46 COMB HONEY. 
convenient bench should be provided for this work, with a large 
shallow box or tray to catch the propolis as it is scraped from the 
sections. This work is usually done by hand, though a few producers 
have designed and are using machines for this purpose. 
Grading Comb Honey. 
The importance of properly grading and packing comb honey does 
not seem to be well understood by the average beekeeper. Some 
extensive buyers of comb honey find it profitable to regrade and 
repack practically all the comb honey they receive before sending it 
out to their trade. The producer of this honey of course bears this 
extra expense by receiving a lower price for his honey. The lack of 
uniformity of grading is to some extent a result of differences of 
opinion as to what should be the standard for the various grades. 
Grading rules have been of material aid toward greater uniformity, 
but various producers may use the same set of grading rules with very 
different results. It would be well if a single set of rules were in 
use, since honey from various localities may be sent to the same 
market. The grading rules in most common use are given in Farm- 
ers’ Bulletin 447, page 39. 
After scraping the propolis from the wood, each section of honey 
may be placed in a pile with others of its grade. Some put the sec- 
tions directly into the shipping cases as fast as they are scraped, but 
better grading can be done if each grade is put in a separate pile and 
the final grading all done by one person. By thus having a large 
number of sections in each grade from which to select there is greater 
opportunity for making the sections of honey in each case more 
nearly uniform as to weight and the various shades of finish. Such 
uniformity is especially desirable from the standpoint of the retailer. 
Sections containing only a few cells of pollen should be placed in a lower 
grade or sold as culls, while those containing a considerable amount 
of pollen should not be marketed in the form of comb honey. An 
excessive amount of pollen in the sections is usually caused by the 
use of very shallow brood combs, extreme contraction of the brood 
chamber, or hiving swarms on narrow strips of foundation in the 
brood frames with partly drawn comb in the sections (p. 32). 
Packages for Comb Honey. 
Comb honey is usually packed in cases holding 24 sections (fig. 
20). Other sizes are sometimes used to meet special market require- 
ments. The markets have become accustomed to cases with glass 
fronts, by means of which the contents are displayed to advantage. 
However, in keeping with present practice in other package goods, 
503 
