1897. 



THE AMERICAN BEE KEEPER. 



37 



my statement made in a former letter 

 must be correct. They must have 

 gathered no less thau 20,000 lbs. and 

 consumed 9,000 lbs., which gave me 

 6,000 lbs. surplus with 5,000 lbs, with 

 which they went into winter quarters. 



The season here was very favorable 

 from the time I set them out (I winter 

 in the cellar). The hives were empty 

 of honey in the spring, giving the 

 queens plenty of room to do their best, 

 and such an increase I have never 

 seen before in my 40 years of 

 experience. 



I estimated the workers in my api- 

 ary on the 6th of July at twelve mill- 

 ion. Of course I manipulated my 

 swarms to keep down excessive swarm- 

 ing and to build them up into very 

 large swarms for the great day that is 

 sure to come. Perhaps I will never 

 again see a day when nature and art 

 will be so co^nbined to produce so great 

 a result. I would not have believed 

 it had I not actually seen the result. 



1 received a copy of the American 

 Bee Journal of Oct. 8th, with a mark- 

 ed piece stating that my bees gathered 

 1,500 lbs. of basswood and 7,000 lbs. 

 of buckwheat houey on Aug. 15th, 

 and that I had made such a report to 

 the American Hee Keeper. What 

 botanists some of your editors must be 

 to think that linden and buckwheat 

 would bloom at the same time. 



S. Sleeper. 



Holland, N.Y., Jan. 8, 1897. 



Garden Seeds as Premium. 



We will send the American Bee 

 Keeper one year and a box of choice 

 garden seeds, retail value $1.60, for 

 only 60 cents. 



(From American Bee Journal). 



MAZING HONEY VINEGAR-HOW 

 IT IS DONE. 



BV C. P. UADANT. 



Vinegar, originally, was only sour 

 wine, (viu aigre), but it is now made 

 from all sorts of beverages, and the 

 common vinegar of commerce is made 

 by the distillation of wood (pyrolog- 

 neous acid). Unprincipled dealers 

 have been known to add to the vine- 

 gar water and sulphuric acid, a very 

 injurious preparation. Our farmers 

 here make all their vinegar from cider. 

 In England it is made from malt, and 

 even from beer. But the best vine- 

 gar is made from grape wine or from 

 honey. 



In making our honey vinegar we 

 always use a little wine for two 

 reasons. In the first place it helps to 

 make it. In the second place, as we 

 are grape growers and make consider- 

 able wine, we often have remnants 

 that lose in quality or become some- 

 what sour, and these remnants can 

 only be utilized for this purpose. 



In making honey vinegar we use 

 only inferior grades of honey, such as 

 honey dew or thin honey that has al- 

 ready fermented. We also use all 

 the washings of our cappings. We 

 have often noticed that many bee 

 keepers render up their cappings into 

 wax without having previously wash- 

 ed them, and when we receive the 

 beeswax from them it is still sticky 

 with honey. This does no damage to 



