April 



American IBae Journal 



mciiuuioii is limited, but some air is 

 necessary as well as an escape for the 

 gas which forms, during the chemical 

 change which ensues. For the acetic 

 fermentation, the more air the better, if 

 the temperature is preserved. 



Veast, fruits or fruit-juices will fur- 

 nish plenty of germs for both the al- 

 coholic and the acetic fermentation. For 

 the latter, if it should be slow to come, a 

 little good vinegar or vinegar-mother 

 will supply it. Fruit-juices, wine or ci- 

 der, contain so much of the germs that 

 a barrel of wine or cider left unchanged 

 will be almost certain to turn to vine- 

 gar in a few w-eeks, if placed in a warm 

 cellar. The only reason why so many 

 people fail in securing the acetic fermen- 

 tation for their honey-vinegar is that 

 they do not give it enough opportunity 

 to develop the alcoholic fermentation 

 first, and most honey-vinegar will be 

 found still sweet when already partly 

 made. Pure alcohol mixed with water 

 cannot make vinegar unless it contains 

 some of the albuminous substances of 

 vegetable juices on which the fermenting 

 germs will feed. 



There are cases where the alcoholic 

 fermentation is induced, but no acetic 

 fermentation can take place. It is when 

 the liquid has been made very rich and 

 has fermented until it contains 14 to 

 16 percent of alcohol and still retains 

 some unferniented sweet. The quantity 

 of alcohol mentioned is sufficient to ar- 

 rest further fermentation. The alcohol 

 dominates. We then have a liquid which 

 much resembles Port or Madeira or 

 rich California wines. This happens 

 when three or more pounds of honey 

 have been used. To make vinegar out of 

 this requires thinning with water and 

 adding acetic ferment, for such germs 

 as may have existed in the liquid have 

 been destroyed by the large quantity of 

 alcohol produced. 



After the alcoholic fermentation has 

 taken place, it is not necessary that the 

 temperature be kept constantly at the 

 proper degree, in order to make good 

 vinegar. But it must be remembered 

 that in such case the changes will be de- 

 layed, and if the temperature is allowed 

 to go below the freezing point, it is 

 quite likely that more ferment will be 

 needed in order to re-establish favor- 

 able conditions. The swiftest action 

 may be secured by the slow trickling of 

 the fermenting vinegar through the air. 

 In some good vinegar-rooms of Europe, 

 beech shavings, soaked in good vinegar, 

 are used through which the forming 

 vinegar is allowed to trickle, in contact 

 with the oxygen of the air, and it is 

 said that very strong vinegar is thus 

 made in 48 hours, if the proper condi- 

 tions are present. 



A very limited quantity of honey in 

 water, less than a pound to the gallon ; a 

 temperature too low, say 65 or less ; the 

 absence of ferment — any or all of 

 these conditions will prevent fermenta- 

 tion amd the production of vinegar. In 

 such conditions putrid fermentation of 

 diflferent kinds take place. Your honey- 

 water will find itself in the position of 

 apples allowed to rot, instead of going 

 through the alcoholic and acetic changes 

 which take place in normal conditions. 



In my next I will consider the keeping 

 qualities of honey-vinegar. 



Hamilton, 111. 



Putting Comb Foundation in 

 Frames, Etc. 



BY DR. G. BOHRER. 



On page 77, G. M. Doolittle uses the 

 following language : "Do not be side- 

 tracked by the one who tells you to wait 

 about putting this foundation into the 

 frames till just before the harvest." 

 Such talk, he says, is all a myth. Please 

 permit me to state that, to rtiy certain 

 knowledge, foundation put in frames any 

 considerable length of time before it is 

 given to the bees for their immediate 

 use, will buckle, thus putting its surface 

 in an uneven and wavy shape. To my 

 mind it should be given to the bees with 

 the surface as nearly perfectly true as 

 possible. For I can not see how the 

 bees are to draw out the cells equal in 

 depth unless they finish up the comb 

 with a wavy surface which is most cer- 

 tainly not desirable in comb where brood 

 is to be reared. 



As to the matter of putting foundation 

 in sections for a time before giving it to 

 the bees, I can see no objection, as it is 

 not intended that brood should be reared 

 in sections. I will say, however, that in 

 cases where ij^-inch starters are put in 

 frames to be used in the brood-nest, no 

 harm is, I think, likely to result from 

 putting them into the frames for an in- 

 definite period before given to the bees. 

 But as many use full sheets of founda- 

 tion in frames for the brood-nest in or- 

 der to secure both straight combs and 

 the absence of drone-cells, the fact that 

 full sheets will buckle if put in the 

 frames long before they are used by the 

 bees should not be lost sight of; and 

 in the matter of having all supplies at 

 hand and in perfect readiness for use 

 when the time for their use comes, I 

 agree fully with Mr. Doolittle. 



More About a Pluralitv of Queens 

 IN One Colony. 



Permit me to supplement Mr. Da- 

 dant's statements, on pages 14 and 15, 

 concerning 2 or more queens living on 

 terms of perfect peace in one colony, 

 permanently. I will, however, digress a 

 little by stating that I made the dis- 

 covery that 2 queens do sometimes oc- 

 cupy the same brood-nest temporarily. 

 And I was somewhat surprised, as I had 

 never heard nor read of any such oc- 

 currences. Mr. Langstroth, in " The 

 Hive and Honey-Bee," among others, 

 made the impression upon my mind 

 that by nature there existed a dislike, 

 and an incompatibility amounting to an 

 uncompromising hatred, betw^een queen- 

 bees. I had not, prior to the last 2 years, 

 noticed that in each of two cases the 

 one was the mother of the other. Last 

 summer I opened a 2- story, 8- frame 

 Langstroth hive, and found a beautiful 

 young queen busily engaged in laying 

 eggs. I suspected that it was about 

 time for this colony to supersede its 

 queen, as she was 2 years old. In fact, 

 this suspicion was what led me to open 

 the hive for the purpose of inspection, 

 I lifted oflf the upper story and soon 

 found the old queen also laying eggs, 

 or at any rate I found many fresh eggs. 

 This discovery was made during the 

 flow of alfalfa honey. The two cases 

 referred to led me to suspect that, as a 



general rule, 2 queens in one hive liv- 

 ing peaceably together, meant mother 

 and daughter, and the mother about to 

 quit the stage of action. 



While the height of a free flow of 

 honey docs not in any way put a col- 

 ony in an abnormal condition, it does 

 in a sense cause them to become ob- 

 livious of some things that often occur 

 about them, the entire attention of the 

 field-forces being directed almost en- 

 tirely, if not entirely, to the one grand 

 object of collecting honey from the 

 sources to which nature has directed 

 them for their subsistence. At such 

 limes a hive may be opened and left 

 open for an indefinite length of time, 

 without being attacked by robber-bees. 

 Aside from this, persons may pass 

 through the apiary without being mo- 

 lested by any of the bees, and the bee- 

 keeper will, as a rule, be able to handle 

 the bees without veil, gloves, or smoke. 



Hence, as Mr. Dadant states, young 

 bees or queens may be safely introduced. 

 But for a plurality of queens to in- 

 habit the same brood-chamber perma- 

 nently is out of line with the natural 

 laws governing honey-bees. And I will 

 hazard the prediction that when two or 

 more queens live on terms of perfect 

 peace in the same colony, we will be 

 able to shear a hog and secure a fine 

 grade of wool; Dr. Miller's hair will 

 become as kinky as that of an African, 

 Mr. Whitney's will turn jet black, while 

 my own will return to its original sandy 

 or red color, and jMr. Dadant will dis- 

 card his big hive with deep frames, the 

 Langstroth standard frame will become 

 a thing of the past, and all will agree 

 that the shallowest frames, now urged 

 by a few, are if anything rather too 

 deep. But aside from this, they will be 

 regarded as the stufif for all bee-keep- 

 ers to use. And aside from this, thin, 

 trashy bottom-boards will be regarded 

 as very much preferable to the solid 

 bottom made out of lumber about one 

 inch thick. But to be candid, I can see 

 little if any advantage in more than one 

 queen in one colony. During early 

 spring, one queen, if a good one, will 

 lay all the eggs that her colony can keep 

 warm and develop into mature bees. 



A Mistake Historical Corrected. 



On page 32 of the Annual Report of 

 the National Bee-Keepers' Association, 

 Mr. Hilton, in his address in response 

 to the address of welcome at Harris- 

 burg, Pa., states that Mr. Quinby was 

 the honorary president of the North 

 American Bee - Keepers' Convention, 

 which is a mistake. The convention in 

 question was held at Indianapolis, Ind. 

 Mr. Quinby was not there. Mr. A. F. 

 Moon, of Paw Paw, Mich., was its 

 president. A few weeks later, what was 

 known as the American Bee-Keepers' 

 Convention was held at Cincinnati, Ohio. 

 Mr. H. A. King, of American bee-hive 

 fame, served as its president. Many of 

 the members of the North American 

 Bee-Keepers' Convention w-ere in at- 

 tendance. By agreement, the members 

 of the two conventions arranged to meet 

 in Cleveland, Ohio, about one year later, 

 where the two conventions were united, 

 thereby organizing what is now known 

 as the National Bee-Keepers' Associa- 

 tion. Mr. Quinby acted as President, 

 while the two bodies adopted articles 



