1898 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE. 



829 



there and settle on an estate near Gloewen. 

 Guileless himself, he was not on the watch for 

 guile in others ; and a snare in the terms of 

 purchase of his property was so skillfully ar- 

 ranged that he lost all. 



Undaunted by misfortunes he courageously 

 commenced again the struggle, settling in 

 Wilsnack, where fortime smiled upon him ; 

 his apiary flourished ; slowly but surely he re- 

 trieved his lost fortunes, and left to his family 

 a magnificent property. Long years were 

 spent by him in Wilsnack, beloved and hon- 

 ored by all about him, till the weakness of age 

 laid him upon a bed of sickness from which he 

 never arose. On the morning of vSunday, 

 Aug. 21, 1898, surrounded by his loved ones, 

 peacefully and painlessly he slept away this 

 life to awaken in the life beyond. 



His hive, his beautifully written text-book 

 on bee-keeping, " Der praktische Imker," not 

 to mention other works, and his bee-journal, 

 Deutsche illustrierte Bicneiizeitung, founded 

 by him and conducted by him for the past fif- 

 teen years, are monuments that hardly suffi- 

 ciently show the high place he holds in the 

 hearts of those who knew him best. 



Rulie sanft, edler Freund. 



Marengo, 111. 



SOURED HONEY AND ITS USE. 



Honey Vinegar, etc. 



BY FR. GREINER. 



It would seem that, during such a poor sea- 

 son as the one just past, when the greater part 

 of our colonies were three months in storing 

 only 20 or 25 pounds of honey in sections, the 

 bees would have had ample time to extract all 

 the superfluous water from the raw nectar 

 before sealing it ; or in case the condensing or 

 ripening process should be simply a process of 

 evaporation (on this point the minds of bee- 

 keepers, I think, are still at variance), then it 

 would seem there had been plenty of time for 

 any honey to become thick enough to keep 

 indefinitely. 



But things did not work that way, and I do 

 not know that any one knows just why. It so 

 happens that we have more soured honey now 

 than I have ever noticed before in one season. 

 There were many sections that had been at one 

 time during the summer all sealed and finish- 

 ed nicely ; but as the contents of some of the 

 cells had begun to ferment, and as it had 

 burst the cappings, allowing a part of the 

 honey to ooze out, the bees had uncapped such 

 cells, removed the honey, cleaned out the 

 cells, and, later, filled them up again — in most 

 cases, however, without finishing or sealing 

 them. In some cases the mischief would be 

 on only one side of a comb ; then, again, on 

 both, the open and the sealed cells being in- 

 termingled, often at the rate of one to three. 



When taking section honey out of the supers 

 to crate for market I came across some sec- 

 tioES lately that contained soured honey in 

 blotches, with cappings raised half-globe fash- 

 ion, and the honey partly oozed out, such 

 blotches covering one-half to two-thirds of the 



whole surface. Of course, all such honey is 

 fit neither for market nor for the table, nor is 

 it suitable to feed to the bees at this season of 

 the year. 



Not long ago I saw it stated somewhere that 

 sealed honey, if kept in the hive till late, 

 would continue to improve or ripen — that is, 

 lose a part of its moisture. I know not how 

 true this is ; but with this idea in mind I 

 placed quite a number of sections containing 

 soured honey into a super along with some 

 unfinished sections, all to be returned to a col- 

 ony of bees that was being fed constantly and 

 abundantly for the purpose of getting unfin- 

 ished sections finished up. This was after the 

 hone)' season was over with us, or during the 

 month of September. The room in which the 

 colony that was expected to do this work 

 stood was kept very warm during all the time 

 the experiment lasted — yes, even weeks be- 

 fore, during the buckwheat-honey flow. My 

 aim was to have the temperature never go any 

 lower than 80°, and from that up to 95. I 

 succeeded in this quite well ; but when I made 

 an examination two weeks later my soured 

 honey was soured honey still, except where it 

 had been removed by the bees and replaced by 

 honey from the feeder. The experiment turn- 

 ed out just as I expected. There is no use in 

 trying to improve soured honey. 



But what can we do with it ? that is the 

 question. Mr. C. N. White, of England, who, 

 in the Atner. Bee Journal, gave not long ago 

 a series of interesting articles on the manage- 

 ment of bees, etc., advises, in the Aug. 25th 

 issue of that journal, to "throw away" such 

 honey. I do not fully understand what he 

 means by that. I am not in the habit of 

 throwing away any thing that can be made use 

 of. I claim that I can get just as much out of 

 the soured honey as I am able to get for the 

 unimpaired product. The explanation is easy 

 enough. The soured honey is already on the 

 road to making vinegar, and so I just let it go 

 on that way. As vinegar it will bring me 15 

 cents per pound (the outlet, however, is only 

 a limited one); and what soured honey I have 

 we can easily work off that way. One pound 

 of honey is sufficient to make a gallon of vin- 

 egar by diluting it with water to that extent, 

 and then giving it time. 



There are a few people in my vicinity who 

 have an idea (perhaps preconceived) that hon- 

 ey vinegar is not as good as cider vinegar. 

 Some one even claimed it would not keep 

 pickles. But these people know but little 

 about the matter. I have no idea they ever 

 tested genuine honey vinegar. I say, honey 

 vinegar is all right ; and still I do not use 

 honey alone, but take half cider and half hon- 

 ey-water. It does not matter much about the 

 exact formula. Should I be short of suitable 

 honey I splice out with maple sap somewhat 

 sweetened with honey. Section honey con- 

 taining pollen answers nicely for this. I am 

 not sure but the pollen is a valuable adjunct 

 to the honey vinegar. It sets the mixture to 

 fermenting sooner, and is more lasting, and 

 that is what we want. 



For years I have managed somehow to keep 

 a few barrels of vinegar on hand, and a few 



