, when 

 they told me they ha<l no i)lace to s|)are indoois, 

 but I would have to i»ut up a stand of m.\ own, if I 

 wanted to exhibit. Since I had received jfoods for 

 that purpose from you as well as >Ir. Newman, T 

 concluded to jro to the expense of puttinjr up a 

 stand. The place for it was assiM'ned me at the 

 side of " Veg'etable Hall." It did not seem to be a 

 very good place, but I could g-et none bettei-, as the 

 best places were occupied by beer-stands, citfar- 

 stands, g'ames of chance, and other side shows. 

 When the fair began T found that niy stand was 

 surrounded by horses and wagons, so it was ver.\' 

 inconvenient for persons, if not impossible, to get 

 ihrough to where I was. Hiring team to get the 

 lumber, and to buy the latter, together with carpen- 

 ter's pay, has taken what ready cash I had with 

 which I meant to pay for the honey you sent. I 

 succeeded in distributing specimen copies. 

 Youngstown, Ohio, Oct. 4, lS8f. A. H. Koiinke. 



Friend K.. your experience is a little dis- 

 heartening, it is true ; but now do not, I 

 pray yon, be too severe in your censui<', 

 even though it does seem as tlionsli you had 

 been used very badly indeed. The officers 

 of the fair were probably very busy and htir- 

 ried, and may be did not want the office any 

 way, but somebody had to take it. What 

 you want to do is to be on hand at the i>re- 

 liminary meeting for the fair next year. 

 These "meetings are generally held some 

 time in the fall or winter. Make yourself 

 acquainted with the machinery of fairs, and 

 take with you such a hearty good will that 

 they will he glad of your assistance. Do 

 not be discouraged if they don't take to you 

 kindly right away. Keep right on year 

 after year. He on hand every lime, and 

 pretty soon they will be glad to have you 

 take office, and see that the bee-keepers of 

 your county have fair play. There is a 

 great tendeiicy for games of chance and dif- 

 ferent sorts of gambling to get into our 

 fairs; and the way to keep them out is for 

 good men who detest sucli things to lake 

 hold and stop it just the way I have diiecled 

 above. Lager beer is still sold on a gooil 

 many of the grounds of our county and 

 State fairs; l)ut very likely one good tem- 

 perance man at the right place, at the right 

 time, might banish it for ever. Temperance- 

 loving and law-abiding citizens have no 

 business to stay away and let careless, \m- 

 scrupidous, or lazy people have these mat- 

 ters in hand. Yoti might urge, that to do 

 all r indicate would take valuable time, and 



you can not afl'ord it. Then, my friend, you 

 "liave no reason to tind fault, or complain. 

 AVhich is of tlie most importance, your busi- 

 ness and your work, or the welfare ^if the 

 rising generation? .Vnd. furtiiermoie^'one 

 gets along willi his work faster where he 

 lends a hand in public matters, sucli as filirs. 

 and other things of a like nature. Om- fairs 

 siiould be attracti\e and interesting : bur 

 boys can be taught to love the peaceful linr- 

 suits of agricultuie more than gambling, 

 cigars, and lager lieer, if we go about it in 

 the right way. We ought to be ashapied of 

 the existing state of things at our faiirs. 

 many of them ; and we ought, every one of 

 us. to be on our guard. 1 need this little ser- 

 mon myself: and if 1 am not iiresenl at our 

 coming'preliminary meeting. yiMi can tel^ine 

 that I do not practice wiiat I preacli. 



HONEY REPORT EROM THE WEST- 

 FIELD APIARY. 



side S'KIKINC ami top STORlMi IIOIH. AM> TOP 

 STORINO ONLY. 



iUKfiAX flic season with it <'<)l<)iiies: iuei-eased 

 to ;,'(! by natural swarming, and got 14(10 lbs. 

 comb honey in J-lb. sections; 110(1 lbs. white- 

 clover honej', and ;$00 lbs. liuckwlicat lione.\-. I 

 have sold part of it for 12'., ets. |>er lb. 



T have 11 of Mrs. Li/.zie E. f'ottons Controllable 

 hives; the rest are the 10-frame L. Simplicities, with 

 eases foi" tiering u]>. The Controllable hives are of 

 my own manufacture, nuiile from directions 8-i\en 

 in her book, which cost me $1.(H». She advises using 

 boxes t<i hol<l about 4 lbs. of honey, but 1 didn't use 

 them. I used l-lb. sections held in ci-ates on the 

 sides and top. The lii\ f Is a good one for testing 

 side and top storing. I think that a littli? more hon- 

 ey can be obtained b>- the side storing method, but 

 I object to it. One objection is. the bees do- not 

 fasten the comb .to the sections so well in the side 

 boxes as they do in the top ones, thus leaving them 

 liable to damage in shipment; another one is, you 

 are moi-e liable to have brood in the sections. 1 

 used drone-starters, and in some, sections. Well, I 

 think I ha<l about a dozen that were tilled fiill of 

 drones. Those sections were on hives where the 

 broodcoinlis were built from foundation, and no 

 drone-comb in the hi\ c. 



Now, if it is not out of |)lace I should like to ask 

 some ((uestions. 1. Which are the most called tor 

 in the nuirket— the 1:.', 24, or 4S II). shipping cratesV 



3. Would it not be a good plan to have those to 

 whom honey is sold, return shipping-cases when 

 empty V 



;!. Do you makc^the Hflf device to cover 8 or 10 

 frames for winter?|^V Kkank Carson. 



Loganvillc, Wis., Oct.fV, 1HS4. 



I have just asked one of the clerks, friend 



('.. and site says we sell more of tlie 4S-lb. 



cases. Tliere is usually more or less trouble 



in getting cases back. "On litis account tliere 



has been a good deal of a call for something 



that need not be returned. ^Vecan.it is true. 



make such c;ises, but few liee-keepers want 



to go to the expense of having them painted 



and glassed, especiallv where honey is sold 



at the recent low rates.— The Hill device will 



: wtnk e([ually well, on s or Id frames: and 



I even on H frames we have no trouble, be- 



! cause if the middle ribs reach over the di- 



vision-l)Oanls slightly it will do no haiin. 



