246 



THE BEE-KEEPERS' REVIEW 



but it does make some difference when 

 laid along on top of a top bar. I know- 

 that a f, white pine top bar is quite 

 likely to sag, if no comb guide is used, 

 but there is other wood suitable for 

 top bars that is much stiffer than white 

 pine. 1 have used thousands of 7-16- 

 top bars made of yellow poplar, and 

 never had one sag a particle. 



Don't Extract Unripe Honey. 



I wish that every one would read, and 

 ponder over, the article in the extracted 

 department on ripening honey on the 

 hives. Notice the point the author makes 

 about furnishing storage room on 100 

 colonies for about $200. This is a small 

 consideration, however, in comparison 

 with the importance of puttingthoroughly 

 ripened honey on the market. What 

 would we think of a fruit grower who 

 would put half-ripe strawberries on the 

 market? Half-ripe honey is no better. 

 I know it is sacreligious, but I do some- 

 times feel like exclaiming: "For God's 

 sake, don"t extract green honey!"' 



Where a white honey harvest is im- 

 mediately followed by a dark flow, the 

 temptation is great to extract unripe 

 white honey to get it out of the way of 

 the dark flow that is to follow, but I 

 would allow the white honey to go over 

 and mix with the dark before I would 

 extract unripe honey. It is the bane of 

 our business. 



The Child is Father of the Man. 



This is an old saying showing that the 

 natural bent of the mind sometimes 

 shows very early in life. I can give an 

 illustration along this line. It has no 

 connection with bee keeping, and I'm 

 going to tell it simply because 1 want to. 



My little eight-year old grandson, 

 Bruce Hanneman, who really makes his 

 home with us, has a real passion for 

 machinery. He not only manipulates, 

 but thoroughly understands the mech- 

 anism of my type writer. I overheard 

 him one day explaining the different parts 

 to his grandmother. This does that, and 



that is for this purpose, and if you do so 

 and so, then such and such things will 

 happen, etc. 



Tm never with him when a locomotive 

 goes by, that we don't have to stop and 

 "watch it out of sight." I think the fire- 

 man of one locomotive must have been a 

 good judge of human nature, and seen the 

 wistful look in the eyes of Bruce, as he 

 took him upon the engine for the three 

 minutes that the train stopped, and 

 showed him the shining levers, and 

 handles, and the big fire box with its 

 fire of glowing coals. Bruce talked of 

 the adventure for a long time after 

 reaching home, but finally gave up in 

 despair trying to make his grandmother 

 understand the uses of all the "handles" 

 he had seen. 



Our daily paper is printed on a triple- 

 deck Hoe press, which is as big as a 

 threshing machine, and composed of a 

 mass of wheels, rollers, cylinders, shafts, 

 etc. I took Bruce to see it one day just 

 as they were ready to start. The press- 

 man turned a little current of electricity 

 on the motor, and the wheels began 

 slowly to revolve. There was a watchful 

 examination of the different parts to see 

 that all was working smoothly, then a 

 little greater speed was given. All went 

 well, and, finally, the lever was pushed 

 clear over, and the machine sprang into 

 life with a roar. Wheels revolved, cogs 

 purred their rythm, rollers rolled, big 

 rolls of paper gave off their long sheets 

 of wide, white ribbons of paper, the 

 printed and folded papers dropped out 

 into the shute with a "clip, clip, clip," 

 faster than you could count. I was 

 watching Bruce carefully. He stood 

 wholly absorbed for quite awhile, then 

 looked up in my face and smiled. I have 

 seen him smile thousands of times, but 

 never with the meaning there was ex- 

 pressed in that smile. It told more than 

 could have been told in a fiood of words. 



As we trudged home, hand in hand, he 

 looked up and said: "That's the best 

 thing we have ever seen, isn't it 

 grandpa?" 



