118 



THE AMERICAN BEE JOURNAL. 



light sticks 6 feet long, and kept taut 

 and in place by a pin through the 

 ends of these sticks into the upright 

 side-pieces. A door which swings on 

 hinges is placed in one end. The 

 sides of the house are, of course, sep- 

 arate, and are held together by two 

 Van Deusen hive-clamps at each 

 corner. 



No implement for the apiary which 

 I have ever made— not even excepting 

 the solar wax-extractor— has proved 

 its usefulness so completely as this 

 screen-house. When robber bees are 

 rampant, and stings are as plentiful 

 as huckleherries outside, all is serene 

 within. I have an idea that the bee- 

 keeper is stung more by robber bees 

 than by the bees of the hive which is 

 operated upon, though of course they 

 are more savage when robber bees are 

 ready to pouuce into their hive as 

 soon as it is opened. One can work 

 all day in the screen-house and 

 scarcely receive a sting, and this I 

 regard as a great, though incidental, 

 recommendation. The fact that we 

 can go right along with our work 

 during a dearth of honey, when with- 

 out it all operations would have to be 

 suspended, is what makes the screen- 

 house so valuable. Hence I advise 

 every bee-keeper to build a screen- 

 house for next season's use. 

 Hudson,©, N. Y. 



should be, is one of the difficult fea- 

 tures of converting the washings of 

 cappings into vinegar. An instru- 

 ment used by brewers known as a 

 Saccharometer, would, of course, 

 show the amount of honey in the 

 water, even if the taste did not fully 

 determine the increasing sweet in the 

 water as it was souring. I have made 

 a few cheap instruments to be used 

 by those who wish to know how sweet 

 water should be for vinegar, and may 

 be relied upon as permanently ac- 

 curate for such test. 



Vinegar made of honey may be 

 evaporated, and the honey will candy 

 in the residuum, and may be so re- 

 claimed when honey is more prized 

 than vinegar. So it will be seen the 

 honey still holds its place, even 

 though it has previously been the 

 most perfect vinegar. 



I trust that the above may enable 

 many to obtain the one article of 

 universal use. in its known pure state. 



Abronia, 9 Mich. 



For tue American Bee JoumaL 



Tlie OiiestionofBee-Leiislation, 



J. E. POND. 



lines of business, to all trades and to 

 all professions ; the weaker must go 

 to the wall. As well might a law be 

 enacted to protect some lawyer, doc- 

 tor or merchant who had not sufficient 

 ability to protect himself, as to pro- 

 tect a bee-keeper from competition. 



Again, where shall we begin, and 

 where shall we end V For myself I 

 believe that we have laws enough 

 now, and that instead of making 

 more it would be far better to wipe 

 out entirely many of those that now 

 exist. Who can draft any law in 

 regard to bee-keeping, that is better 

 than the law of honest competition ? 



roxboro,o* Mass. 



For tne American Bee JoumaL 



Tk Honey Markt in California. 



M. SEGARS. 



Tor tiie Amencaa Bee JoamaU 



Making Honey-Vinegar. 



T. F. BINGHAM. 



Long ago I was requested to de- 

 scribe my plan of making honey- 

 vinegar. To simplify the whole un- 

 derstanding of the matter, it is well 

 to state just how much honey is re- 

 quired to make a gallon of the best 

 vinegar made. One pound of honey 

 and one gallon of water will just 

 make the article required. That is, 

 29 pounds of honey will make— water 

 being added to it enough to fill a reg- 

 ular 32-gallon barrel— one barrel of 

 the best vinegar. The vessels I use 

 to make it in are common alcohol bar- 

 rels, which I find at drug-stores. I 

 saw out one of the barrel heads and 



Eaint the outside to prevent the iron- 

 oops from being destroyed by the 

 vinegar. 



The barrels and vinegar are kept in 

 my house-cellar, so covered with bur- 

 lap as to keep the dust out and let the 

 air in. One year converts this water 

 and honey into the clioicest vinegar. 

 More age will make it sharper or 

 more acid, but at one year old it is 

 fine enough for any use. 



Of course sweetened water from 

 washing honey-cappings is the most 

 common waste of the apiary, and to 

 utilize it is presumed to be the desir- 

 able matter in connection with honey- 

 vinegar. Still, with the low price of 

 honey bee-keepers may find a reason- 

 able outlet for some "of their poor 

 honey, such as is unfit to sell as an 

 article of delicate luxury for table 

 use. 



To know how sweet water slowly 

 sweetened and constantly fermenting 



Dr. C. C. Miller is undoubtedly 

 honest in his opinion that the ques- 

 tion of who may and who may not 

 keep bees in a given locality, should 

 be settled by legislation, but he fails 

 as yet to point out the legal remedy 

 in the form of an enactment. For 

 myself I fail to see just how any 

 statute could be framed that would 

 work justly, or that could be so ap- 

 plied as to prove equitable. In the 

 first place, bees are only property so 

 long as they are within the immediate 

 control of their owner. Secondly, 

 there is no way by which bees can be 

 kept within such control, except by 

 becoming the absolute owner of all 

 the laihd within such a radius from an 

 apiary, that no flight could be ex- 

 tended beyond the territory actually 

 held in fee by the bee-keeper. Thirdly, 

 bees as foragers are neither respecters 

 of persons or property, and cull or 

 pillage nectar from any spot where it 

 can be found by them. 



Taking the above points into con- 

 sideration as factors in the problem, 

 how can it be possible to enact a just 

 and equitable law to govern the mat- 

 ter y To say that one man may keep 

 bees to forage on another's territory, 

 while that other shall not keep them 

 to forage on his own land, would 

 most certainly not be democratic, and 

 most positively would be unrepubli- 

 can. The law made applicable to 

 keeping bees, should certainly not 

 differ from the law applicable to 

 other property, and any law that 

 tends to reduce competition tends 

 also to the production of monopolies. 

 I think, as does Mr. Heddon. that 

 the law of the " survival of the 

 fittest " is the only law that can be 

 applied equitably ; and if some one 

 meets with a loss by reason of his in- 

 ability to work as easily, cheaply and 

 understandingly as does another, that 

 it is a matter that is common to all 



I have read with great inrerest the 

 articles regarding a national organiza- 

 tion for the purpose of obtaining bet- 

 ter prices for our honey. For one I 

 must say that if such a union can be 

 formed to work harmoniously for the 

 interests of all sections of our country, 

 it would doubtless do much good. But 

 what is the prospect of being able to 

 secure such co-operations? Surely, 

 the present membership of the " Na- 

 tional Bee-Keepers' Union," espec- 

 ially from this State, does not appear 

 in the least encouraging. 



Our fellow-bee-keepers here are 

 sadly demoralized by the low prices 

 of honey and other obstacles, and 

 seem to prefer the slumber that re- 

 duces their property to naught, rather 

 than labor for their own welfare. I 

 have been exclusively engaged in the 

 honey business for the past twelve 

 years as a producer and shipper. My 

 own crop for 1886 was about 40,000 

 pounds, most of which was extracted. 

 I shipped to various markets about 

 350,000 pounds; most of this honey 

 was extracted, of the best quality and 

 sold here, on the car, for the pitiful 

 prices of 3}^ to 3% cents a pound. 

 Deduct from these prices the cost of 

 packages and labor, and what an in- 

 significant profit remained ! This 

 may explain the demoralized condi- 

 tion of bee-keeping in California, and 

 why Italian bees in movable-frame 

 hives can be purchased for less than 

 $1..50 per colony. 



The frequent suggestion of making 

 a market at home for our honey, is 

 good, but in that regard I will say 

 that honey is no luxury in California 

 households. We can do but little in 

 placing our large productions in home 

 markets in this thinly settled country. 

 The production of this county for 1886 

 was about 540,000 pounds of extracted 

 and 130,000 pounds of comb honey, 

 taking the third rank of counties in 

 this State. We were obliged to sell, 

 and the bulk of our crop had to be ex- 

 ported. The many bitter experiences 

 of making consignments to commis- 

 sion houses have quite destroyed our 

 confidence in that class of mankind, 

 and we are no longer lured by their 

 tempting quotations. 



The market reports of commission 

 men have proven themselves to me to 



