754 



THE AMERICAN BEE JOURNAL. 



J^ov. 26, 



it In the manufacture ol chocolate, obtaining a most savory 

 article of this substance by the use of honey with the cocoa. 

 The advantage of this discovery, it is claimed, lies in being 

 able to produce a better article at lower prices than the choco- 

 late now manufactured. This discovery seems to have 

 created quite a sensation in the above-mentioned association, 

 and a committee was appointed to investigate the matter, in 

 view of taking steps to establish a chocolate factory. 



Is it necessary for us to mention the economic uses of 

 beeswax ? This article has so long been needed for so many 

 different purposes in the arts as well as in medicine, in house- 

 keeping and in manufacturing, its peculiar properties are so 

 unique, and its need so well established, that all the cheap 

 products that have been brought forward have been unable, 

 in spite of adulteration and deception, to affect its price or the 

 demand for it in its pure state. Beeswax never goes a-beg- 

 ging, and even if the prices fluctuate according to the greater 

 or less production, it always commands as ready a sale at or 

 about market quotations as the most staple products of the 

 vporld. 



Our attention is therefore most emphatically needed in 

 the direction of the economic value of honey, and no pains 

 should be spared by the bee-keepers to find new channels for 

 the use of it. C. P. Dadant. 



Pres. York — Mr. Dadant's paper is how before you for 

 discussion. 



A. Laing— Does any one present know to what extent 

 honey can be used in the manufacture of vinegar ? 



Dr. Mason — We have nine barrels of vinegar in our cellar. 

 That is the way we get rid of the dark honey. 



Mr. Laing — Is there any money in it ? 



Dr. Mason — Yes, sir; we sell it for 20 cents a gallon. 



Mr Kretchmer — We have several barrels of vinegar. 

 Honey makes good vinegar, and a great amount of it can be 

 produced. 



Mr. Laing — What is the capacity of those barrels ? 



Dr. Mason — They hold 40 to 46 gallons. We use soft 

 water ; but hard water will do. 



Pres. York — How many present have ever made honey- 

 vinegar ? 



About ten voted. 



Pres. York — I received a question on this subject about a 

 week ago, and [ have invited the Dadants to give an article 

 on it, which will appear In the American Bee Journal. 



Mr. Whitcomb — If it is prepared in this way, and then 

 about three gallons of good honey-vinegar is added, and the 

 mixture put out in the light, it will make vinegar in about 

 four weeks. 



Mr. Laing — Do yon use about one pound of honey to a 

 gallon of water? 



Dr. Mason — Yes. 



Mr. Kretchmer — We must consider that light and air are 

 the two principal agents which convert sweets into alcohol, 

 and alcohol into vinegar. Let the air and light get upon it, 

 and your vinegar will be made in a very short time. 



Dr. Mason— Our vitegar stands in the cellar with a 

 cheese-cloth over it. If you want more rapid action, light, 

 air, and warmth are desirable. 



Pres. York — I would like to invite Professors Bessey and 

 Bruner to the platform. Gentlemen, it gives me pleasure to 

 inform you that you were to-day elected honorary members of 

 this society. 



Prof. IJessey — Mr. Chairman, it gives me very great pleas- 

 ure to accept. I regard this as an honor uninvited on my 

 part. If there is anything that I can do for you, I shall only 

 be too happy to do so. 



Prof. Bruner — Prof. Bessey has expressed my sentiments 

 in a much better way than I could do it myself. I certainly 

 appreciate this honor, and will do what I can to show you that 

 I do. I shall give some study to bees in the near future, if 

 not to bee-culture. 



The following essay by Mr. Wm. StoUey, of Grand 

 Island, Nebr., vras read by Pres. York : 



Sweet Clover (Melilot) as a Honey-Plant. 



My experience respecting sweet clover was gained during 

 the last 16 years. In the autumn of 1880, I sowed the first 

 seed, and in the summer of 1882 I had the first sweet clover 

 bloom for my bees to work on. My location is naturally not 

 well adapted to bee-keeping, and what success I have had in 

 the production of honey, I may say is nearly exclusively at- 

 tributable to sweet clover growing in easy reach of my bees. 

 Before sweet clover grew in larger quantities, I got some sur- 

 plus in favorable seasons, but the honey was of a very inferior 

 quality. Since I have sweet clover growing in sufficient 

 quantity within easy reach of my bees, 1 consider that I have 



a very satisfactory location with reliable resources for my 

 bees. 



I honestly believe that there is no nectar-yielding plant 

 (having reference to Nebraska and adjoining States) that can 

 in any way cope with sweet clover as to reliability as a honey- 

 yielder. 



While I write this (Sept. 20) the uncut melilot has con- 

 siderable bloom on new shoots on the lower part of the stalks, 

 while the ripe seed on the upper branches has already 

 dropped to the ground. Sweet clover, which was cut about 

 the first of July, is white with bloom, and bees work well on 

 it. What final result the eventual spreading of sweet clover 

 all over our State will bring about, remains to be seen. 



I believe that sweet clover will soon enable the so-called 

 Western States to rank with the best in the Union as to honey- 

 production, although without sweet clover this never would 

 be possible. 



I have found that the driest seasons, and when nearly all 

 other crops fail, sweet clover is at its best — and therefore I 

 believe that tracts of sandy land, not redeemable by irrigation, 



WiUlam StiAley. 



will gradually be converted into first-class honey-ranches, 

 with sheep-raising as an adjunct, by the rational culture of 

 melilot. 



The past summer's experience has taught me two new 

 lessons about sweet clover. One of them is, that while a de- 

 structive hail storm destroyed the entire small grain crop in 

 my neighborhood, sweet clover recovered so quickly from the 

 temporary setback received, that hardly anything was lost to 

 the bees. The other lesson is, that the early cutting of sweet 

 clover, in June, does not always insure a second growth of it, 

 if it happens that a very wet spell follows the cutting, and 

 when the cutting is very close to the ground. 



I lost a field of about four acres, which was cut on ,Iune 

 15, and was cut very close to the ground. The following 10 

 days we bad nearly 5 inches of rainfall, and the land, 

 although not overfiowing, was kept; very wot, and the result 

 was that the entire field of melilot was killed out, hardly a 

 plant escaping. 



This season (1896) melilot began to bloom as early as 

 June 15: in other seasons it is sometime a week later in 

 blooming. 



Now, when I state the result obtained in my apiary for 

 the years 1895 and 1896, keeping in view that sweet clover 

 was nearly my only reliable resource up to Sept. 1, as to surplus 

 this year, I have said about all I can say about sweet clover as 

 a honey-plant. 



In 1895, my average surplus per colony was a little over 

 175 pounds, and my best colony gave me 236 pounds of sur- 

 plus extracted hoaey. 



