AMERICAN BEE JOURNAL. 



635 



have asked for it during the past few 

 days. Here is the way I make it : 



Put 15 pounds of water in a vessel 

 that will hold about 24 quarts, and 

 bring it to a boil. When boiling, slowly 

 pour in 30 pounds of granulated sugar, 

 stirring as it is poured in, so that it will 

 mostly dissolve instead of settling to the 

 bottom and burning. Now bring to a 

 boil again, and skim, if impurities arise, 

 when it is to be set from the fire, and 5 

 pounds of honey stirred in. This gives 

 50 pounds of food of about the consis- 

 tency of honey, and as soon as it is 

 cooled, so that it is a little warmer than 

 blood heat, it is ready for use. The 

 honey is put in to prevent crystalization, 

 and with me it proves far superior to 

 vinegar or cream-of-tartar. 



The reason why the correspondent's 

 bees stick fast, is because a float was not 

 provided to keep the bees out of the 

 syrup. Unless such is provided, hun- 

 dreds of the bees will be drowned. 



MILK-PAST BEE-FEEDEBS. 



For winter stores, when fed in the 

 fall, I would as soon have a common 

 milk-pan to do the feeding with, as any- 

 thing. Set this on top of the hive, and 

 fill it with syrup, after which pull up 

 two or three handf uls of grass and scat- 

 ter over the syrup for a float, or use 

 shavings or corn cobs, as is preferred. 

 The trouble with the latter is, that they 

 soak up much of the syrup, while the 

 former do not. 



Setup a small piece of board, a chip, 

 or a piece of honey section against the 

 side of the pan, so the bees can easily 

 climb over to the food, when a hole is to 

 be opened to the hive below, by turning 

 up one corner of the quilt, or removing 

 a slat in the honey-board for the bees to 

 come up through. Now scatter a few 

 drops of the food down through the hole, 

 and over the chip, and put on the cover, 

 seeing that the joints are all tight so 

 that no robber bees can get in. 



Borodino, N. Y. 



The Season, Honey-Vinegar, 

 Marketing, Etc. 



Written for the American Bee Journal 

 BY F. H. BICHABDSON. 



The honey season is over. The out- 

 look which was so bright for a fall crop 

 ended in a dismal failure, or at least 

 comparatively so. It was so dry and 

 hot that the Spanish-needle, after bloom- 



ing profusely for two weeks and yield- 

 ing some nectar, dried up and "fizzled." 

 I secured 200 pounds of extracted sur- 

 plus, and 55 pounds of comb honey, 

 where I should have had half a ton at 

 least. However, the bees have plenty 

 of good winter stores. 



I am thinking of extracting the brood- 

 combs and giving them combs free from 

 bee-bread, and feed sugar syrup, as I 

 am afraid the pollen contained in the 

 honey and comb will be injurious for 

 winter food. The extracted honey I can 

 get 10 cents per pound for. What do 

 you think of this ? 



P0LLYW0G8 IN HONEY-VINEGAB. 



During the summer I made a barrel of 

 honey-vinegar, and yesterday, upon ex- 

 amining it, I found it good vinegar, but 

 full of very small semi-transparent 

 " pollywogs " (I don't know what else to 

 call them, as they exactly resemble the 

 pollywog in shape). I should like to 

 know what these are, and how to get 

 rid of them, for, as it is, a barrel of good 

 vinegar is a loss. 



HABDLY KNEW MY FBIEND. 



By the way, I hardly knew my friend, 

 the Amebican Bee Joubnal, when it 

 came week before last. Its "new dress" 

 is very becoming, and its arrangement I 

 like better. May its shadow never grow 

 less. 



beginnees and the maeket. 



On page 496 I notice an article from 

 W. C. Frazier, on " Beginners and the 

 Honey Market." Well, I for one, cer- 

 tainly have not " ruined this market," 

 as I got 5 cents per pound for my comb 

 and 1 to 2% cents more for extracted 

 honey than my father did. 



It may be that beginners do ruin the 

 market, but I am of the opinion that the 

 small local markets are ruined by farm- 

 ers and others who only keep a few bees, 

 and bring their honey to market in any 

 and every shape, and take any price 

 the storekeepers see fit to give. There 

 are a half dozen men within two miles 

 of me who have from 15 to 45 colonies 

 of bees, and with one exception I find 

 them all densely ignorant in one of the 

 most important branches of apiculture, 

 namely, preparing for market and sell- 

 ing to advantage. Not one (with the 

 exception I mentioned)takes a bee-paper, 

 or has standard hives. Some of them 

 have had bees for years, though they do 

 not follow it as a business. When they 

 happen to get any surplus, they bring it 

 in buckets, jars, washtubs, or anything 



