l''a£. alLbj-KJLEi'KHt) REVIEW. 



Id 



you cftu have them drawu out the best, aud 

 also upou the style of hive you are u-siiij^. 

 If you were u-<iii>ja hive with the lotig chain- 

 her, you could draw out at one side of the 

 hive, atid still the qaeeu and bee-bread 

 would uot ijet iuto it. It would take 12 or lo 

 short frames, aud at one end you could have 

 these drawu out. Bat iu the shallow hives 

 they C!iu be drawu out iu the top story in 

 full sheets; uot put iu frames at all, siuiply 

 fasten to tl^e top-bars aud the bees will 

 will draw them out as readily as they will 

 full sheets. After they ar < drawu out part- 

 ly (aud it is not best to have them drawn 

 out too much ) cut them up in correct shape 

 aud put iuto ttie sectious. That has been 

 practiced to a great extent. You can have 

 them drawn out as needed, or you can have 

 a full set drawu out for each colony the pre- 

 vious year, in the fall, when feeding bees 

 for winter on sugar syrup — you thus kill 

 two birds with one stone — you have the 

 foundation drawn out aud the syrup stored. 

 The next season a set of these are given to 

 each colony. The sections are perfectly 

 clean, of coarse, bec^iuse it is not necessary, 

 to cut them up and put them into sections 

 until you want to use them. Yon can leave 

 them iu full sheets and iu that way you can 

 secure a large amount of comb honey. The 

 parties who originated this idea, and prob- 

 ably practiced it to a greater extent than any 

 other in the United States or, if not in the 

 world, claim they could get as many pounds 

 of comb honey iu that way as could be ob- 

 tained of extracted, provided that the bee- 

 keepers would allow their extracted to be 

 seaeld before it was extracted. Now I have 

 given you an outliue and you can work it 

 out at your leisure, if you wish. 



Dr. Miller — That was practiced a good 

 deal longer than VI years agi. 



Mr. Green — I used to practice that method 

 considerable myself, and I think now that if 

 I wanted to get the greatest possible yield of 

 honey from a colony, I would do that yet. 

 It is not necessary, as Mr. B^ldridge saj s, to 

 have the foundation drawn out very deep, but 

 just so the bees make a start on it; they will 

 go right to work. Put a few of these combs 

 frtshly-drawn in the supers, and the bees 

 will go up there aud work on it. " 



How to Make Honey Vinegar. 



Just at present there is some talk in the 

 jonrnals about making honey vinegar, the 

 process, profits, etc. Bro. York, with his 

 characteristic enterprise has secured the 

 following from the pen of C. P. Dadant, 

 who has probably had as much experience in 

 this line as has any one. 



•' Vinegar, originally, was only sour wine, 

 (vin aitrrei, but it is now made from all 

 sorts of beverages, aud the common vinegar 

 of commerce is made by the distilation of 

 wood (pyroligneous acid). Unprincipled 

 dealers have been known to add, to the vin- 

 egar, water and sulphuric acid, a very in- 



jurious preparation. Our farmers, here, 

 make all their vinegar from cider. In Eng- 

 land it is tnade from malt, and even from 

 lieer. But the best vinegar is made from 

 grape-wine or from honey. 



In inaking our liouey-viuegar, we always 

 use a little wine, for two reasons. In the 

 first place, it helps to make it. In the sec- 

 ond place, as we are grap-'-growers, and 

 make considerable wine, we often have rem- 

 nants that lose in quality or become some- 

 what sour, and these remnants can only be 

 utilized for this purpose. 



In making honey-viuegar, we use 0"ly in- 

 ferior grades of honey, such as honey-dew, 

 or thin honey that has already fremented. 

 We also use all the washings of our cappings. 

 We have often noticed that many bee-keep- 

 ers render up their cappings into wax without 

 having previously wash«»d them, and when 

 we receive the beeswax from them, it is still 

 sticky with honey. This does no damage to 

 the wax, but it is a waste to the apiarist, 

 an'1 this waste is unneoeessary. 



When the honey is all extracted and the 

 cappings well drained of their honey, so that 

 they seem entirely dry, we put them into a 

 large boilpr with just water enouffh to soak 

 them. This water is heated a little below 

 the meltinsr point of bees-wax — say to 120°, 

 or a little above this — to a point where yon 

 can just endure the fingers in it. 



The cappings are stirred in this water, 

 then the water is pressed out. For this pur- 

 pose we use a very small cider-press, 

 but the same work may be done almost as 

 well with the hands while the wax is soft. 

 The press goes faster and does the work 

 more thoroughly. The water. hus obtained 

 looks dark and dirty, but if your cappings 

 have been well cared for the only thing in 

 them, to cause any residue, is the propolis, 

 and we all know that there is nothing dis- 

 gusting about it. After the vinegar is made, 

 all this will disappear, without leaving any 

 trace, as it settles in the dregs. The honey- 

 water is now tested. We use a must-scale, 

 hut as our readers do not have such an in- 

 strument, we will give them an easy test, 

 viz: 



TaVe a fresh egg, and drop it in theliguid. 

 If it floats, showing a portion of its shell, of 

 the size of a dime, the liquid is of proper 

 streneth. If it sinks, you must add more 

 honev. diluting it well, till the egg comes 

 up. If the egg projects too much, add more 

 water. 



To make the vinegar from honey, we use 

 from \H to 2 pounds to the palion, accord- 

 ing' tothe strength wanted. The sweete'-the 

 I'qnid, the stronger the vinegar when made. 

 But the weaker it ia, the quicker it is made. 

 The reason of this is that a small percen- 

 tage of sweet diluted, changes more prompt- 

 ly into alcohol and into acid than a large 

 quantity. If you put in too much honey, 

 some of it may remain unfremented for a 

 lonp time, and a very heavy solution would 

 probably never all change by frementation. 

 The weaker the beverage, the quicker it 

 sours. 



Bear in mind that the fermentation of 

 any sweet or any fruit-jaice Ih first alcoholic, 



