Jima 20, 1867. 1 



JOURNAL OP HORTICDLTORE AND COXTAGR GABDENEB. 



437 



Jonmal will be able to determine its name from this insufficient 

 description. 



12. " W. Hammerechmidt, the photographer, had promised 

 me a photograph ef the Arab Soliman, undoubtedly the greatest 

 Egyptian apiarian. At my request, also, Soliman declared 

 that he would gladly permit himself to be photographed ; but 

 he soon changed his mind. Even the most civilised Arab can- 

 not understand the nature of the photograph, and therefore 

 views the art as the work of the devil, terrifying accordingly 

 to the ordinary Bedouins and Fellaheen. Friend Soliman vei-y 

 Boen began to allege all manner of excuses, such as that he 

 suffered from rheumatism, and was unable to go when Herr 

 Hammerschmidt invited him to accompany him and have his 

 likeness taken ; so that all I obtained from the old Soliman 

 was an «xchange of compliments." 



The reader may, perhaps, be enabled from the information 

 which I have set before him to picture to himself Egyptian 

 bee-keeping. 1 am indebted for this information almost entirely 

 to Herr Hammerschmidt, who has passed nearly a generation 

 in Egypt, and is a perfect master of the Arabian language, so 

 that an understanding with the Arab became easy. Herr Ham- 

 merschmidt obtained answers to a number of questions which 

 I had written, and noted them down immediately. lu order 

 not to pervert the sense of Herr Hammerschmidt's memoranda, 

 I have transcribed them almost literally. 



We have been far away from home, and right glad are we to 

 be safe back again with wife and child. We intend next to 

 make an excursion to Greece, in order to report upon the bee- 

 keeping in the convent of Cffisarea, one league from Athens, 

 on the front spur of the Hymettus. — W. Vogel. 



MEAD OR METHEGLIN. versus HONEY BEER. 



The American receipt at paj^e 336 for mead or metlieglin is very 

 good, and " W. H. S." may, amidst distracting counsels, nnhesitattngly 

 trust to it ; but a large handful of elder flowers would be much too 

 great a proportion for the palates of nine persons out of ten. One 

 ounce of the dried flowers to a ten-gallon cask would be safer. Elder 

 flowers are very searching, and when wine or anjrthing else is over* 

 flaToured with them, the liquor is generally pronounced to be very 

 disagreeable. Let me also advise, that the " lees remaining in the 

 cask " be thrown away ; they are useless after fermentation. I can 

 advise with some authority, as I have been a maker of mead for years. 

 I sent a bottle of it up to one of the Royal Horticultural Society's 

 meetings last April twelvemonth, along with about thirty samples of 

 home-made grape and other wines for judgment. The award my 

 mead gained was this : — " Very disagreeable ! " I had previously 

 arrived at the conclusion that mead is not liked as a beverage by the 

 majority of people in these times. Our forefathers were pagans, and 

 considered their mead only sufficiently worthy for the halls of Valhalla, 

 their heaven, to be drunk there in reward for braverj', out of the 

 skulls of the enemies whom they had slaughtered during life ! For 

 my part, then, I feel sorry for our forefathers, and I only intend 

 making mead in future for the purpose of turning it into vinegar, 

 because I now manufacture a drink out of honey infinitely superior, I 

 think, for the purpose of quenching thirst. So did the judges, as the 

 award they gave to a bottle of honey beer was, " Very good indeed — a 

 very succcssfnl experiment." A bottle of mead-vinegar also gained the 

 following character : — '* A very first-class vinegar with a sauce flavour." 



I will consider no brewing-plant or fixtures of any description as 

 being necessary, excepting the copper, which would be found to be 

 in most cases already set ; but that which I use for my small brewings 

 of honey beer is made of galvanised iron, and holds nine gaUons. 

 I temporarily tix it over the kitchen grate. I prefer working the 

 liquor in a large, glazed, earthenware pan, as when a wooden-tub has 

 not been previously used for working malt liquor, it is apt to absorb 

 much of the saccharine matter. We must, of course, have either a large 

 stone bottle or cask to contain the beer, and it should be sweet and 

 in good order. A brewing thermometer costing 3.?. Gr/., and one of 

 Roberts's saccharometers. which costs 65., are very desirable, as by them 

 the temperature and specific gravity, or sweetness, are correctly shown, 

 entirely doing away with guesswork. The most certain way to procure 

 good hops is to order them from the most respectable dealers. A chief 

 consideration, also, is the barm, or yeast. To procure it fresh and 

 good, find out if some neighbour has lately been brewing, for it is much 

 more likely to be obtained genuine from a private source than from 

 a public-hons", in these days of nux vomica, strychnine, and other 

 additions. H-ilf a pint of ale barm, or still better half as much 

 again of small beer yeast, would be sufficient for our present six- 

 gallon brewing; hut whatever quantity may be required to eventually 

 fill the jar or atOi, allow one-third more water to compensate for waste 

 by evaporatirjii duriug the boiling, and to make sure of enough for the 

 rtyeated tilUiii-^-up of the cask during the working proces.^. Some 

 ^people prefer hur.l water, hut others say soft water is best to brew 

 malt liquor with. I never in my practice could perceive any difference. 

 I use soJt water in brewing honey beer, and the preference seems 



reasonable ; at any rate, when using the saccharometer the tempera- 

 ture of the liquid operftted upon must be tested by the thermometer, 

 and brought up or lowered to 60'^. 



Now, I shall suppose wo have arrived at a time — say September, when 

 the bees have quite done honey gathering, that their superfluous storea 

 are taken, and the honey — at least as much of it as will do so without 

 much breaking the combs — run off ; then what remains in the combs 

 reclaim by emptj'ing the contents of the canvas bags into a pan, with 

 two quarts of water to two quarts of the honeycomb, first making the 

 water dissolve what honey adheres to the bags by rinsing and wringing 

 them in it. Occasioually stir the mash well with a wooden spoon, 

 and at the expiration of three or four days strain the liquid through a 

 bag or bags, sufficiently fine in their texture to retain every particle 

 of the wax, into a large pan. Measure it, and add the desired quantity 

 of water to compose the brewing. Prove the temperature by the ther- 

 mometer, and if it is not 60° make it so by adding some hot water. 

 Now, for strict economy's sake, collect any odds and ends of last year's 

 honey remaining uselessly on hand, or any of that of the present year 

 which appears discoloured, or not of sutficient quality to command a 

 first-rate market price, and keep mixing it till it is quite dissolved and 

 blended with the water in the pan. Continue to test the sweetened 

 water with the saccharometer till the latter floats at the degree or 

 specific gravity of 40°, marked on its index-plate (equal to 200^ by 

 Thompson's saccharometer, a more scientific and expensive instru- 

 ment, costing at least ten times as much as Koberts's) — that is, equal 

 to within a fraction of 3§ lbs. of honey to the gallon of water. 



Supposing the pan to contain for our sis-gallon brewing nine gallons 

 of what I shall call sweet wort, we will immediately enter it into the 

 boiler, and there add to it not quite half a pound of hops, rubbing 

 and separating them well between the hands, as we do so incorporating 

 them well with the liquor, using a large wooden spoon, and not inter- 

 fering again till it begins to boU. Watch it narrowly, for if, through 

 negligence, it should boil over at this stage, almo.st before you can think 

 it will be all out of the copper. As soon as the hops heave and break, 

 and foam appears through the fissures, look at the clock. The process 

 must now have your undivided attention for about an hour ; allow the 

 liquor to boil freely for that time, coaxing it within bounds with the 

 mash stick or wooden spoon ; but if it persists in boiling too violently 

 damp the fire with some moistened slack coal, which it is advisable to 

 have at hand. After the first hour the liquid will naturally boil more 

 gently ; then cast into it about 2 ozs. of salt. Allow it to simmer 

 gently an hour and a half longer : " A slow brewer and a quick baker " 

 is a proverb. Clear, well-flavoured beer, let it be made either with 

 malt or honey, to stand the proof of keeping cannot be had unless it 

 be well boiled, nor can the virtue be extracted from malt unless it be 

 well mashed. Now place a tub near the copper, suspend a sieve, or 

 strainer of that sort, over the tub, and lade the beer from the boiler 

 into the strainer, where the hops will be retained, and this done, im- 

 mediateiy pour some water into the boiler, if it be a fixture, to prevent 

 the fire burning a hole in the bottom. Move off the strained beer to 

 a cool place (my plan is to carry it at once into the cellar and enter it 

 into a cooler) ; in doing so be careful not to spill any, as we are brew- 

 ing to close measure. 



I have now said all that I think necessary to initiate cottagers who 

 may be the possessors of but a few bee hives, into what large brewers 

 in my native county of Suffolk sneer at as '" tea-kettle brewings." But 

 never mind, we cannot be all large brewers ; and " tea-kettle brewers " 

 do know what they drink, and so far as my observations of them have 

 gone they are inclined to keep sober. I want to knock at the door of 

 the cottage onu> as well as that of the cottage proper, so I will finish 

 this paper on the supposition that we are brewing fifty gallons of 

 honey beer, and point out the manner in which the feimentation of the 

 larger quantity should be conducted, the process being the same in both 

 cases, only that the larger quantity requii-es more time, and there is 

 more complication attending its management which it will be as well 

 to explain. 



The working tub must not be placed in the way of cold draughts, but 

 close to the cask intended to be filled. Tilt the tub, by placing some- 

 thing for the edge of its bottom to rest upon, and then pour into it 

 about six gallons of beer set previously apart to cool. Plunge the 

 thermometer into it, and make sure that its temperature is lowered to 

 70" at least. This temperature (milkwarm), is the proper degree of 

 heat to apply the yeast, which must be thoroughly mixed with the 

 beer ; then place the lading-bucket, which should be made of wood, 

 with its handle inverted, in the midst of it, and this will be found to 

 considerably expedite the fermentation, which invariably begins at the 

 point of contact with the bucket. Separate from the cooler double 

 the quantity of beer just set to work in a different tub, to be added 

 to that in the working tub when the ferment is causing a white froth 

 to be formed upon the surface. Be very particular as to this ; until a 

 white "head " is well formed over do not add more beer, or fermen- 

 tation may be checked in the beginning, and the working rendered 

 precarious afterwards. Let the formation of the "head" act as a 

 guide for future additions, and whenever one is made, separate more 

 beer to become cooled, each time doubling the quantity. Of course, 

 you have to uutilt the working-tub when you add the second quantity. 

 Malt liquor is set to work exactly in the same manner as I have just 

 described, and should you prev-iously have been a brewer of it, do net 

 become frightened at the more sluggish fermentation of honey beer. 

 The process of fermentation is longer, and never so active as in beer 



