4 THE AMERICAN BOTANIST 



plants have to work with. The strength, however, could 

 probably be increased by boiling down the fluid, or, better still, 

 in winter by freezing, removing the ice and thus obtaining the 

 vinegar. 



How to preserve the bees for future use after they have 

 produced enough vinegar to fill all the receptacles in the 

 house, does not seem to be known. One does not care to 

 keep them constantly (jn the job, as one does their animal pro- 

 totypes. They are rather too busy to be satisfactory. Prob- 

 ably they can be dried and soaked up when wanted, but only 

 experiment will show whether this suggestion is correct. 



Although little known in this country until recently, their 

 fame as well as the bees themselves is spreading rapidly. A 

 certain amount of folk-lore has already been woven about 

 them. One report has it, that the Government has distributed 

 the bees to aid in reducing the high cost of living. In the 

 light of recent events, we might suspect the brewers of hav- 

 ing a hand in the matter. Ginger beer sounds suggestive. 

 Another story is to the effect that two partners in the vinegar 

 business quarreled and one gave away a trade secret to spite 

 the other. Whether we accept these stories or make new 

 ones up for ourselves, the fact remains, that this is a most 

 interesting plant partnership and one that deserves further, 

 investigation. 



Various other combinations of yeasts and bacteria have 

 been discovered. l)nl ihey are seldom mentioned in print. One 

 of the more famous is that called kefir or kephir grains, 

 which consists of Saccharomyces cartilaginosus and S. fraijilis 

 and llirec species of bacteria, the most imi)ortant being Bacil- 

 lus Caucasicns. This is used to ferment milk in the Caucasus 

 region. Matzoon is a drink made in Armenia, by adding a 

 similar colony of yeasts, fungi and bacteria, containing seven 

 different organisms. 



