1905 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE. 



1065 



kepper, pay him to get and read this book. 

 Address G. W. York, 334 Dearborn St., Chi- 

 cago, for particulars. 



good lot of queens where he can pick them 

 out right on the spot. 



Our readers are referred to a very valua- 

 ble article by W. K. Morrison, in this issue, 

 on the subject of a big bee show at either 

 New York or Chicago. 



MR. BENTON AFTER THE CAUCASIAN BEES IN 

 THEIR NATIVE HEATH. 



Some little time ago I received a letter 

 from Dr. E. F. Phillips, acting in charge of 

 the Bureau of Apiculture, at Washington, 

 expressing his fears that, owing to the trou- 

 bles in the Caucasus regions, in Russia, 

 where these celebrated bees are found, it 

 would be impossible for Mr. Benton to get 

 them in person this year. But the latter 

 has been sending us from time to time sou- 

 venir postals from points along the line of 

 his travels. We have already reproduced 

 one, and now take pleasure in presenting a 

 half-tone reproduction of another, right di- 









rect from the Caucasus. It is self-explana- 

 tory. 



I We shall hope that Mr. Benton will be 

 able to send back to the United States a 



SELLING HONEY AT COUNTY FAIRS AND 



elsewhere; the great STIMULUS OF 



LIVE-BEE DEMONSTRATIONS IN 



MAKING SALES. 



On page 952 of our issue for Sept. 15 I de- 

 scribed how we had increased our honey sales 

 at our county fair by putting a man in a 

 large wire-cloth cage with a big colony of 

 bees which he manipulated in all sorts of 

 fantastic fashions. He would pick them up 

 before the wondering crowds by the hand- 

 fuls, and display them with bare hands and 

 arms to the people. It will be remembered 

 our sales here at the Medina grounds were, 

 by reason of this exhibition, nearly doubled. 

 At the Akron fair — a fair that approaches 

 the general proportions of a big State fair 

 — we put up a honey-booth, showing honey 

 in its three styles — liquid, granulated, and 

 in the comb. In a conspicuous place on the 

 sales counter was a large observatory hive 

 showing the bees on the combs and in the 

 sections. Of course, the people were invited 

 to see the " bees make honey." Then we 

 had in the foreground, right where the crowds 

 were going back and forth, our large wire- 

 cloth cage in which we had one of our bee- 

 men making demonstrations, opening and 

 closing hives, pulling out the combs, hunting 

 for the queen, etc. The bees were shaken 

 into a box, and scooped up by the handfuls 

 where the crowds could see them. 



AN OFFICIOUS OFFICIAL. 



But we had hard work in the first place to 

 convince the proper official, who had charge 

 of the exhibits, that our live-bee demonstra- 

 tion was really an attraction. He was not 

 going to give us the space — not even to sell 

 honey. He was a horseman, and seenied 

 more interested in horse-racing than any 

 thing else. Even when we showed him a 

 letter from the secretary of our Medina Co. 

 Agricultural Society, explaining that our 

 live-bee exhibition was one of the most at- 

 tractive features of our fair, he seemed dis- 

 posed to poke us off into an obscure corner. 

 But Mr. Warren, who has charge of our 

 honey department, was not to be waved 

 aside in that way. He finally secured space 

 between an ice-cream stand and a booth 

 where light lunches were served. That was 

 just what we wanted. But our big wire- 

 cloth cage had to be put in the background 

 behind the honey-sales stand. What was 

 the result? The sales for that day were 

 very light. I made a special trip to Akron 

 to see how the boys weye coming on. I 

 found them considerably discouraged. If 

 they could only get that wire-cloth cage out 

 in front where the crowds were they would 

 have some show of selling honey. Mr. War- 

 ren urged me to go with him to see our offi- 

 cious official, and make another last attempt. 



To this I finally assented. We started 

 over, and met our man, but found him still 

 indifferent. We at length got him to say 

 that he would come down in the morning and 



