1883 



(JLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE. 



243 



make any racket to briug them down or make them 

 settle either; but we hived them again after they 

 had clustered, and this time they stayed and did 

 well. 



I know there are still some " old-fogy " bee-keep- 

 ers (?) in the country who think they have to make 

 a " whale " of a noise to settle their bees when they 

 swarm; but their number is growingbeautifully less 

 every year. I am aware that there are quite a num- 

 ber of progressive (?) bee-beepers who think it nec- 

 essary to mutilate the queen by '"clipping" her wing 

 in order to save the swarm: but experience has 

 taught me that it is unnecessary, and therefore a 

 barbarous practice. In my experience of 35 years or 

 more keeping bees, both on the old and new system, 

 I have never, to my recollection, lost a swarm by ab- 

 sconding; but you say others have. Yes, I know it, 

 and I have a neighbor who clips his queens' wings, 

 and he loses two swarms and four queens to my 

 " nary un." 



Now let us read from I. Chron. 19:4. "Therefore 

 Hanun took David's servants, and shaved them, and 

 cut otf their garments in the midst, hard by their 

 buttocks, and sent them away." How does that 

 strike you? Old Fogy. 



Allendale. 111., April, 1883. 



Friend P., I am sorry to say that 1 shall 

 have to own up that I did not see a swarm 

 come out and go off. The women folks saw 

 it, or, at least, the circumstances are so di- 

 rect that it seems a clear case. Now, if I 

 am not very much mistaken, we have a 

 score or more among our readers who have 

 seen the first swarm come out and go off. 

 Will such please stand up and testify ? I 

 should be very glad indeed if we could dis- 

 pense with mutilating queens ' wings . Friend 

 F., did you read what our friend Cyula had 

 to say on the subject of clipping the queens' 

 wings, in our last number ? Are you not a 

 little uncharitable V And is not your proof 

 a sort of negative proof ? We grant that in 

 all of your experience ^ou never saw a swarm 

 go off without clustering ; but is such proof 

 sufficient to maintain the strong position 

 you take V At any rate, we should be glad 

 to have the truth brought out again, even 

 though the subject was discussed and 

 dropped as settled, years ago. 



^VINTERING REPORT. 



ARE THE CONDITIONS WE HAVE BEEN URGING, REAL- 

 LY SO IMPORTANT, AFTER ALL? 



f FINISHED looking over my bees last week, and 

 am very well satisfied with the results. I have 

 ' lost only two out of 150; and of the remainder, 

 all but three are good strong swarms, many having 

 four good frames of brood (Mar. 19). One of the 

 swarms lost was sacrificed " in the interests of 

 science." It was a very large swarm in the house 

 apiary — the only one — and late in the fall left their 

 combs and built new ones on a shelf just above their 

 hive, right out in the open air as much as they could 

 be when indoors. They certainly had plenty of ven- 

 tilation, and I thought it a good chance to test the 

 ventilation theory. Perhaps they would have died 

 anyhow; but the immediate cause of their death 

 was starvation, as they had not carried up enough 

 honey, and it was impossible to feed theiii where 

 they were, during the cold weather. 



The rest were prepared for winter in a variety of 

 ways. Fifty were in single-walled hives; 26 in chaff 

 hives, and the rest in tenement chaff hives. Some 

 were crowded down on seven combs by means of 

 division-boards, and carefully packed in chaff, while 

 some had the run of S-i L. frames, with no more pro- 

 tection than a chaff hive affords. Some were cover- 

 ed with porous coverings, though the most had 

 enameled-cloth covers. Many had sticks or corn- 

 cobs over the frames, as a substitute for Hill's de- 

 vice. 



At the present time there does not seem to be any 

 more difference in the results than was to be expect- 

 ed had all been prepared precisely alike. In some 

 points, however, all were alike. All had plenty of 

 bees and honey; all had winter-passages through or 

 over the combs, with entrances full size, some 

 swarms having entrances at each end of the hive its 

 full width (;>ixl5) 



We have had a very severe winter here, the mer- 

 cury frequently going down to 20° below zero, and 

 remaining in the neighborhood of zero for weeks at a 

 time. The fact that theie was so little difference in 

 the results seems to show that some of the condi- 

 tions insisted on by many as essential to safe win- 

 tering are not at all important. If any difference 

 appears before warm weather comes, I will report 

 it. J. A. Green, 148. 



Dayton, 111., Mar. 26, 1883. 



HONEY VINEGAR. 



HOW TO MAKE IT. 



fX response to calls for making honey vin- 

 egar last month, we have received the 

 — ' following letters : 



R. J. Fox, in April No., asks for a recipe for mak- 

 ing honey vinegar. Vinegar can be made from any 

 thing that has sweet enough in it to go through the 

 fermenting process, as cider does in changing from 

 sweet to sour. The sweeter you make the water, 

 the stronger will be the vinegar, if not too sweet 

 to ferment. No yeast is required. The more it 

 is exposed to the air, the quicker the change. A 

 cask with the head out is the best on that account, 

 but must be kept covered to keep out insects. If a 

 tight barrel is used, leave the bung-hole open, and 

 draw out a few quarts once a day, and turn it back 

 into the barrel, remembering that the more it is ex- 

 posed to the air, the sooner the change. Never al- 

 low what is called " mother " to accumulate in the 

 barrel, as it is a growth that lives on the strength of 

 the vinegar. Every bee-keeper who uses the ex- 

 tractor should have a cask to wash the cappings, 



and work the sweet Inio vinegar. 



L. C. Whiting. 

 East Saginaw, Mich., April 3, 1883. 



I notice on page 192, April No., R. J. Fox wants a 

 recipe for making honey vinegar. I have no recipe, 

 but will tell how I have supplied my family with the 

 very best vinegar. Four years ago I put one gallon 

 of the best cider vinegar in a ten-gallon keg (that 

 was during time I was extracting honey), and wash- 

 ed all the cappings and utensils that were used for 

 honey, and strained into the keg, and have kept it 

 filled up about as we used it out, since. I have not 

 bought any vinegar for four years, and have had 

 the very best and sharpest for use since. Keep the 

 keg by the kitchen stove. A. S. Davison. 



Aullville, Lafayette Co., Mo., April 5, 1883. 



