1883 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTtrRE. 



603 



folded tin tacked on the edges of the top-bar; we 

 could keep the comb cut out so as to lodg-e the cells 

 straight above the range of comb. 



Chas. Kingsley. 

 Greeneville, Tenn., Sept. 14, 1883. 



Friend K., you have certainly given us a 

 new thought about this matter of small 

 queens. 1 agree with you, that the drones 

 from a queen fully matured, even if she is 

 prevented from meeting the drone, should be 

 full size, and good drones in every respect. 

 It is the drones from fertile workers that are 

 so small as to be a little suspicious. We 

 practice inserting queen-cells almost entire- 

 ly by putting them between the combs, but 

 we do not put them between top-bars, for 

 we have had abundant experience like yours. 

 They are very apt to be torn down. ^Ve take 

 the queen-cell between the first and second 

 fingers, reach it well down between the 

 combs, so as to be caught by the brood on 

 one or both combs, when they are moved up 

 so as to squeeze it slightly. I am sure I 

 should not like a top-bar divided as you sug- 



MICHIGAN STATE FAIR. 



BEE AND HONEY EXHIBITION. 



ST is admitted by all, that the exhibition of bees, 

 honey, wax, apiarian implements, etc., at the 

 — ' Michigan State Fair, now held at Detroit, is the 

 largest and finest ever shown. Here; take my arm, 

 and, in imagination, let us enter the hall. 



At the left, as you enter, is the "exhibit of Mr. H. 

 D. Cutting, of Clinton, Mich- He makes the largest 

 exhibit of implements, there being 63 different ar- 

 ticles. He also obtained the first premium on bee- 

 keeping literature, having coj)ie8 of almost fifty dif- 

 ferent publications, all of which were arranged in a 

 fancy show-case. A medley of bee-keepers' photos 

 in the show-case pleased many a pair of eyes. The 

 premiums awarded to Mr. C. amounted to S33.00. 

 By the way, Mr. C. deserves great credit for the gen- 

 eral success of the exhibition. Several years ago, 

 when the bee and honey exhibits, if any there were, 

 were sandwiched between the limburger-cheese and 

 cabbage exhibits in Agricultural Hall, Mr. Cutting 

 resolved not to rest until the Agricultural Society 

 recognized bee-keeping as an industry ; and in this 

 resolve he has been untiring. The result is, that a 

 building has been erected, and a department created 

 for bees and honey; and although Mr. C. has labored 

 under great disadvantages in his thankless task, he 

 now feels fully repaid. Bee-keepers of Michigan, 

 we owe Mr. C. a great debt of gratitude. 



Well, let us step along. Here is the space occupied 

 by E. T. Lewis & Co., Toledo, Ohio. Just look at 

 that mammoth smoker, two feet in height, labeled 

 " Take me out to see your hybrids." Well, if it 

 hasn't a whistle in the nozzle, and a mouth-organ at 

 the backl Cutting had the " blues" until t/iat ar- 

 rived, not afterward. Mr. Lewis exhibited bee-keep- 

 ers' supplies, and secured first premiums upon his 

 honey and wax extractors. 



Hello! here is a display of goblets filled with hon- 

 ey; also fancy cases of comb honey, beeswax, and 

 Mason jars of extracted honey; they are from 

 James Fry, Leslie, Mich. He also had a colony of 

 Italian bees out of doors. 



Are those drawings of plants over in that corner? 



No, those are the plants tJiemselves. They are spec- 

 imens of honey - producing plants, pressed and 

 mounted by C. M. Weed, of the Agricultural College, 

 Lansing; and so well has he done the work that the 

 natural colors are preserved. There are abeut 50 

 specimens, and, as he well deserves it, you see Mr. 

 Weed has been awarded the first premium. 



What is this we have run against? Bring that 

 box here; let me climb up and look into it. Why, it 

 is a mammoth honey-extractor, capable of receiving 

 six combs at a time; or if only three combs are put 

 in at a time they can be quickly reversed inside the 

 can by a single touch of the finger. This extractor 

 is exhibited by August Koeppen, Flint, Mich. He 

 also had on exhibition, not a chaff, but a tow hive. 

 Not only the walls, but a movable bottom-board, six 

 inches thick, was tilled with tow. 



Here is a complicated hive called the Queen home, 

 or winter protector. Well, if they haven't given it 

 the first premium! Yes; but one of the committee 

 said, if he could have had his way, the premium 

 would have been given to a plain, simple, unpre- 

 tending, eight-frame Langstroth hive. 



Well, if here isn't a fine exhibit! how it does shine! 

 I wonder whose it is. Well, you needn't wonder; 

 just look up there on the wall; there are the letters, 

 built io hives by the bees; they are M. HUNT. 

 Well, where shall we begin to look at it? Oh! com- 

 mence at one end, and take things in their order. 

 Here are chaff hives, and out of doors are two col- 

 onies of bees upon which are awarded a first and 

 second premium. Over there in the corner is a 

 very tastily arranged collection of bee-keeping lit- 

 erature. Here in front, under bell-glasses, is honey 

 "fixed up " in such beautiful fancy shapes that it is 

 impossible to do it justice. Here is a crate of white 

 honey, here sections with glass sides and fancy, 

 turned wooden corners, pyramids of octagonal sec- 

 tions with openings in the center filled with fine 

 bouquets, several elegantly finished cases of fine 

 white comb honey, extracted honey in glass pails, 

 bottles, cans, jars, tin pails, and large tin cans, all of 

 which are adorned with showy labels. There is a 

 round pyramidal stand of shelves, about four feet 

 wide at the base, and the same in height, the shelves 

 of which are filled with little pails and cans of ex- 

 tracted honey, and surmounted with a large glass 

 jar of honey, all of which makes a very fine display 

 indeed. And just look at those three fine pyramids 

 of wax, molded in fancy molds. I wonder why they 

 didn't award it a premium. Look at the bee-keep- 

 ing implements. There are lots of ihem, aren't 

 there? Yes, enough to take the second premium. 

 Mr. H. receives first premium upon extracted honey 

 and comb fdn. His premiums, in all, amount to 

 over $50.00. Oh! I came near forgetting; he had 

 two 1-frame nuclei — one of Italians, the other hy- 

 brid. Mr. Hunt occupies just one-fourth the build- 

 ing. 



Well, heie we are at the exhibit of W. Z. Hutchin- 

 son; and although I don't like to talk about it, I 

 suppose I must. The part that first attracts vis- 

 itors is the display of comb honej', some 2500 pounds 

 of which are piled up tier after tier, in pyramidal 

 forms, until it can go no higher, for the simple 

 reason that the roof has been reached. The bas.e of 

 the pyramid is 20 feet long, and many, many an old 

 bee-keeper and traveler (and one traveler had visit- 

 ed the bee shows of Europe) exclaimed, " That is the 

 largest and finest exhibition of comb honey that I 

 ever saw." Each " step " of the pyramid formed by 



