rilE AMERICAN EEE JOURNAL. 



521 



wired foundation, and in 48 hours, 

 you have 8 splendid combs com- 

 pleted." This I grant, Imt I have re- 

 peatedly this season hived full, strong 

 swarms on a set of 11 frames, 8x19. 

 filled with Dunham foundation, and 

 In ;! days it would be liled with comb 

 and honey, and every cond) drawn 

 out in a perfect manner, and with no 

 sagging whatever, but to accomplish 

 this, three things are necessary : 



1st. The foundation must be made 

 of good, tough wax. 



2d. It must be fastened to the frame 

 in the most perfect manner. 



3d. It must (in my opinion) be 

 made on the Dunham foundation 

 machine. 



Now, if there is a better machine 

 made I want it, and my customers 

 also will demand it, but I venture the 

 assertion that where 1 |)onnd of the 

 Given is made and sold,l(l() pounds of 

 the Dunham is disposed of in like 

 manner ; but I think the real cause of 

 Mr. Ileddon's discarding the Dun- 

 ham machine was his iniiljjlity to 

 make it do good and speedy work. I 

 gave in my last article a fair state- 

 ment of the amount of good work I 

 could do on the Dunham machine, 

 and Mr. Heddon gave a jiartial ac- 

 count of his work on the Given ma- 

 chine. He says he made 271 sheets 

 with one lubrication of the book, but 

 I would be pleased to know the size 

 of the sheets and the amount of time 

 he used in doing the work. Of course, 

 we want only the best foundation to 

 use in our apiaries, then let us in a 

 friendly spirit bring out all the good 

 points in this important branch of our 

 business. 



Cambridge, 111., Aug. 8, 1881. 



For the American Bee Journal. 



How to E.xhibit at the Fair. 



J. H. MARTIN. 



As I have had some experience in 

 exhibiting ray products at our county 

 fairs. I will give a few hints for the 

 benellt of those who are now prepar- 

 ing for such an extiibit. 



We all have a little selfish motive in 

 the display of our articles. If we 

 manufacture bee-tixturea, we wish to 

 extend our trade ; if we sell honey, 

 our object is to let people know where 

 the genuine article can be found. 



The summer of 187'J was a very good 

 honey season w-itli us, our 100 colonies 

 averaged nearly 100 lbs. each, our best 

 gave us 208 lbs. of extracted, and our 

 best yield of comb honey was 106 lbs. 

 This was the best yield of honey that 

 any one had ever obtained in this 

 county. We felt like bragging a little, 

 and the bragging took the form of an 

 exhibit at our County Fair. The ex- 

 hibitor generally wishes to make as 

 much of a spread as possible. It is, 

 therefore, well to put your honey in 

 small packages. We put up our 208 

 lbs. in pint fruit jars, and put six jars 

 in a neat basswood crate. The crate 

 was made so as to hold the top and 

 bottom of the jar firmly, while the 

 sides were open, giving a good view 

 of the honey when the whole was piled 

 up crate upon crate in pyramidal form. 



Our comb honey was also put up in 

 narrow crates of different leiigths, 

 with glass sides. In placing such an 

 exhibit, it is a good plan to get before 

 a window if jiossible. Your liquid 

 honey will then show to good advan- 

 tage. All of the honey should be care- 

 fully graded, basswood, clover and 

 buckwheat. A few jars of each kind 

 should be opened, and afew teaspoons 

 in readiness to let tho.se who desire 

 test the different qualities of honey. 

 JSIucli can thus be accomplished to- 

 ward educating people in relation to 

 the taste of honey from different 

 plants. 



By the side of the honey exhibit 

 should be the wax exhibit. The wax 

 should be run in cakes of different 

 size and shape. Our pile of wax was 

 Hnishedoiilw itli a sharp-pointed cone, 

 with two small ihigs attached to it. 

 Foundation in sheets, thick and thin, 

 in wired frames, in sections, in long 

 narrow ribbons looped up, and in 

 various colors if you choose. A pretty 

 centre for your wax exhibit is a beau- 

 tiful wax cross and clinging vine. 



It is needless to advise tlie exhibi- 

 tion of a foundation machine, extrac- 

 tor, knives, queen cages, etc., for these 

 are the tirst things the bee-keeper 

 usually thinks of, and will have a 

 prominent place. 



Finally, the oi)servatory hive should 

 be upon exhiliition, and where the 

 crowd can easily see it. We have seen 

 several descriptions in the bee papers 

 of late about such hives ; but there is 

 one point in my hive unlike any we 

 have seen described, I will therefore 

 tell liow I make an observatory hive. 

 My hrst hive was made to be placed 

 upon a shelf, and if a person wished to 

 look at the bees and queen the hive 

 was passed around. Such a hive is in 

 danger of being lipped over, or the 

 glass smashed. I therefore improved 

 my hive by placing a two inch block 

 under the centre of the hive, in this 

 was bored an inch hole ; another board 

 was provided with apeg two inches in 

 length to fit this hole. This board 

 was securely screwed to the shelf. 

 The hive coiild thus be turned readily 

 upon its centre, and itwas placed where 

 the crowd could stick their noses right 

 against the glass. That hive was a 

 success. Tliere was a crowd of old 

 and young around it all of the exhibi- 

 tion hours to see the queen bee. I 

 have seen many a pair of spectacles 

 adjusted to get a good view of her. 

 The observer would then go off at a 

 tearing rate to hunt up somebody else 

 on purpose to see the queen bee. 



An observatory hive should not be 

 crowded too full of bees ; just enough 

 to cover the comb. It is a good plan 

 to adjust the bees to the comb before 

 you leave home. A comb at least a 

 year old should be selected, with some 

 sealed honey, plenty of empty cells, 

 and perhaps, a little hatching brood. 

 If you get a sensible queen in the 

 hive, she will deposit eggs right be- 

 fore folks, and you will then have a 

 clinching argunient for those who do 

 not believe there is a queen, or that 

 one bee lays all of the eggs. 



I think the above plan for an ex- 

 hibit, with as much more as you wish 

 to add, will give ample room for 



almost any bee keeper to spread him- 

 self. Above all, do not attempt too 

 much. Exhibiting bees on the wing 

 will not work at a common county 

 fair. We attempted too much once 

 on a time, and made a failure of it. 



One more puint: insist on having 

 your exhibit all together in one place. 

 At some fairs your liive would be put 

 in class 8, division 4, your honey in 

 class 2, division 6. To divide your 

 exhibit up in this way would destroy 

 its utility and charm" entirely. See 

 the managers of the fairs several days 

 beforehand, explain just what ycSu 

 want and how mucli room you want; 

 get your location, and be on hand 

 early in the morning on the first day 

 of the fair. If the managers do not 

 give yon a good sjiace, or if they go 

 back on yon, as they do sometimes, 

 do not exhibit a thing at their fair, 

 and if anybody tries to crowd you out 

 of your si)aee,jir crowd on at each 

 end, you can first remonstrate, then 

 reason, and if that don"t keep tlieni 

 off, then fight. 



I could give several more items in 

 relation to this subject, but I must 

 save a little of my ammunition for a. 

 few of the other bee papers. I did 

 think of writing my experiences all 

 out for the Bee Journal, then do as 

 some of our eminent friends do, com- 

 mence at the last paragraph and w-rite- 

 back to the beginning and send it to- 

 Gleanings ; then commence in the 

 mid He and write both ways and send 

 it to the Exchange; then go over it 

 diagonally for the Magazine, then take 

 it on the bias for the Instructor, and 

 so forth. 



Hartford, N. Y., Aug. 9, 1882. 



The National Convention. 



We have received from Prof. Cook 

 the following circular relating to the 

 above convention. We greatly regret 

 we shall not be able to attend, but cir- 

 cumstances beyond our control will 

 make our absence imperative. We 

 regret it more especially, as this will 

 be a most interesting meeting : 



The next meeting of the National 

 Bee-keepers' Association promises to 

 be a grand success. Such men as D. 

 A. Jones, A. I. Root, James Heddon, 

 O. O. Poppletou and Dr. J. T. II. 

 Brown have promised attendance. 



It is expected that the Association 

 will visit in a body, the apiary of Mr. 

 Hill, of Mount Pleasant, which is one 

 of the best conducted in the States. 



Mr. D. A. Jones will exhibit speci- 

 mens of the bees of the Indies, in- 

 cluding the famous Apis dorsata. 



There will also be exhibited at each 

 intermission, miscroscopic prepara- 

 tions, showing structure of the sting, 

 mouth-parts, etc., and of the so-called 

 dry feces of bees. 



Let some bee-keeper of each leading 

 city look after railroad rates. It will 

 be the last week of the great Cincin- 

 nati Exposition. This is a great at- 

 traction, and will make it easy to 

 secure reduced rates. Round trip 

 tickets from Detroit are promised for 

 $5. A. J. Cook, President. 



