Bro. Pringle, of Canada, who had in charge the Ontario honey exhibit at the World’s Fair last summer, left for home on Dec. 21st. He had been in Chicago ever since April 6th, being the first apiarian superintendent to reach the Fair grounds, and the last to leave.
The day before departing for his Canadian home, Bro. Pringle kindly called to bid us “good-bye,” at the same time bringing with him, for “ye editor,” a quart jar of fine clear extracted honey, as a memento from Bro. McEvoy, Ontario’s popular Foul Brood Inspector; also a pound jar of honey from Mr. D. Chalmers, of Poole, Ont.; and, besides, a beautiful one-pound section of honey as a slight remembrance from Bro. P. himself. We want to thank all these friends for their “sweet” expressions of good-will, and assure them that we very gratefully appreciate their kindness and thoughtfulness.
We expect soon to give our readers a picture of Ontario’s magnificent honey exhibit at the Fair, with full description of the same.
The Wisconsin Honey Exhibit.—At the annual meeting of the Wisconsin State Bee-Keepers’ Association, in February, 1893, Mr. Franklin Wilcox, of Mauston, Wis., was chosen to collect, prepare and arrange an exhibit of honey and wax at the World’s Columbian Exposition. The sum of $500 was allotted by the State Board with which to make the exhibit.
The months of February and March did not prove to be the most favorable time for collecting comb honey that should fairly represent the State. After considerable correspondence, and some travel, Mr. Wilcox succeeded in obtaining about 800 pounds of comb honey, 500 pounds of extracted, and 200 pounds of beeswax, of the crop of 1892. Damages from freezing and rough handling reduced the quantity somewhat before it was finally installed at Chicago.
The rules of the Exposition Company sent out at that time limited the amount from each exhibitor to 50 pounds of extracted, and 100 pounds of comb honey, which prevented filling up the exhibit with a large quantity of fancy honey from two or three exhibitors, as might have been done with less cost.
Among those who furnished honey from the crop of 1892, were J. J. Ochsner, of Prairie du Sac, who sent some of the finest comb and extracted honey, also some choice beeswax; but the most attractive exhibit by Mr. O. was his name and post-office address built of comb honey by the bees in letters formed for them as a guide.
Mr. C. A. Hatch, of Ithaca, and E. C. Priest, of Henrietta, furnished extracted honey and beeswax. Messrs. Frank McNay, Franklin Wilcox, and A. E. Wilcox, of Mauston, each furnished comb and extracted honey and beeswax. Messrs. Gustav Gross, of Milford, and Adolph Vandereicke, of Lake Mills, contributed their best.
The extracted honey was nicely put up in glass jars, of different sizes and styles, designed to show those commonly used in the retail trade. It nearly all appeared on exhibition in the granulated form. This was partly because Mr. Wilcox believed that people should learn to know that pure extracted honey will granulate, and partly because he could not give it time enough to melt it so often as necessary to keep it in the liquid form.
