THK SMERICffiN BE® JO^RNSIr. 



521 



they never make fight with this smoker, 

 and witli it you can go in the midst of 

 the most vicious bees with perfect 

 safety. 



Selling Honey Vinegar. 



A few years ago honey sold here at a 

 ruinously low price. As I would not 

 deviate from my fixed miminum price, 

 I stored away the finest of my honey, 

 and the rest I turned into wine and vin- 

 egar, and made money by the operation. 

 The vinegar I then sold by the barrel 

 as "Honey Vinegar," which mttwith a 

 ready sale, and soon I was not able to 

 supply the demand. The market was 

 created in this wise : 



I put up a few dozen bottles, and had 

 them labeled in attractive colors. These 

 bottles I distributed freely to physi- 

 cians, and others of the city. This do- 

 nation created a demand for the article 

 at once. 



Making HoneyVinegar. 



As this vinegar was favorably re- 

 ceived, for invalids, table use, and for 

 preserving fruit. I will give the process 

 of making it : 



From the cappings, and the washing 

 of honey-vessels, cloths saturated with 

 honey, etc., make a clean solution of 

 honey. If it needs more to give it a 

 rich, saccharine taste, add such honey 

 that may be objectionable for the mar- 

 ket. Neversell poor,dirty-looking honey. 

 After a perfect solution is made, put it 

 through the percolator, to secure a pure, 

 transparent fluid. Now acidulate the 

 solution with a small quantitv of chem- 

 ically pure acetic acid. This acetic 

 acid is a chemical, concentrated vinegar, 

 and in thisconnection is perfectly harm- 

 less. 



The acid will promptly bring the sol- 

 ution of honey into acetic fomentation. 

 After this is effected, add about half an 

 ounce of pure alcohol to the gallon. 

 This will bring about a vinous fomenta- 

 tion, and develops the acetic ether, 

 which gives the honey-vinegar such an 

 excellent body. Without it, it would 

 taste course and flat, with no body 

 about it but a burning acidity, so com- 

 mon in poor and ordinary vinegar. 



inarketlng llie Houey. 



I find a ready sale for my honey in 

 Austin, and if I command the highest 

 price for it, it is because I furnish the 

 finest honey in the market. Yesterday 

 (July 17) I took 100 pounds out of one 

 hive, the half it had, and sold it to my 

 grocer at 10 cents per pound; while 

 country honey was a drug in the market 

 at 6 cents per pound. 



I will cheerfully submit my process of 

 purifying and clarifying my honey for 

 the market. It is as follows : 



Taking advantage of the fact that it 

 is diflicult to retain honey in almost any 

 vessel except glass, I made a percola- 

 tor ( <( ) of a very tine, close muslin, six 

 feet long, with an opening of about 16 

 inches in diameter, gradually coming to 

 a point, large enough to hold about 100 

 pounds of extracted honey. This cloth 

 is so fine and close, that when moist it 

 can be made to retain air like a bladder. 

 The honey that oozes through the cloth 

 is a transparent, crystal-like fluid, and 

 in a clear jar it looks so pure, that one is 



tempted to think it was nectar only fit 

 for angels to eat. 



The operation, strictly speaking, is 

 not one of straining, but a percolation, 

 leaving pure honey and nothing else to 

 pass. The process is one of exosmosis 

 favored by a pressure of its own weight. 



My Honcjh Percolator. 



REFERENCES.— a. is a cone percolBtor made of 

 muslin, throueh wliieh tlie honey oozea into tlie 

 receptacle b. which has a fuucet tnrouKli which to 

 flraw r)ff the lioney into jars. c. is the stanrl for the 

 honey can. d, is a pulley wheel to holii up and raise 

 the percolator, e. represents a jar of honey beinK 

 emptied into the percolator, /.shows the pulley- 

 wheels in theceilinp.throueh which the rope passes, 

 holding the percolator in place. 



I have only to say to my enterprising 

 bee brethren, try it ; but do not let your 

 success in producing wonderfully tine 

 honey, tempt you to extortion, but keep 

 yourself to a reasonable and dignified 

 price for your honey, and go hand in 

 hand with the fair reputation of your 

 articles. 



Austin. Texas. 



QUEENLESSNESS. 



Will Removing Hie Queen, in- 

 crease Hie Honey Yield? 



Written for the Country Gentleman 

 BY W. Z. nUTCHINSON. 



Quite a number of bee keepers assert 

 that more honey can be secured by re- 

 moving the queen about three weeks 

 previous to the close of the honey har- 

 vest. 



The theory is, that stopping the pro 

 duction of brood turns the energies of 

 the bees entirely into honey-gathering ; 

 besides this, no honey is used in feeding 

 the brood. Mr. F. Cheshire says that 

 the rearing of a bee, from the egg to 

 maturity, costs a colony the equivalent 

 of four cells of honey ; and it is only be- 

 cause a bee, in a fair yield, is able to re- 

 quite the colony with many times its 

 cost, that a large population means sur- 

 plus ; but if this large population is 

 brought upon the stage after the har- 

 vest is over, it becomes a consuming 

 instead of a producing population. 



Removal of the queen also prevents 

 increase, which, in out apiaries, is es- 

 pecially desirable. When the bee-keep- 

 er has a large number of colonies, and 



prefers honey to increase, the preven- 

 tion of swarming is quite desirable. In 

 some localities and seasons the honey 

 flow is early and of short duration, and 

 if the bees turn their energies in the 

 direction of swarming, but little sur- 

 plus is secured. 



When aciueen is removed, a frame of 

 brood covered with bees is usually taken 

 with her, and they are put in a small 

 hive, where they are kept until the time 

 arrives for their return. After her re- 

 moval, if preparations for swarming 

 have not already been commenced in 

 the old hive, queen-cells will at once be 

 started, and the bees thus endeavor to 

 retrieve their loss. At the end of eight 

 or nine days the queen-cells must be cut 

 out and the bees given a frame of eggs 

 or unsealed brood, from which they can 

 start another batch of cells. J ust before 

 this lot of cells hatch (in eight or nine 

 days), they must be cutout, and another 

 comb of brood given. This method of 

 management must be continued as long 

 as the colony is left queenless. because, 

 if hopelessly queenless, the bees seem to 

 lose courage ; they must have a queen 

 or the hope of one. 



The small hive containing the remov- 

 ed bees and queen is sometimes placed 

 upon top of the old hive, and when they 

 are returned, the bees that have learned 

 to recognize the upper hive as their 

 home, will, upon finding it gone, gather 

 in a cluster upon the top of the hive, 

 where they will remain a short time, 

 and then take up a line of march down 

 over the front of tlie hive to the en- 

 trance, and join the parent colony again. 



It will be seen that this method of re- 

 moving the queen entails considerable 

 labor, and is, we think, not advisable, 

 unless to prevent swarming, as the pro- 

 duction of brood can be greatly curtailed 

 by contracting the brood-nest, which is 

 a short and simple operation, requiring 

 very little work. 



The method of removing the queen, 

 that strikes us the most favorably, is 

 that of allowing the bees to swarm, then 

 removing and destroying the old queen, 

 allowing tlie bees to return, and then, 

 at the sixth or seventh day, cutting out 

 all the queen-cells except one. This 

 prevents increase, deprives the colony 

 of a laying queen for about eighteen 

 days, besides furnishing it with a young 

 queen. 



Flint, Mich. 



THE SEASON. 



Hiving Sivarms — Ant§ in the 

 Apiary — Bloom, etc. 



Written far the Western Ploionuin 

 BY C. H. DIBBEKN. 



It is an old axiom that in order to ob- 

 tain a good honey crop, you must keep 

 all colonies strong. But this is much 

 easier said than done. As well might 

 it be said that to obtain a good crop of 

 corn, you must have plenty of stalks, 

 of the right size and at the right time. 

 We cannot make the weather and so 

 many other necessary conditions to pro- 

 duce bees in abundance, that we have 

 to do the best we can. 



