11 J6 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE. 



Nov. 15 



ally good to winter bees on; but I found it 

 was sure death to every colony that had it. 

 At this date we have another kind of honey- 

 dew. There is a little bud forms between 

 the acorn and the shell; and after a time 

 these little buds fill and the honey forms in 

 the little cups or cavities left vacant. The 

 bees work as hard on them in the morning 

 as on basswood. This is something new to 

 me, and I should like to hear from you 

 through your journal. 



I have extracted some of the honey, and 

 find it about the same in color as white clo- 

 ver; but it has a sharper taste, not so rank 

 as that from the buds. E. Eveland. 



Barneveld, Wis., July 31. 



[We have had reports of honey-dew from 

 acorns; but, unlike the ordinary honey-dew, 

 which is a secretion from bark lice or other 

 insects, this seems to be a juicy exudation 

 from the acorn or bud itself. The quality 

 of this so-called honey is usually very poor. 

 --Ed.] 



a substitute for the cross-arm of a 

 dadant uncapping-can. 



This is a device to be used on the Dadant 

 uncapping-can. The pieces A and B rest on 

 top of the edges of the can, while C is cut 

 to fit inside, which makes the whole very 

 firm; 4Xi lumber is about right. The 

 advantage of this device is, there is no time 

 lost in locating the frame on the nail-point 

 as with the regular one. 



Another advantage is in uncapping weak, 

 broken, or other combs that are capped 

 under the top-bar. Such combs are gener- 



ally best handled when turned on the top- 

 bar, and uncapped by cutting up toward the 

 bottom-bar. I never knew of any one yet, 

 after getting used to this kind of arrange- 

 ment, to want to use the original bar again. 

 Casanovia, Cuba. Leslie Burr. 



ICE WATER FOR REMOVING PROPOLIS. 



I notice what E. R. Root and Dr. Miller 

 say about greasing the fingers to remove 

 propolis. The quickest thing I have tried to 

 remove propolis is ice water. It hardens 

 the propolis, and it cracks up and comes off 

 without leaving any stain. 



Camillus, N. Y. Irving Kinyon. 



Ice water would, no doubt, harden the pro- 

 polis in a way that would facilitate materi- 



ally its removal. I never tried it, but I see 

 no reason why it would not work. 1 very 

 often rub my hands through the grass to re- 

 move the greater portion of it,, then with a 

 little dry earth or dust rub off a good bit 

 more of the sticky stuff. What remains will 

 not stick to the brood-frames or tools in 

 working over the hives. The principal ob- 

 jection to your remedy is that ice water is 

 not readily available in an ordinary bee- 

 yard.— Ed.] 



HONEY vinegar, AND HOW TO MAKE IT. 



[It may be well to state, in explanation, that Mr. 

 Toepperwein sent us a sample of honey vinegar that 

 was so fine we asked him to give his method to the read- 

 ers of Gleaning s. He rep lied as follows:] 4 ..,, 



""This vinegar was from a lot of six barrels 

 that I put up about a year ago. I used 3 

 lbs. of honey, valued at 6 cts. per lb., to 

 make a gallon of vinegar, and there was a 

 shrinkage of 15 per cent. I boiled the wa- 

 ter (which was common hydrant water) and 

 then, while stirring, added the honey, and 

 boiled the mixture until it did not foam up 

 any more refuse. The whole mixture was 

 cooked together, then put into a barrel aft- 

 er it was cool, then set out in the sun, with 

 an opening covered by a wire screen. 



I kept one barrel, out of which I drew the 

 liquid while it was fermenting, and kei)t 

 adding it in the other barrels, so that it 

 would constantly foam over and the bar- 

 rels still be full. After it was through fer- 

 menting I drew it through a hose and then 

 strained the vinegar, or, in other words, 

 metholin, through a double cheese-cloth, not 

 drawing quite all from the barrels. This, 

 together with boiling out the impurities, 

 makes it clear and clean. I did not keep a 

 thermometer in the honey vinegar, but sim- 

 ply heated it as hot as fire would make it, 

 and kept skimming it off until it would not 

 foam any more. You will have to judge the 

 length of time yourself to let it boil by the 

 impurities that come out, as it must be 

 boiled until nothing impure comes out. 



Udo Toepperwein. 



San Antonio, Texas, Sept. 6. 



[You say that you used 3 lbs. of honey to 

 make a gallon of vinegar, and that there 

 was about 15 per cent of shrinkage. Ac- 

 cording to the method given in the ABC 

 book, the honey may be added until the 

 mixture is of such a density that a fesh egg 

 will just float, leaving a spot above the 

 liquid as big as a ten-cent piece. — Ed.] 



THE plan of wintering A PLURALTY OP 

 QUEENS PRACTICED IN ENGLAND. 



I note in your issue of Aug. 15, page 871, 

 a most interesting article upon wintering a 

 plurality of queens. If more bee-keepers 

 would follow friend Reiber's plan I am sure 

 they would find it to their advantage. The 

 extra queens are most useful just at the 

 time when most wanted to take the place of 

 those lost in winter. Many a good stock 

 could be saved by being always prepared with 

 a few extra queens. For four years now I 



