1900 



THE AMERICAN BEE-KEEPER. 



Honey Vinegar as a Preservative. 



1!V M. K. REEVE. 



HE question has been 

 discussed in several pub- 

 lications devoted to bee 

 culture, whether vinegar 

 made with honey as a 

 base wciild be a good 

 preservative. One writer 

 said it spoiled pickles; 

 another declared that 

 honev vinegar was as good as any other. 

 I can sav from practical experience 

 that when pi-operly made, there is no 

 reason why a vinegar of this sort should 

 not be as effective as any, particularly the 

 "fake" vinegars that are so extensively 

 on the market now a days, State Food 

 Inspection Hoards to the contar}- notwith- 

 standing. 



Several days ago our firm engaged in 

 the manufacture and sale of mead — a 

 beverage which was made by the fermen- 

 tation of a mixture of Cuban honey and 

 Demarara sugar, flavored with certain 

 spices. This was bottled and served a- 

 round to the retail shops. Naturally con- 

 siderable of it went sour in hot weather, 

 and had to be exchanged. The sour ma- 

 terial accunmlated fast, and there were 

 several barrels of it on hand at the end of 

 the soft drink season. The problem was 

 to get rid of it. So we studied up on the 

 science of vinegar making, and .set up a 

 generator. This was a whiskey barrel. 

 It was bored full of half-inch auger holes, 

 sloping downwards, and was then filled 

 with beech shavings procured from a shoe- 

 last factory. A false bottom was put in, 

 on which the shavings rested, and a loose 

 head was dropped on top. A spigot was 

 inserted in the barrel, and the generator 

 was ready for business. The already 

 sour mead was poured into gallon stone- 

 ware jugs and heated over night on a shelf 

 above the kitchen range; in the morning 

 it was poured in at the top of the generator 

 and allowed to percolate through the 

 shavings. The air admitted through the 



sloping holes in the sides of the barrel 

 did the business of .supplying the required 

 oxygen, and a few runnings through the 

 barrel, was all that was necessary to con- 

 vert the fluid into the .sharpest, clearest 

 vinegar anybody ever tasted. It wa.'--used 

 in the preparation of peppersauce, com- 

 posed of chopped cabbage, peppers and 

 spices, which is a great Philadelphia re- 

 lish. In this way, hundreds of gallons of 

 an otherwise waste product were utilized 

 to make a good sharp vinegar. There 

 nmst be a generous body, say a pound of 

 honey or .sugar, or molasses to the gallon; 

 otherwise the maker will have a thin 

 vinegar which will lack the prime re- 

 quisite — acidity. 

 Rutledge, Pa. 



An Experimental Apiary. 



IIY "SWARTHMOKE." 



Ilk CONDUCT an experimental apiary 

 ra here in Swarthmore soleh' for my 

 -^ own anmsement. All through the 

 summer I luxuriate in delight with the 

 bees — they are my vocation: my yatcht- 

 ing, my gunning and fishing, my only and 

 completely satiating recreation. Then, 

 besides, we are all of us fond of honey, 

 espe'cialh' for breakfa.st (by the waj', 

 Danzenbaker said at the convention that 

 it was becoming fashionable to have 

 honey for breakfa.st in Washington, D. C). 

 I have not the least idea how many hun- 

 dred TDOunds of the delicious sweet are 

 consumed in the course of a year under 

 my roof, but I have an inkling that the 

 amount is large enough. But to my last: 

 During the past season I spent much 

 time with different hive arrangements to 

 discourage swarming, in the production 

 of comb honey in out yards or at home 

 and was fairly .successful in the accom- 

 plishment of this end. I hope to give, by 

 the close of another season, a detailed re- 

 port of this work with the assurance of 

 even more satisfactory results — that is, 

 in honey! More and better! 



I was quite .succes.sful with the plan of 

 caging the queen behind perforated 



