Jan. 1, 1912 



19 



Therefore we can judge of the relative merit 

 of an exhibit only by comi)arison. 



I (lid not realize how true this is till I 

 saw the iihotograjih which is rei)roduced 

 with this article. 'Phis is undoubtedly a 

 good photograph, comparatively, but it cer- 

 tainly fails to bring out the beauty of the 

 exhibit. It is a picture of the exhibit of 

 IJ. F. Bartholomew and wife, of Norman, 

 Oklahoma, at the State Fair, Oklahoma 

 City, 1911. This display covered a space of 

 10x;50 feet, and was a fine example of the 

 bee-keeper's art. There were two other ex- 

 hibits that would compare favorably with 

 those of other State fairs, but the one shown 

 here took 14 out of 1<> blue ribbons, and was, 

 therefore, clearly in the lead. 



Mr. Bartholomew made his i)lans as would 

 an architect- -measured his sjiace, then built 

 his special shelving at home and shipped it, 

 together with the jars which he had ordered 

 esjiecially for each space, to the fair. 



The tlesigns in honey and wax were esi^e- 

 cially meritorious, the design in honey be- 

 ing built from foundation in the letters 

 sawed in the boards, and mounted under 

 gUiss. The designs in beeswax, were the 

 horse-shoe and shield, and were of solid wax, 

 and not dipped. This is another place 

 where the camera fails to give results. The 

 lettering on the shield and the wreath on 

 both are not brought out. These were all 

 hand carved from different shades of wax, 

 and made a most pleasing effect. To the 

 right can be seen just the corner of a fire- 

 place built of solid wax brick, and holding 

 a wax kettle, etc. Mrs. Bartholomew shared 

 etjually with her husband in arranging this 

 display. The honey was mostly from alfal- 

 fa and sweet clover. This exhibit shows 

 that Oklahoma is already prepared to com- 

 pete with many of the older States. 



Geary, Okla. 



SOME PRACTICAL EXPERIENCE WITH A 

 STEAM HONEY-KNIFE. 



How it Assists in Extracting and Uncapping when 

 the Honey is Cold. 



BY B. M. CARAWAY. 



Some time ago the editor asked for re- 

 l)orts, favorable or otherwise, concerning 

 the steam honey-knife. There has already 

 been a good deal said about this knife; but 

 I don't feel that it has been given proper 

 credit in sjnte of all that has been said. It 

 is certainly a wonderful labor-saver. 



One of the best features about this knife, 

 and one that has not been mentioned, is 

 that, when the honey is a little cold, the 

 hot blade heats it uj) so that the extractor 

 will throw it out of the cells easily, (^uite 

 often during the extracting season I take 

 off honey one day and extract what I can; 

 but there may be some left over until the 

 next day. During the night it cools off 

 until it is very thick. When I uncap it 

 with the steam knife, however, it warms it 

 up again until it extracts just as quickly as 

 honey just removed from the hive that con- 

 tains the original heat from the bees. 



With the steam knife I can uncap faster 

 than any one can using a cold knife. I 

 have tried nearly all the knives on the mar- 

 ket, including a butcher-knife, but none of 

 them can be compared with the steam 

 knife. There have been several large pro- 

 ducers here, among them Mr. W. H. Laws, 

 of Beeville, Texas, and all of them have 

 been quite carried away with it. Mr. Laws 

 is the owner of more bees than any other 

 man in Texas, probably, and he said it was 

 the best thing he had seen for a long time. 

 If one uncaps with the downward stroke, 

 the weight of the knife will slice the cap- 



mrnMi 



iiDMiip nnopttl---, 

 I i<>il I lilllii 



li;xhibll of B. F. Bartholomew at the Oklahoma State Fair. 



