isys. 



THE AMERICAN BEE JOURNAL. 



485 



shown as full colonies, and " numerical strength " was made 

 one of the competing points. A populous colony bears con- 

 finement very poorly — practically it is ruined by the confine- 

 ment of a week or ten days. The bees are quite likely to 

 smother, and the combs to melt down from the heat. Beside 

 this, a full colony does not really show so much as can be seen 

 in a single-comb nucleus. The brood and queen are always 

 in the center of the colony where they are out of sight. How 

 often at Fairs we hear the expression, " I would like to see a 

 queen-bee ! I have never seen one, and I would be obliged If 

 you would point her out to me." With a single comb this can 

 always bo done, as the queen can be found upon one side or 

 the other. The few bees bear confinement very well, espe- 

 daily if they are young bees and given abundant room. There 

 is nothing about an apiarian exhibit that attracts attention 

 quicker than bees under glass. People will exclaim, " Oh, see 

 the bees !" — and then rush up, and then rush off after others 

 to bring them up. Bees always draw a crowd, and this allows 

 the exhibitor to explain to an interested audience the wonders 

 of bee-keeping, and the healthf ulness and value of honey as a 

 food. 



Taking bees to a Fair is risky, laborious and expensive ; 

 they are something that requires much care in handling and 

 in looking after, and for this reason the premiums ought to be 

 liberal. I do not approve of offering premiums upon all of 

 the different varieties of bees, as there are some varieties that 

 are of no great value in this country, and in regard to which 

 there are many different opinions. The three varieties men- 

 tioned might be called the standard varieties, and are recog- 

 nized as such. If exhibitors have other varieties and wish to 

 exhibit them, the "sweepstakes" offer will cover such 

 displays. 



In one respect the New York premium list is ahead of 

 any list I have seen. In both comb and extracted honey, it 

 specifies the quantity of honey that shall be shown. I have 

 only one criticism to make. It says " ficst display." I would 

 say " the mo.st o/tracliuc display." Perhaps this is hypercriti- 

 cal, but there cannot be too much attention given to the word- 

 ing of the list — have it so worded that it is impossible to be 

 misunderstood. 



The matter of quantity ought to be explicitly mentioned. 

 The Indiana list simply says, "Comb honey, quality and man- 

 ner of putting up for market to be considered." Not one 

 word about the quantity. Had it said the " most attractive 

 display" that would have been better, as quantity might have 

 been considered one factor in attractiveness. As it was, one 

 exhibitor went to the trouble to build up a pyramid of honey 

 that reacht to the roof, assuming that, if the honey was all 

 equally good so far as " quality and mapner of putting up for 

 market was considered," the largest quantity would carry off 

 the palm. The judge decided solely upon "quality and man- 

 ner of putting up for market," in both comb and extracted 

 honey, quantity cutting no figure whatever. 



Hitherto, most of the premium lists have offered premiums 

 for " the best display " of comb honey. Lately some of them 

 have changed it to read the " most attractive." These offers 

 are pretty good, but the objection is that the first prize 

 usually goes to the largest display. Of course, size is one at- 

 traction, but it is not the only ona by any means. As it is, 

 most of the exhibitors bring in their honey in the regular 

 shipping-cases and stack it up, and the largest pile gets the 

 first premium. There Is not much encouragement to make 

 the exhibit attractive in other ways, such as by arrangement 

 or ornamentation. This is why I recommend most heartily 

 the New York premium list in this respect. It limits the 

 quantity to 2.50 pounds, it must be that much, no more and 

 no less. Now then, the exhibitor who can put up that amount 

 of honey in the most attractive shape wHl win the prize. 



There is a premium offered on tasteful arrangement and 

 skillful display rather than upon quantity ; 250 pounds of 

 honey is really enough, if properly displayed ; when we have 

 seen that much, it is no great sight to see twice as much. 

 Comb honey is fragile stuff, and the carting around of large 

 quantities of it, and paying freight upon it, when better ends 

 can be gained by working on different lines, is unwise. As 

 there is a greater risk and expense in shipping and exhibiting 

 comb honey than is the case with extracted, the premiums 

 should be greater on the comb honey. Aside from the pre- 

 mium on the most attractive display, there ought to be a pre- 

 mium on a small quantity, so small that it can be furnisht by 

 (my bee-keeper, and the offer should be for the best honey, 

 that is, for "quality and manner of putting up for market." 

 Referring again to the matter of bees, I see that some of 

 the Fair associations still offer premiums upon queen-bees 

 caged. There is no place in which a queen can be shown to 

 so good an advantage as in a single-comb nucleus, and the 

 only judgment that can be pronounced upon a queen is that 



made by looking at her workers. I have reference to purity 

 of race, and that is the only point that can be decided at a 

 Fair. Queens kept in cages in the cool weather that fre- 

 quently comes during the fall are often chilled and die. 



At the Illinois State Fair last year there was a premium 

 offered on caged queens, and one of the competing points was 

 that of quantity. The nights were cool, and one exhibitor 

 lost nearly 20 queens (worth twice the premium offered). 

 Another had 28 queens on exhibition. He took great pains 

 to keep them as warm as he could nights, but many of them 

 were worthless at the end of the Fair. The first premium 

 was only $10, and the exhibitor who won it had on exhibition 

 35 queens, and lost probably half of them after the Fair was 

 over. Queen-bees ought to have no place on a premium list. 

 The place for them to be shown is in the single-comb nuclei, 

 where they can be kept warm and cared for. 



There is one other premium that ought never be offered, 

 and that is for the greatest number of samples of different 

 kinds of honey. This offer would be all right if all men were 

 honest, but. unfortunately, they are not, and the "manufac- 

 ture" of different samples by mixing is so easy and so difficult 

 of detection that many cannot withstand the temptation. 

 There ought to be nothinrj for which the judge must take the 

 exhibitor's word. Some lists contain such provisos as the fol- 

 lowing : " Honey must be of the present year's crop," " Must 

 be the product of the exhibitor," etc. Such things are fool- 

 ish, as there is no way of proving that they are lived up to. 



While I am discussing the things that ought to be left out 

 of a list, I may mention the offering of a premium on "honey 

 extracted on the grounds ;" also " comb foundation made on 

 the grounds." These offers came about in this way : The 

 managers of Fairs have about discontinued the offer of pre- 

 miums on all kinds of implements and machines. When bee- 

 keepers could no longer get a premium on a honey-extractor, 

 they induced the managers to offer one on "honey extracted 

 on the grounds," thus bringing in the honey-extractor. But 

 this is no premium on the extractor, as the honey shows no 

 characteristic of the machine that is used. It has been urged 

 that the use of the machine on the grounds educates the pub- 

 lic. As a rule, not two dozen people will see this operation — 

 often it is done toward night, when the crowd is off out of the 

 way. It is a mus^y, disagreeable task when attempted away 

 from the accessories of the honey-house. 



The same objections apply to the manufacture of comb 

 foundation on the grounds, with the exception that in this 

 case the foundation 7)u'!;/it show the superiority of the ma- 

 chine in a slight degree, but it might also be a greater indi- 

 cation of the skill of the operator. I don't wonder that the 

 managers have discontinued the offering of premiums on im- 

 plements and machinery — that is, in the way of pitting one 

 implement against another, as each implement is usually ex- 

 hibited by the manufacturer or his agent, and the awarding 

 of the premiums is very difficult, and the awards unsatisfac- 

 tory. But there are premiums offered at many Fairs for the 

 best display of furniture, clothing, musical merchandise, 

 stoves, etc., and in this sense there might be a premium of- 

 fered for the best display of apiarian implements that would 

 bring no unpleasantness. The display of implements is of In- 

 terest to bee-keepers, and aids them in giving information to 

 the general public. 



The display of honey-producing plants makes one of the 

 most handsome backgrounds that can be used in connection 

 with an apiarian exhibition, and interests and instructs the 

 public. 



A general sweepstake premium for the largest and best 

 exhibition is a powerful incentive to the making of a large 

 and attractive exhibition, and ought not to be omitted. Diplo- 

 mas are " no good." 



In all of the other departments of the different premium 

 lists there is something approaching uniformity — that is, the 

 horse department of the Michigan premium list does not dif- 

 fer materially from that department in the premium lists of 

 other Fairs, and there is no reason why the same uniformity 

 might not exist in the apiarian department of the different 

 lists. I shall send a copy of this paper to the secretaries of 

 the different Fairs, and to the premium-list committees when 

 I can learn of them ; also to those bee-keepers in each State 

 who are interested and attend their State conventions. There 

 is probably not a State Fair association that would not adopt 

 the premium list recommended by their State association of 

 bee-keepers. The managers have no interest in the matter 

 except to please the bee-keepers ; that is, if there Is a given 

 sum that can be used in the bee-keepers' department, the 

 managers are perfectly willing that the bee-keepers shall 

 make up their own list. — Country (ieiilleman. 



Genesee Co., Mich. 



