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g8 THIRD ANNUAL REPORT 



Mr. Wilcox— I thought at first that I would not say any- 

 thing on this subject, because I am more anxious to hear 

 what others think. I have wanted to know this a long time, 

 I have had this subject on my mind for about lo years. 

 I was here, as you know, at the Columbian Exposition, in 

 charge of the Wisconsin State honey exhibit, and I might 

 say this at the outset, as Mr. Root has stated, the chief ad- 

 vantages are the educational advantages. It pays in almost 

 any industry to educate people, in bee-keeping especially. It 

 is the one thing that we need most. We are not educating 

 the people by making exhibits, if we simply go and place 

 our exhibit there in proper position, as attractive as we can, 

 and go away and leave it. Thousands of visitors will pass it 

 daily and never know that they have seen anything. Some, 

 perhaps, are so well acquainted that they will know it is 

 honey; others will see it and say it is prettv, or not pretty, 

 and go on. But if there is someone there to answer any 

 question that may be asked concerning the production or use 

 of the honey, then there is information given that does some- 

 body some good, and continues to spread, and as you con- 

 tinue going there from morning to night, day after day, 

 through the season, you have done a great work, and that 

 work tells for years to come. It is certainly a benefit, and in 

 this respect I might say that there is just the same benefit 

 in exhibiting honey at fairs that there is in exhibiting grains, 

 butter and cheese, and vegetables, live stock, or any other 

 commodity ; they all do it for a purpose, to show to the people 

 what others have done that they may do ; it advertises, and 

 in many ways builds up trade. It promotes commerce and 

 production. It promotes consumption. It is promoting busi- 

 ness. If it is properly done, it is profitable; if it is improperly 

 done, it is a waste of means. 



Mr. Smith — I wish just to state that I made exhibits at 

 the Illinois State fair several times.. Mr. York will remem- 

 ber he was judge at one time when I had an exhibit, and 

 I made the first exhibit of section honey at the Illinois State 

 fair that was ever made. We had sections there which dove- 

 tailed. There were four pieces, and we would stick them 

 together, and the people wanted to know how the bees knew 

 there was a pound of the honey in them 1 Three years ago 

 I had a miniature mill, representing an old-fashioned water- 

 mill. I had a full sheet of brood-comb; then I had a stream 

 of liquid honey running from back of a curtain, through a 

 wax trough down into the mill, that turned the wheel, and 

 people would come along and see that, and say, "Are the bees 

 making that honey as fast as it comes out of the mill ?" They 

 would ask all kinds of questions, and I had an extractor there, 

 and was extracting, and every once in a while we would ex- 

 tract, and they would say, "Look at that man churning 

 honey!" When I would hear that I would inform them, and 

 they would become interested, and stay and ask all kinds of 

 questions. One time there was a gentleman and lady came 

 along, and asked me if the bees were making that honey. 

 It was late in the evening, and I said, "Yes." The man said, 

 "It is dark. I don't see how the bees can make honey in the 



