AMERICAN BEE JOURNAL. 



489 



I\ebrask:a State Fair Notes.— 



The apiarian department this year was the 

 "greatest eye-opener on the Fair Grounds." 

 Bro. E. Whitcomb, who has had charge of 

 the display for the past eight years, was 

 again at the head, which assured success 

 from the start. The building containing 

 the apiarian exhibits has been enlarged, 

 and now consists of four moderate sized 

 wings, each being provided with a table 

 running along the wall, protected by a 

 railing, shelving and wall space. The cen- 

 ter of the building contains a large open 

 space in which a great pyramid of shelving 

 reaches almost to the ceiling. The table 

 space and pyramid hold honey and honey 

 products, together with colonies of bees, 

 apiarian implements, beeswax in all forms 

 of manufacture, while the wall space is a 

 veritable herbarium of honey-plants. 



Mr. E. Kretchmer, of Iowa, had a large 

 display of honey and implements. He 

 showed a unique sign which reads : "Ne- 

 braska State Fair." The sign was com- 

 menced by human hands, and the bees did 

 the rest. It is simply a big stencil-plate 

 made of board, the letters being filled in 

 neatly by the bees with comb honey, and 

 the whole is framed and enclosed behind 

 glass. The whole thing was then placed in 

 the exhibit where all persons entering the 

 hall could read in letters of temptingly 

 delicious honey — "Nebraska State Fair." 

 Mr. K. had 149 samples of bee - supplies 

 in the exhibit ; also Italian bees. He also 

 showed a case of 38 samples of beeswax 

 which he has been 10 years in collecting. 

 They represent 15 foreign countries and 13 

 States of the United States. The object is 

 to show the quality of the grain of the wax, 

 which, in this collection, stands in favor of 

 Nebraska and Iowa samples. 



Thos. Johnson, of Iowa, had 13 colonies 

 of bees representing 5 varieties — Albino, 

 Golden Italian, Carniolan and Cyprian and 

 Holy Land ; also a display of honey-plants 

 from Guthrie county, Iowa, of about 100 

 kinds, which constitute two-thirds of the 

 honey-plants in that county. Mr. Johnson 

 captured the first premium on bees. 



August Davidson, of Nebraska, exhibited 

 a large herbarium of honey-plants, ex- 

 tracted and comb honey, wax, 3 observa- 

 tory hives with bees —blacks, pure Italians 

 and hybrids. He also showed an ancient 

 drink, metheglin, on which he took first 

 premium. 



Messrs. Stilson & Sons exhibited bee- 

 supplies and honey. They also had a 3- 

 quart jar of pure fruit-blossom honey, aijd 

 an uncapping box of their own invention, 

 which is said to be a very handy and com- 

 plete arrangement. They took first pre- 

 mium on their display of apiarian supplies. 



Mrs. E. Whitcomb exhibited a beautiful 

 display of beeswax, consisting of lettering, 

 a wreath, cross, robe and fiowers, ears of 

 corn, two statues, " The Angel at Prayer," 

 and " The Compulsory Prayer," the latter 

 being copies of the famous statues, all the 

 pieces being made of beeswax, which was 

 so perfect and natural in its execution that 

 only skilled artists could guess the material 

 to be beeswax. Mrs. W., of course, carried 

 off the first premium on her handiwork in 

 wax. 



Many curious designs in comb honey 

 were shown, which the bees had helped to 

 complete. A jar was filled in the shape of 

 a cross by the pattern being given the bees 

 to start with. 



A rare collection of foreign honey, gath- 

 ered by Messrs. Whitcomb and White, con- 

 tained specimens from nearly every country 

 on the globe, including rose honey from 

 Greece, orange honey from Italy, cleome 

 or Rocky Mountain bee-plant honey from 

 Colorado, Scottish heather honey, and 

 honey from Siberia, Russia and England. 

 All the bee-men united in declaring the 

 foreign honey inferior to American. 



Thomas Dobson showed some luscious 

 cake and candy sweetened with honey. 



Wm. James had a fine exhibit of bees 

 and honey. John Lee and Sam Barrett 

 were also on hand with a display. 



Chas White was awarded the first pre- 

 mium on his section press and foundation 

 fastener; and also to Messrs. Stilson & 

 Sons, for their uncapping-box and apiary 

 wheelbarrow. 



At the election of ofiicers of the Nebraska 

 State Bee-Keepers' Association, whose con- 

 vention was held during the Fair, Mr. E. 

 Whitcomb was re-elected President; Mrs. 

 J. N. Heater Vice-President ; and Mr. L. D. 

 Stilson Secretary and Treasurer, for the 

 ensuing two years. 



The Nebraska bee-keepers think that they 

 have arrangements under way whereby 

 they will secure an experiment apiary in 

 connection with the farm department of 

 the State University. 



The season just passed has been an ex- 

 ceptionally hard one for our bee-keepers in 

 Nebraska, but the showing in this depart- 

 ment at the State Fair was never better. 



