20 



tHE BEE-KEEPERS' REV IE-. 



then acetic. No acetic, or vinegar fermen- 

 tation, can occur till an alcoholic fermen- 

 tation has taken place, and the more 

 thorough the alcoholic fremeitation is, the 

 more thorough the acetic change will be. 



After our honey-water has been made, 

 we must iuduce the fermentation by some 

 means. The temperature must be right, 

 about 70' Fahrenheit, and it is best to in- 

 duce by heating the liquid even as high as 

 90= or 100", if it has not already been heated 

 as above mentioned. A little of excess is 

 not so injurious as a low temperature, pro- 

 vided, however, that you do not reach the 

 germ-kiUing point — IGO- to 170°. If, your 

 liquid was heated to this point, it would 

 have to stand till it had absorbed more fer- 

 ment germs from the atmosphere, and this 

 would be slow. 



Most honey coLtaius plenty of ferment 

 germs, and it needs but little inducement to 

 start alcoholic fermentation. If, however, 

 there is any delay a little fruit-juice, fresh 

 grape- jaice, fresh cider, or even a little yeast 

 will soon give it a start. The liquid is put 

 into barrels in a warm, sheltered place, the 

 barrel being filled only about two-thirds, as 

 the boiling of fermentation will cause it to 

 rise and a full barrel would spill part of its 

 contents. The bung hole is covered with a 

 thick cloth to keep the gnats and flies away. 



If the vinegar is made during cool weather, 

 it is best to keep it in a warm room, or in a 

 cellar heated by a furnace. This is where 

 we keep ours. But, if you have no place in 

 which to keep it warm, and must leave it in 

 a cool place till summer comes again, it will 

 do no harm, but the vinegar will be that 

 much longer in getting made. 



If your vinegar making is carried on in a 

 warm place, in winter, where there is no 

 fear of flies, give it all the air you can. 

 Bear in mind that it takes oxygen, both for 

 the alcoholic and for the acetic fermentation, 

 and this oxygen is to be had only in the air. 

 That is why wine-makers leave their casks 

 open as long as the alcoholic fermentation 

 lasts in the wines, but take good care to fill 

 up the casks and bung them up tishtly be- 

 fore there is any acetic change. We must, 

 therefore, give our vinegar all the air we 

 can, and if we want to make it rapidly, we 

 must transfer it from one vessel to another 

 as often as we can. Vinegar-makers pour 

 their vinegar over beech-shavings, which 

 assist in airing it, and retain much of the 

 lees or sediment. But it is not necessary to 

 go to all this trouble, for after the fermen- 

 tation has been well started it will continue 

 with more or less speed, according to cir- 

 cumstances, till good vinegar is produced. 



After the alcoholic fermentntion has been 

 well started, it is easy to induce the acetic 

 fermentation, by the addition of sour wine, 

 or sour vinegar, in a small quantity. We 

 make it a practice to always keep at least 

 two barrels of vinegar, the one sour, the 

 other souring, and we refill the one from the 

 other occasionally. 



If the vinegar is wanted clear, it must be 

 racked, by removing all but the lees, and 

 the latter need not be thrown away, but be 

 used with new vinegar to help its formation. 



Good wine or cider must not be kept in 

 the same cellar with vinegar, as the germs 

 ot the vinegar, floating through the air, will 

 induce the acetic fermentation very rea- 

 dily in the former. 



G )od vinegar usually contains millions of 

 small animalcules which prevent it from 

 having a crystalline appearance. These 

 may be destroyed by heatiug to 170'' and will 

 then settle to the bottom with the lees or 

 dregs. Let it not be supposed, however, 

 that these are injurious, for millions of tht se 

 are evidently const med in every glassful of 

 good vinegar, and one should beware of 

 vinegar that dots not contain any, for it is 

 probably made of poi^ouous compounds that 

 kill them. But it is lucky that our house- 

 keepers do not have eyes gifted with mi- 

 croscopic power, or they would regulate good 

 vinegar out of the domain of the kitchen. 



The writer, at the North American con- 

 vention, in St. Joseph, Mo., in 18it4, met a 

 young bee-keeper who had tried to make 

 vinegar and had succeeded, but said that he 

 had to throw it away because it was full of 

 little snakes, which he had detected by hold- 

 a very thin vial of the vinegar in the sun- 

 light. It must have undoubedtly been first- 

 class vinegar, and he was very much aston- 

 ished to hear that he could with difficulty 

 find any good vinegar that did not contain 

 such snakes, unless it had been heated. 



To help strengthen vinegar that is mak- 

 ing too slowly, pour it over crushed fruits, 

 grape-skins, ar'ple-pomace, or eve apple- 

 parings, but, above all things, if you want 

 it to make fast, be sure it has plenty of air at 

 the right temperature. We have now in 

 our house-cellar, three or four barrels of 

 wine and honey-vinegar that has been a year 

 in making, because it was not kept warm 

 enough." 



A Home-Made, Foot-Power, Buzz-Saw. 



About fifteen years ago I made a home- 

 made, foot-power buzz-saw. Of all the foot 

 power saws that I ever tried, none ever 

 pleased me so well as this saw. I described 

 ii in Gleanings at the time. Many times 

 since then since then 1 have had calls for 

 the back numbers of Gleanings that con- 

 tain the description of the saw. There are 

 but few of the^e back numbers now left, 

 and just now, at the time of the year when 

 bee-keepers are making their hives for 

 another year, it seems a fitting time to re- 

 produce that old article— just as valuable 

 now as then. 



" The framework of the saw is made sim- 

 ilar to a cross-legged table. It is made of 

 3x3 oak scantling. The legs are 5 ft. 6 

 inches long, and cross each other 3 ft. 4 

 inches from their lower ends. Where they 

 cross, a perpendicular slot, ^g of an inch 

 deep and four inches wide, is made upon 

 the inside of each leg, and into this slot is 

 fitted a piece of hard wood 4 inches wide, 1 

 inch thick, and 1 ft. long. The bolt that 



