BEE MANUAL. 317 



Metheglin. — Mix honey and water strong enough to carry an egg ; 

 let it stand three or four weeks in a warm place to ferment ; then 

 strain through a cloth and add some spices to suit the taste. [Note. 

 In working on this recipe we find 31b to 41b of honey to the gallon of 

 water is sufficient. About a teaspoonf ul of powdered ginger and half 

 as much allspice to each gallon. The bottles require to be well 

 corked as the liquor is as effervescent as champagne.] 



Sack Mead.— To each gallon of water add 61bs. of honey, and also 

 the white of an egg, and the shell broken up. Boil this mixture until 

 the scum has all been cleared off, then add one ounce of hops to the 

 gallon, and boil slowly for one hour. Strain away the hops, and 

 when new-milk warm add a small quantity of yeast on a toast ; let it 

 stand a couple of days, and then put it into a barrel, which should 

 only have been used previoasly, if at all, for white wine. Skim off 

 any yeast that rises before being put into the barrel. Let the mead 

 stand two years before bottling, and then when bottled it will keep 

 for any length of time, and the colour will deepen with age. 



Miodomel. — The following recipe is from the prior of the celebrated 

 stronghold of Tokal, situated on the banks o? the Bug, built in the 

 thirteenth century, as a security against the invasion of the Tartars 

 and Muscovites. This monastery enjoys a widely spread fame, through 

 its miraculous Holy Virgin, and still more through its excellent 

 miodomel. To twenty-four gallons of water put twelve gallons of 

 honey, and 121 bs. hops ; boil them together over a very slow fire, till the 

 whole is reduced one-third. Care must be taken that the fire be not 

 too strong, yet the heat must increase gradually ; from a sudden and 

 excessive heat, a burnt taste will be communicated to it. From the 

 boiler empty it into a large tub or barrel, which must be deposited in a 

 warm place during eight days to undergo fermentation, afterward filter 

 through a wooden filter into a barrel, and place in a cellar for u°e ; 

 the older it is the better and stronger it becomes. After twelve 

 months it may be bottled and kept for years. The peasantry gene- 

 rally keep it in barrels, where it is preserved as well as in bottles. 

 Half a pint of good old miodomel taken every second night before 

 going to bed, improves — and even restores to the stomach — the power 

 of digestion ; but if the miodomel be very old, say from ten years 

 upwards, a wine-glassful is quite sufficient and more effective. It is 

 also good in cases of gout and rheumatism. 



Fkuit Wine with Honey. — Take ten pints and a half of ripe fruit, 

 which may be either gooseberries, currants, raspberries, blackberries, 

 peaches, cherries, plums, or sloes ; pound them in twenty-one pints of 

 water, let them steep for four days, and then pour off the liquid. Press 

 the skins between the hands and add twenty-one pints of water ; let it 

 stand six hours, squeeze the skins hard, pour off the liquid and throw 

 away the refuse. Mix the two liquids together ; add 91bs. of honey, 

 mix well, put into a cask, which must be entirely filled, and place it 

 where the temperature is from 59° to 68° Fahr. The liquid will soon 

 ferment and work out of the bunghole, which should be left open. 

 The cask should be constantly filled up with some of the diluted juice 

 reserved for that purpose, and when fermentation has nearly ceased 



