162 



THE AMERICAN BEE JOURNAL. 



Mar. 18, 



buildings beyond a rise in the road ahead of me, I concluded 

 the bee-keeper must be over there. The road led me along 

 the east end of a graveyard, and terminated a little beyond 

 the graveyard at a building which showed unmistakable signs 

 of being a slaughter house. This arrangement did not seem 

 to me to be exactly in accord with the fitness of things, but I 

 did not feel disposed to quarrel with the arrangement much, 

 so long as it was I that did not have to " pass through a 

 slaughter house to an open grave." 



Retracing ray steps past the graveyard, I made inquiry 

 In the outskirts of town, and soon found where the bee-keeper 

 lived. He was not at home, but some oue, I presumed to be 

 his daughter, told me that I could look at the bees. After a 

 little search, I found them in the midst of weeds and grape- 

 vines and cornstalks and potatoes. This man, who kept a 

 good many bees, had five colonies. Four of them were in box- 

 hives, and the other one was in an 8-frame dovetailed hive, 

 from which the paint vpas mostly gone, and it seemed to be 

 terribly loose at the joints. Then I sadly retraced my steps 

 to the station. 



AriARIAN EXHIBIT AT THE NEBRASKA FAIR. 



When I reacht Omaha, I found the Nebraska State Fair 

 was in progress there. I spent a portion of two days on the 

 Fair Grounds, and as might be expected, the larger share of 

 this time was past in the spacious building devoted to bees 

 and honey. I was very much pleased to find an lowan there 

 with by far the largest and most attractive exhibit in the 

 building. Mr. Kretchmer's exhibit consisted of bees, honey, 

 and apiarian supplies. I was particularly struck with the 

 completeness of his exhibit of supplies. On ray return, I was 

 told by a resident of the place where Mr. K. does business, 

 that Mr. Kretchraer is doing a good business there, and that 

 his business is a great help to the town. 



In one corner of the Bee and Honey building I found Mr. 

 Stilson with an exhibit of honey and supplies. He had also 

 quite a large lot of sweet clover seed, and was showing the 

 " White " combined section-press and foundation-fastener. 

 This seemed to me to be a good thing for the work it is de- 

 signed to do, and I wondered why Its sale had not been pusht 

 outside of Nebraska. 



Next to Mr. Stilson was Mr. Whitford, with an exhibit of 

 honey and supplies. I had a talk of half an hour or so with 

 him that was interesting to one of us, I am sure. 



Farther along was Mr. Stolley's exhibit of sweet clover 

 honey. Mr. StoUey was not in the building while I was there. 

 There were some fair exhibits by other Nebraska bee-keepers, 

 but none that approacht in magnitude that of Mr. Kretchmer's. 



Decatur Co., Iowa. 



More Information About Honey-Vinegar. 



BY C. P. DADANT. 



I am askt to answer the following questions in the Bee- 

 Journal : 



"Please tell us more about honey-vinegar. Can it be used 

 In pickling, and all other purposes, the same as other first- 

 class vinegar? Can it be sold to the grocery trade? — Sub." 



Honey-vinegar may be used for the same purposes as the 

 very best cider-vinegar. It has the qualities, with the better 

 flavor that honey gives it. We use It in pickles, in salads and 

 in cooking. Ordinarily, it is too strong for pickles and has to 

 be reduced by the addition of water. A good housekeeper gen- 

 erally knows by the taste what proportion of water should be 

 added to the vinegar, for pickles. 



For sahids, it would be a mistake to add anything to it, 

 the proper way is to use a smaller quantity than if the vino- 

 gar was weak. French salad dressing is made with olive oil, 

 good vinegar, pepper and salt and a shade of garlic. Fastid- 

 ious people, who like garlic, but fear the after-taste, use it 

 sparingly, by simply rubbing the garlic over a crust of bread 

 which is cut up in the salad. Tlie salad should be drest on the 

 table, just as it is wanted, for the vinegar and oil wither the 

 green plants of which It is made, and destroy their flavor, if it 

 is allowed to stand any length of time. A tablespoonf ul of 

 vinegar should bo sufliciont, if the vinegar is good, for a salad 

 for half a dozen guests. If you ever try French salad with 

 honey-vinegar, you will never want lo use any other kind. 



Honey-vinegar sells to grocers, but not to all grocers in- 

 discriminately. Mai;y grocers cannot be coaxt Into trying it. 

 Their custom wants cheap goods, and cheap goods they 

 must have. The vinegar for these dealers Is lo be had 

 for five to ten cents per gallon. What it is made of is 

 of no consequence. If it is only malt vinegar, or 

 cheap cider vinegar, it Is sufflcleutly healthy and although per- 



haps not very good, it will not injure those who use it ; but if It 

 Is pyroligneous acid, or, worse yet, cupric acetate, or oil of vit- 

 riol weakened with water, it is a danger to those who use it. 

 Those who buy vinegar make a mistake when they buy a 

 cheap product. A family does not use a dollar's worth of vin- 

 egar in a year, and those who understand the risks that they 

 run in using a poor article very readily see that it is bad econ- 

 omy. 



Those grocers, who are anxious to sell nothing but the best 

 goods, very readily buy the honey-vinegar, and after it is in- 

 troduced, it usually sells for twice the price of the cheap arti- 

 cle. We sell several barrels of It every year, and have custom- 

 ers who buy nothing else in the way of vinegar. We whole- 

 sale it to the grocers at 20 cents, and the retail price usually 

 30 cents a gallon. We are not the only ones who make it a 

 practice to sell honey-vinegar. Messrs. Muth & Sou, of Ohio, 

 tell us that they make and sell some 40 barrels every year, 

 and they say as we do, that it is not necessary to run in com- 

 petition with the cheap article, as the better trade will readily 

 pay the better price for a superior article. 



Let the reader bear in mind that the only healthy vinegar 

 is that which contains anluial life, unless this animal life has 

 been destroyed by heat. This assertion was insisted upon 

 particularly a few weeks ago by a microscoplst who delivered a 

 lecture in our city. He had with him a microscope of great 

 maynifyiug power, the wonders of which were displayed by 

 the aid of a calcium light, throwing the shadows upon a wall, 

 and the audience was plainly shown thousands of vibriones — 

 wriggling like snakes in a drop of good vinegar. Through the 

 microscope these vibriones seemed a foot or more in length, 

 but it is a fact that they may be easily noticed with the naked 

 eye. Whether they are a cause or a result of the acetic fer- 

 mentation is not known. 



To suTQ up this additional article on honey-vinegar, allow 

 me to advise the correspondent to try the honey-vinegar on a 

 small scale. Making vinegar out of honey should not be con- 

 sidered a good way to get rid of one's crop of honey, especially 

 if this crop amounts to thousands of pounds, but by judicious 

 management one may make and sell several barrels of vinegar 

 each year, out of residues of honey, such as the washings of 

 cappings, soured honey and remnants that might otherwise be 

 lost. Hancock Co., 111. 



Numerous Experiments in Feeding Bees. 



BY F. A. SNELL. 



As a result of the poor season of 1S96 in many parts of 

 our country, a.good many colonies will be short of stores when 

 spring opens, and their condition will demand early attention 

 and feeding — in fact, early feeding will be a necessity to save 

 the bees, and bring them into a condition so the queens will 

 lay, and the strength of the colonies kept up, for it is a well- 

 known fact among bee-keepers that bees short of stores will 

 rapidly dwindle in early spring, if not result in their starving 

 outright. 



I have done more or less feeding since the early '60's. 

 Formerly, my bees were in box-hives, and the colonies short 

 of stores were put into the cellar to winter, the hives Inverted, 

 and pieces of comb honey laid over the combs, as a supplement 

 to their scanty supply, gathered the previous season. 



Later, I transferred my bees all into raovable-corab hives. 

 Then, like all beginners, I desired a too rapid increase, and as 

 a result I had too many weak colonics, which had to be fed in 

 winter and during the spring. I tried different methods In 

 practice at that time. Some were fed candy, and wintered 

 fairly well ; three were fed sorghum molasses, as was advised 

 by some writer. These three colonies went where the wood- 

 bine twineth, long before spring, as might have been ex- 

 pected. Only good honey, syrup from granulated sugar, or 

 candy made from that grade of sugar, are fit for winter stores. 



Upon the advent of the honey extractor I was quick to 

 bring one Into us-e. The extracting was done from the brood- 

 chamber at that time, and the first season that I used it I 

 emptied all of the combs that contained very ranch honey, 

 filled during clover and basswood bloom. Owing to a drouth 

 later, that season we had but little fall honey, and, as a re- 

 sult, the part of my apiary run for extracted honey was de- 

 ficient In food for winter. I resorted to feeding, using honey 

 largely for the purpose. Then, and since, I have tried vari- 

 ous methods. I have used dishes filled with honey or syrup, 

 with pieces of combs to keep the bees from drowning, cloths, 

 sticks, etc. I have used entrance feeders, fed by tipping the 

 hives back and pouring the feed Into the hive-entrances ; 

 atmospheric feeders, cans, and the like, also sack feeders In a 

 small way. 



For spring, to test the merits as to increasing brood-rear- 



