600 



THE AMERICAN BEE JOURNAL. 



and an inch hole is bored in the upper 

 end of each head, near the upper 

 stave. This admits of a good air- 

 passage over the body of the honey- 

 water. Tins with fine perforations 

 nailed over these holes, with the 

 rough side outward, exclude flies and 

 skippers. 



Take about one pound of honey to 

 one gallon of water, thoroughly mixed 

 up, and nail a perforated tin on the 

 bung hole. We take 35 to 40 pounds 

 of honey for a barrel containing 40 to 

 45 gallons of water. The warmest 

 place in the yard is the best place for 

 the barrel. If the sun shines on the 

 barrel all day, it requires from the be- 

 ginning of April to the end of Octo- 

 ber to make vinegar satisfactory for 

 all purposes. If not sour enough 

 by fall, it will be all right by Christ- 

 mas or spring, if placed in the cellar 

 or a warm room. 



THE BINGHAM METHOD. 



To one gallon of the best vinegar, 

 one pound of honey and one gallon of 

 water is.reguired. That is, 29 pounds 

 of honey will make (water being added 

 to it enough to fill a regular 32-gallon 

 barrel) one barrel of the best vinegar. 

 The vessels I use to make it in are 

 common alcohol barrels, which I find 

 at drugstores. I saw out one of the 

 barrel heads and paint the outside to 

 pi event the iron hoops from being de- 

 stroyed 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 choicest vinegar. 



Sweetened water from washing 

 honey-cappings is the most common 

 waste of the apiary, and to utilize 

 it, is presumed to be the desirable 

 matter in connection with honey- 

 vinegar. 



To know how sweet-water slowly 

 sweetened and constantly fermenting 

 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 cheap instrument to be used by 

 those who wish to know how sweet 

 water should be for vinegar, and may 

 be relied upon as permanently accu- 

 rate for such test. 



BINGHAM'S VINEGAR-TEST. 



Take of clean yellow beeswax, one- 

 half ounce, and two ordinary shot, 

 }i inch in diameter. Warm the wax 

 until it is soft, and put the two 

 " shot " into the center of the piece 

 of wax, as nearly as convenient. 

 Make the wax into a ball like marble. 

 Its upper surface will rise to the sur- 

 face of the vinegar or water contain- 

 ing one pound of honey per gallon — 

 just the amount needed for the best 

 vinegar. 



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 

 tha vinegar. 



For Uie American Bee Jonmai. 



Experience i itli Bees— Ancient Honey 



JOHN JAMIESON. 



My wife and I are both well ad- 

 vanced in years, and we thought a 

 few colonies of bees would be pleasant 

 and profitable employment ; and would 

 be a change from the routine of the 

 farm. 



All that other folks can do. 

 Why with patience may not you ? 

 Only keep this rule In view, 

 Try, try a^ain. 



We are both Scotch, and have 

 enough of " Wallace " and " Bruce " 

 grit, not to cry over a sting. We get 

 one now and then, but I suppose we 

 will get used to it by degrees. My 

 wife and son can handle the bees bet- 

 ter than I. All the bees know about 

 is, to gather, hide and eat honey. 

 They cannot discriminate between 

 friend and foe. 



In the spring we got two good col- 

 onies. We had two first swarms in 

 June, and two after-swarms in Julv. 

 We put supers on the hives of the old 

 colonies, and they have honey in both 

 stories. We have no reason to com- 

 plain considering the poor season. I 

 think both the after-swarms already 

 have more honey than they need for 

 the winter. I have made a hive for 

 observation, and if I can winter the 

 bees, and I am spared to see another 

 spring, I shall put my first swarm in 

 it, and peep in now and then, and see 

 them operating. 



Honey is a nice thing to have. Keep- 

 ing bees is one of the ways to get a 

 share of the good things of this life. 

 Samson, the strong man, partook of 

 honey on his way to Timnath to see 

 his girl. Was it not Providential? It 

 was from a pretty rough hive, too, the 

 carcass of a lion. That was honey in 

 the comb ! 



That was not the age of extricators, 

 exuders, extruders, emitters, evolvers, 

 slingers, throwers, or even extractors. 

 Samson and his father and mother 

 used the oldest " extractor." 



I agree with the editor in calling 

 honey out of the comb, " honey " or 

 extracted honey, and the other kind, 

 " honey in the comb." Who does not 

 know what extracted honey is? If all 

 the lexicographers from Dr. .Johnson 

 till our own time, were assembled to- 

 day, to decide the thing, I believe 

 they would all say " extracted." It is 

 from a Latin root, trahe and ex, which 

 really means " drawn out of." What 

 could be more emphatic? That is 

 quite a digression from the use of 

 honey. 



Jacob sent a little honey with his 

 sous to the governor of Egypt. It is 

 mentioned among the merchandise of 

 Tyre. John the Baptist used honey. 

 Jesus and his disciples often used 

 honey. In the " good old book " fre- 

 quent mention is made of honey. 

 Canaan was the land that flowed with 

 milk and honey. In Palestine honey, 

 no doubt, was an article of daily con- 

 sumption. Honey is both nutritious 

 and medicinal. 



If all who spend their money for 

 beer and other alcoholic drinks and 



tobacco, would eat honey, how much 

 better oft they would be. It would 

 add to the national vigor both of 

 body and mind. Alcoholic drinks 

 and tobacco are positively injurious, 

 whereas honey is a blessing. 



Bee-hives are quite a lawn ornament. 

 All my life I have loved bees, although 

 I never had a good start till now. In 

 Scotland, when I was a boy, I re- 

 member carrying bees out in the 

 country many miles, on a wheel- 

 barrow, to gather honey from the 

 heather, a wild f iirz that grows in the 

 moors in Scotland. That made the 

 fall honey, just as the buckwheat does 

 among us. 



West Toledo,-c O. 



For the American Bee Journal. 



Twelve ProTcrlis for Bee-Keeners. 



HENRY li. STALKY. 



The following is an article taken 

 from Coleman's Rural World, and as I 

 have seen it published in but two 

 papers, I think that the American 

 Bee Journal should have it too ; 

 for its truth is self-evident truth, and 

 it may in some degree help those who, 

 uninitiated, intend to embark in bee- 

 keeping. It is as follows : 



PROVERBS PROVEN BT EXPERIENCE. 



1. The ways of bee-keeping are not 

 all ways of pleasantness, nor are all 

 the paths thereof the paths of peace. 



2. Man is to eat his bread in the 

 sweat of his face, and there is no ex- 

 ception made in favor of the bee- 

 keeper. 



3. To work successfully a man must 

 work wisely. To work wisely with 

 bees, one must know their nature and 

 habits ; these can be learned only by 

 careful study and observation. 



4. We live in progressive times, and 

 the true bee-keeper must be pro- 

 gressive. . 



5. In bee-keeping, as in other 

 things, the diligent are crowned with 

 success. 



6. The obstacles in the way of suc- 

 cesssful bee-culture are ignorance, 

 carelessness, being too eager to in- 

 crease the number of colonies, and 

 cold winters. 



7. A fair knowledge of bees, faith- 

 ful attention to the apiary, and a 

 thorough and timely preparation for 

 the honey flow, swarming and win- 

 tering, will make any man or woman 

 a successful bee-keeper. 



8. A tyrannical Pharaoh demanded 

 of his workers the " full tale of 

 bricks," butfurnished them no straw. 

 Do not demand of your little workers 

 " the full tale " in pounds of honey, 

 when there is none in the flelds, or 

 when you reside in a region poor in 

 honey-yielding plants. 



9. Carefully lay up your honey crop 

 where thieves (especially robber bees) 

 cannot break in and steal, and your 

 empty combs where moth-worms will 

 not destroy them. 



10. Profitable bee-keeping greatly 

 depends upon a gathering up of the 

 fragments, that nothing be lost. Frag- 

 ments of time can be used in caring 



