838 
THE COTTAGE GARDENER. 
[August 20. 
and then it is not strong stocks that are to he deprived of 
their honey and united to others, hut weak ones only. Still, 
if this total deprivation he performed so late as the end ot 
September the bees may, with a little trouble, be kept 
through the winter, which the following anecdote related to 
me a short time since by a gentleman residing in the neigh¬ 
bourhood of Bury St. Edmunds fully proves. He said to me, 
that the circumstance which led to his becoming an apiarian 
was rather a singular one; for, passing one evening the 
garden of a cottager in the village where he resides, he 
observed some rather extraordinary preparations going on, 
the nature of which he could not understand, and was induced 
to inquire a little into the matter and the reply, was, “ We 
are going to burn the bees, sir;” and upon being assured 
that the stupified bees would be of no value to the cottager, 
and that they would be buried, he begged them, and waiting 
the process over, took them home with him in a large flower¬ 
pot ; and after sprinkling them very gently with sugared ale 
put them into a box, and supplied them with a syrup made 
with brown sugar and ale, at the top of the box, and in a 
few days he had the satisfaction of finding they had formed 
several combs, and were proceeding rapidly in carrying on 
then- work, which greatly increased his interest in them, 
and induced him to give them every possible attention, by 
which means he carried them safely through the winter, and 
obtained from them two good swarms the following summer, 
besides a few pounds of fine honey-comb, and for the last 
three or four years he has had a large and productive 
apiary. . . ,, , , 
The Present Season. —Although in this neighbourhood 
(Bury St. Edmunds) we have had little or no honey in 
boxes or glasses from the tops of the hives, I am happy to 
find that the stocks are remarkably good, with scarcely any 
exceptions, which will give us encouragement in looking 
forward to another season. Some accounts which I have 
lately had from the neighbourhood of London are much 
better than I expected; I hear of a person at Croydon 
haring taken off a box of honey containing 30 pounds, and 
the box is again nearly filled by the same stock ; this has 
afforded him the most honey, but his other stocks have done 
remarkablv well. And I hear, also, of a person at Chiswick 
haring had a similar good year; I wish it had been the 
same here. . , . 
Mead. —I am requested to give a receipt for mead, and 
the following is the best that I have seen, and is certainly 
most excellentPour five gallons of boiling water upon 
20 pounds of honey, boil, and remove the scum as it rises ; 
when it ceases to rise, add one ounce of hops, and boil foi 10 
minutes afterwards ; put the liquor into a tub to cool; when 
reduced to 75° of Fahrenheit, add a slice of bread toasted 
and smeared over with a little new yeast; let it stand in a 
warm room, and be stirred occasionally; and when it carries 
a head, tun it, filling up the cask from time to time. When 
the fermentation has nearly finished bung it down, leaving 
a peg-hole, which may soon be closed; bottle in about a 
year. . 
Honey Vinegar. —A most excellent vinegar may also be 
made from honey: Put half a pound of honey to a quart of 
water, boiling hot; mix well, and expose to.the greatest heat 
of the sun without closing the vessel containing it, but suffi¬ 
ciently so to keep out insects. In about six weeks this 
liquor becomes acid, and changes to strong vinegar, and of 
excellent quality. The broken combs, after being drained, 
may be put in as much water as will float them, and well 
washed; the linens also and sieves which have been used 
for draining honey, may be rinsed in the same water, and 
with this make the vinegar; first boil and scum it before 
mixing it with the honey. 
the wine merchants, how much better is it to have a little 
store of home-made wines from which to take a few bottles 
and welcome your guests. Though dissipation and pleasures 
which interfere with our duties are decidedly wrong, yet 
hospitality exercised towards our friends is a virtue which 
should not be neglected. Let us at the same time be careful 
who our friends are, for if not careful in their selection, we 
shall be led aw’ay from the narrow path of duty, and find 
ourselves serving that master of whom our blessed Lord him¬ 
self lias declared—“Ye cannot serve God and Mammon.” 
“Lose not the world, neither the things which are in the 
world,” is a text which, if kept constantly before our eyes, 
would assist us materially in all our undertakings ; and we 
should be enabled to resist all those pleasures into which 
we cannot enter without danger to our eternal happi¬ 
ness. . ... 
Cleanliness is as essential in the act of home winemaking 
as it is in every other branch of cookery. My receipts I 
intend for those wdio wish to make wine on a small scale, 
and therefore I will not insist on the necessity of having 
“ vats," “ treaders,” Ac., but merely say that a cask and a 
tub are requisite, also a coarse serve to strain the juice 
through. 
The Fruit from which wine is to be made must be picked 
in dry weather, and every unsound berry picked out as well 
as the stalks. The room in which the wine is made should 
be comfortably warm, in order that the fermentation may 
assisted. Some people are in the habit of adding spirits to 
then- home-made wines; this practice, however, spoils the 
flavour, and of course adds materially to the expense. 
Bed Currant Wine. —Gatlierthe currants when quite ripe, 
on a dry day. Pick the stalks off, and if you wish five gallons 
of wine, take six gallons of fruit, put them into the tub, press 
them until each currant is crushed, strain the juice oil, and 
to the crushed fruit put two quarts of cold spring water. Let 
it stand whilst you measure the juice which you have pre¬ 
viously strained. Add to the juice an equal proportion of 
spring water, and then strain the water from the currants, 
and add that to the mixture of juice and water. To every 
gallon of liquid add two pounds and a half of good sugar, stir 
it till the sugar is melted, and then pour it into a cask, and to 
each gallon add half an ounce of “ crude tartar." Place a 
tile on the bung-hole for a couple of months, at the end of 
which time it may be fastened closely down, but the wine 
should not be bottled for six or eight months after it is 
made 
HOME-MADE WINE. 
This may appear rather an extravagance for humble 
households, yet when the recipts which 1 will give are read, 
the expenses of making them will be found very trifling, 
provided the fruit has not to be bought; and we all know 
how much a bottle of wine is prized ! 
On great occasions, such as christenings, birthdays, or 
weddings, instead of spending money in spirits, or wine from 
Black Currant Wine is sweeter than the red currant, and 
when ready for drinking is very nice warmed up with spices, 
Ac. It is made thus : — To every gallon of water allow a 
gallon of black currants, squeeze them, but be careful not to 
break the pips ; put them, with the water, into a saucepan, 
and boil them ten minutes ; strain the juice, and add to the 
fruit again a small quantity of water, say a quart, so as to 
allow for the waste which takes place in boiling. Put them 
on the fire for a few minutes, and add the second juice to 
that which you have already strained. To each gallon allow 
two pounds and a half of sugar and one ounce of “crude 
tartar,” and whilst the liquid is quite hot (just hot enough to 
bear your finger in it) add to every five, gallons a quarter of 
a pint of fresh yeast. Leave a tile on the bung-liole till the 
fermentation has ceased, and the longer it is kept in the cask 
before bottling the better it will be. 
Elder Wine will be found very wholesome, and as the 
berries belong “ to all and everybody," it is a pity not to use 
them. To each gallon of picked berries add one gallon of 
water; let it stand a day and night, stirring it frequently; 
put it into a saucepan and boil it well for half an horn - , strain 
it through a sieve, put the juice into a clean saucepan, and 
to every gallon add two pounds and a half of moist sugar - , 
boil it for twenty minutes, and then add, tied up in a muslin 
bag, half an ounce of bruised ginger and allspice to each 
gallon of liquid; continue boiling it altogether for ten 
minutes; pour it into a tub, and when cool set it to “ work 
with some yeast spread on a piece of toast. IV hen it has 
left off fermenting put it into a cask, bung it down securely, 
and when it has stood three or four months bottle it, though, 
if more convenient, the wine can be drank from the cask. 
Elder wine is very nice warmed with spice in the same way 
as the black currant wine, and on a cold winter’s night it will 
be very much in request. 
