THE AMERICAN BEE JOURNAL. 



143 



for consideration. Several new mem- 

 bers were admitted ; the present num- 

 ber being 2(3. The admission fee is 

 50c ; ladies free. The next annual 

 meeting will be held in Scranton, on 

 Tuesday, May 8, 1883. The questions 

 selected for consideration, were : 

 " Tlie Production and Care of Surplus 

 Honey ; " The Best Method of Vv in- 

 tering Bees," and " Rearing Queens." 



Mr. Geo. Wright was selected to 

 read an essay on " Bee-Keeping." 



G. C. GiiBKN, Sec. 



Factoryville, Pa., Feb. 20, 1883. 



For the American Bee Journal. 



Bee Dysentery Not a New Disease. 



S. F. NEWMAN. 



In the Bee Journal for Feb. 14, 

 page 95, Mr. Heddon says " lie would 

 like to tell S. F. Newman why one of 

 his apiaries has dysentery while the 

 other three have not, all being pre- 

 pared for winter in the same manner." 



Now, Mr. Editor, there are many 

 beekeepers in Northern Ohio who 

 will be under very many obligations 

 to Mr. Heddon if he will give the de- 

 sired information, especially if the 

 cause is of such a nature as to be 

 capable of being guarded against in 

 the future, for dysentery is making 

 sad havoc with many apiaries in this 

 section. 



I neglected to say in my letter, 

 which appeared on page 26 of the 

 Journal, that our 38 colonies, which 

 have been tlie worst afflicted, and the 

 most of which have gone where sick 

 bees go, were ttie strongest, and to all 

 appearance, in the best condition of 

 any we had to withstand a hard win- 

 ter. Most of them had young queens, 

 and all had brood in from two to five 

 combs as late as the last of October. 



1 had supposed that dysentery was 

 comparatively a late disease, but I 

 find, in reading one of Virgil's poems, 

 that he liad a knowledge of it, and 

 prescribed remedies. 1 send you tlie 

 translation of part of the poem. Vir- 

 gil says : 



" But since life has on bees, too, 

 entailed our misfortunes, if their 

 bodies shall languish with a sore dis- 

 ease, wliich you may know by un- 

 doubted signs ; immediately the sick 

 change color, a horrid leanness de- 

 forms tlie countenance ; then they 

 carry the bodies of the dead out of 

 their liouses, and lead the mournful 

 funeral processions, or clinging to- 

 gether by their feet, hang about tlie 

 entrance, or loiter all within their 

 houses shut up, both listless through 

 famine, and benumbed witli cold. 



" Then a hoarse sound is iieard, and 

 in drawling hums they buzz, and at 

 times the south wind murmurs 

 through the woods, as the ruffled seas 

 creak hoarsely with refluent waves — 

 as rapid Are in tlie pent furnace roars. 

 In this case I would advise to burn 

 gummy odors, and to put honey in, 

 through pipes of reed, kindly inviting 

 and tempting the feeble to their 

 known repast. 



"It will be of service to mix with it, 

 tlie juice of pounded galls and dried 

 roses, or inspissated must, thickened 



over a strong fire, or raisins from the 

 Prythian vine, Cecropian thyme and 

 strong smelling centaury. There is 

 also in meadows a flower to which the 

 husbandman has given the name 

 amellus, an lierb easy to be found ; 

 for from one root it shoots a vast 

 luxuriance of stalks, itself of golden 

 hue, but on the leaves, which are 

 spread thickly around, the purple of 

 the dark violet sheds a gloss. 



" The altars of the gods are often 

 decked with plaited wreaths of this 

 flower. Its taste is bitterish in the 

 mouth. The shepherds gather it in 

 new-shorn valleys, and near the wind- 

 ing streams of Mella. Boil the roots 

 thereof in fragrant wine, and present 

 it as food for the bees in full baskets 

 at their door." 



Norwalk, O., Feb. 17, 1883. 



For tbe American Bee JoumaL 



How to Make Honey Vinegar. 



W. Z. HUTCHINSON. 



At the Michigan State Convention 

 at Kalamazoo, Mr. Bingham liad on 

 exhibition an excellent sample of 

 honey vinegar ; and, as he told us how 

 many pounds of beeswax was ob- 

 tained from a certain amount of 

 washed cappings, it occurred to me 

 that the vinegar was made from the 

 honey tliat was washed from the cap- 

 pings. Upon addressing a letter of 

 inquiry to Mr. Bingham, he wrote me 

 a long, kind and instructive letter 

 upon tlie subject, which, with his per- 

 mission, I now give to the readers of 

 the IJee Journal. It is as follows : 



" Tlie cappings should be put into 

 a dripper and allowed to remain 

 about 24 hours, then put into as much 

 wateras you may reasonably expect to 

 sweeten a little sweeter than good 

 new cider, with the cappings that you 

 expect to have. I fill an ordinary 

 whisky-barrel with water, and the 

 honey from the cappings, in extract- 

 ing 1,000 pounds of honey, usually 

 makes it sweet enough. The cap- 

 pings are left in the water an hour or 

 two, then skimmed out and put into a 

 strainer to drip dry, which they will 

 do in 10 or 12 hours. The drippings 

 are, of course, saved and put into the 

 barrel. 



"This slightly sweetened water 

 soon begins to ' work,' and the scum 

 may be taken off with a wire cloth, or 

 other skimmer, as often as necessary, 

 until nothing rises. This sweetened 

 water passes through all the stages of 

 fermentation, the same as cider, until 

 it reaches the point called vinegar. 

 One year, perhaps less, makes it such 

 vinegar as you saw at Kalamazoo. 

 We have used no other vinegar in our 

 family for 20 years, except a year or 

 two when we first came to Michigan, 

 14 years ago, when I had no bees. 



'• There is, probably, no profit in 

 making honey vinegar from good 

 salable honey, but in keeping bees 

 there is often waste honey tlial is of 

 little value. I know of no manner of 

 getting cappings ready for making 

 into wax that is so convenient and 

 profitable, and the vinegar is known 

 to be pure. 



" I keep the barrel covered with a 

 cotton cloth, and there is not much 

 danger of getting the water too sweet. 

 If very sweet, it takes longer to get 

 it to vinegar ; but it is better when it 

 does get there. T.F.Bingham." 



A barrel of excellent vinegar for 

 every 1,000 pounds of honey extracted 

 is certainly worth saving. I know of 

 one bee-keeper who will save that 

 barrel of vinegar, during the coming 

 season. 



Rogersville, Mich. 



For th« American Bee JoumaL 



N. E. 0. and N. W. Pa. Convention. 



D. VIDETO. 



Our trip to the North-Eastern Ohio 

 and North- Western Pennsylvania Bee- 

 Keepers' Convention,held at Andover, 

 O., on Feb. 14-15, was very agreeable, 

 for many reasons. 



Programmes, covering the whole 

 ground of bee science, were printed, 

 and circulated through the audience, 

 and, judging from the attention and 

 interest manifested, those present had 

 a desire to know more about bees. 

 When a topic was announced by the 

 President, there was no want of de- 

 baters. Among the 60 or 70 present 

 (including some ladies), short and 

 pithy speeches sprang upeveryvvhere. 



With all the slashing the dollar- 

 queen breeders took, and the adver- 

 tisers of new-idea hives, new fixtures 

 and half-pound sections without sepa- 

 rators, and wide frames in the brood 

 chamber for surplus, and the Given 

 press, to fasten foundation on wired 

 frames, etc., etc., there was the utmost 

 kindness and good feeling, and earnest 

 desire to compare notes and learn 

 more about the modern apiary. 



Pet theories and pet practices were 

 alike criticized, and, while all enjoyed 

 the feast, I am confident that many 

 unlearned, and learned anew to profit 

 by closer study and practice. 



The first day was rainy, but, on the 

 second, the storm cloud passed over, 

 and the members of the convention 

 were invited to visit the very attrac- 

 tive apiary of Mr. M. E. Mason, where, 

 to the delight of all, a portion of his 

 bees were making their first cleansing 

 flight. Mr. M. has been using the 

 Root chaff hive, in part, bvit says he 

 will make no more, although he con- 

 siders them tolerably good for winter- 

 ing; the objections being that they 

 are too cumbersome for summer ma- 

 nipulation. The rest of the hives are 

 the Simplicity, packed in chaff ; the 

 outer box is made of pine and painted, 

 with tin roof and tight bottom. CliafE 

 cushions are placed directly on the 

 brood frames, also filling the spaces 

 outside of the division boards. Exam- 

 ination showed them to be in excellent 

 condition and it was thought by many 

 that they could endure another 

 month's confinement. One very im- 

 l)ortant feature in Mr. Mason's pack- 

 ing, is, that the hive sets into the box, 

 with about four inches of chaff under 

 the hive. The bee stand is about six 

 or eight inches high, and so made as 

 to give little or no moisture to the 

 packing box. Mr. M. has over sixty 



