64 



(I J. H: a N I N (; S I N B H E C ULT UE K 



Jak. 



perience with Italians, and can not, therefore, Intel- 

 lij^'futly coniparo the two races. I have never had 

 any tronltle with moths, but liavc to wateh tlie bees 

 very carefully to guard ag'ainst robbing'. A neigh- 

 bor, about .«i.v niile.« distant, who has two apiaries 

 c()ntaining' over a luindred colonies, nearly all Ital- 

 ians, told nie he has obtained a little oxer ;{00(1 lbs. 

 of e.viMicted honey. ti— Wn.i.is K Mil, v, til -ST. 



Sherniiin, Pa., .Ian. 4, 188T. 



MAKING HONEY VINEGAR 



SO.VIK \KIM IMI'Olil VNT Sl'GG KS'I' I () -NS I .N KK- 

 (iAUO TO THK .M.\TTKU. 



'K make several barrels of vineg'ar every 

 year, and sell it to the folks in town, at 

 :.'.") ets. per gallon, and have had no trouble 

 so far to sell all we had The demand is 

 increasing- exery year, selling to some of 

 (Mir nierehants" families wlio are s.lling vinegar at 

 their stores, which they buy of the trade in Chica- 

 go. I asked one merchant's wife why she tioiight 

 my vinegar. '"Oh: "she said, "the store \inegar 

 eats up my pickles." It takes two pounds of honey 

 to make a gallon of \inegar, and two jears' time 

 In make. We maki' the most of ours out of refuse 

 hf>ney. or honey that we can not use for any other 

 purpose, and would otherwise be lost oi' wasted. 

 We retail a large (luantity of honey; and when the 

 honey is candied there will hu considerable left 

 sticking- l<j the sides of the barrels. W'e always 

 wash out all the barrels we expect to use again. 

 The tirst washing- that takes otl' the hone.\ , wi- put 

 In the vinegar. It is clean; it is nothing- but honey 

 and water. Then, again, when we are oxtracting- 

 honey we have a box with a wire-cloth bottom 

 whi(!h we set over a barrel tliat has the upper head 

 out. Int<i this box we put what cappings we have 

 to drain out the honey. In 'H hours we empty 

 those cappings into a barrel that has some water 

 in it, to soak out what honey remains, straining 

 I hem once or twice a da.v. The barrel will hold 

 what cappings we get in a week. .Vbout once a 

 week we strain out the water and luit it in the 

 vinegar and melt the cappings into wax, so there is 

 nothing lost. I don't like to see any thing- thrown 

 away that we can use. Again, there is always 

 more or less honey that can be made into g-ood 

 vinegar that is not just fit to sell for nice honey. 

 In that way it is saved. 



To know when the water is sweet enough for 

 vinegar, put in a good fresh egg, and make the 

 water sweet enough to fioat the egg so there will 

 be a patch of the shell out of the water about as 

 bigasasilver lu-cent idece; then it is about right. 

 We keep ours standing in barrels, with one head 

 out, to give it air; for air it must have to make vin- 

 eg-ar. Tie a scjuare yard of cheese-cloth over the 

 top of the barrel, to keep out dirt and tiles, and 

 other insects. Keep under cover out of the rain, 

 in a warm dry airy place. We keep ours standing 

 in one corner of our shop through the summer, 

 and put it down in the cellar through the winter, 

 and take it u|i again when spring comes. When we 

 are changing either in the fall or 8i)ring, we tlnd 

 some that is tit for sale. We take it into our dwell- 

 ing-house cellar and put it into our retailing bar- 

 rels, which we keep there for that purpose. I have 

 t)een thinking of late whether it would not be a 

 good plan to make up all our chea)> honey into 



vinegar; but I don't know how much it oould be 

 sold for at wholesale. I must look this matter up. 

 It may b«' that we can do something- in this direc- 

 tion to i-elieve the market of our low-priced honey. 

 Honey is getting- to be .so plentiful and cheap that 

 we must turn it into every channel that will lake it. 

 Platteville, Wis. E. Fk.\x<.;k. 



Friend F., your suggestions are exactly 

 what we have wanted for a long time, and 

 we are especially glad to have you give us 

 the full details of the matter. The (luestion 

 has been asked over and over again. '' How 

 much honey is needed for a certain quantity 

 of water ? "" Now . as honey varies so great- 

 ly in density, it has been" very difficull to 

 giA e any positi\ e formula ; but your i)lan 

 of trying it with an egg tills the hill e.vactly : 

 also in regard to the temperature of the 

 place it is kept, and the amount of air to 

 give it. I think every one of our readers 

 can go to work and make vinegar, with such 

 directions. Good cider vinegar is worth 

 here from Id to 12 ets. per gallon by the 

 barrel. 



FROM DIFFERENT FIELDS. 



HONEY EXHIBITS .^^T KAIKS. 



tm^ LEANINGS of Dee. 1st at hand, containing 

 Y ' <'Ut of my exhibit at our county fair. 1 feel 

 It^ greatly indebted to you, and thank yon for 

 ^^ your very able notice. Your remarks echo 

 my sentiments pret^isely. in regard to the 

 advancement of bee culture, and I know of no 

 better place that we can come before the people 

 and show and explain the rapid strides that this 

 important branch of agriciiltni-e has taken, than 

 at our respective county fairs. At present our 

 fair officials do not notice this branch as they should, 

 but it rests with us to make them as attractive as 

 we possibly can, and iittnictiDHs please the mana- 

 gers, and then no doubt we shall be classed and 

 made permanent as attractions now are. "To ed- 

 ucate the people " should be our aim at the pres- 

 ent, and we can ill afford to hide our candle under 

 a bushel in this advancing age. B. R. Nkwcomb. 

 Pleasant Valley. N. Y., Dec. ti, 188(5. 



SE.VI^lNr. GliASS HONEV-TUMBLEKS ; KKIENU 

 .J. A. ABBOTT'S PliAX. 



I notice in your last number an article on sealing 

 honey-tumblers, etc. This reminds me of a plan 1 

 devised and exhibited at our Loudon show a few 

 years ago, and for which I was awarded a special 

 prize. Instead of warming- the glass I .just gave 

 the edge a rub on a stone sprinkled with sharp 

 sand, which almost immediately gave it a "tooth " 

 to hold the wax. The edge was then dipped in a 

 mixture of equal parts of wax and rosin. I found 

 this mixture much better than wax alone, as it 

 stuck much tighter and never cracked. 1 prepared 

 some sheets of nice thin pai)er by dipping- them 

 into hot pure beeswa.v. thoiigh sometimes 1 coxcr- 

 ed one side only by tloating the .•^lit.-eis on I he wax. 

 When uold, these sheets were tl.ved on lop <d' the 

 ,iars by about the same process as .x ou often use 

 to fix foundation in supers, but much less rubbing 

 is required. Just passing the handle of the knife 

 over once xvas suflicient. The sharp edge of the 

 blade was then run round, and the air-tight and 



