18 



THE BEE-KEEPERS' REVIEW. 



We reached Albany the next morning about 

 nine o'clock, went to the hotel and registered 

 for the same room, and then went to the 

 hall where the convention was to be held. 

 While I am on this subject, I may as well 

 say that Ernest and myself were together so 

 much that some one remarked that he 

 " guessed that we must be brother and 

 sister." 



At the hall I met for the tirst time many of 

 those Eastern bee keepers that I have ?io 

 long wished to see — those men who, when 

 you ask them how many colonies they have, 

 will answer away up in the hundreds, and 

 yet say it modestly. 



One of the important topics brought up 

 was the damage that may result to bees from 

 the spraying of fruit trees when in bloom, 

 but I have noticed this elsewhere. Grading 

 honey also came in for a share of attention, 

 but as that has been treated quite fully in the 

 leader for next month's special topic, it will 

 not be necessary to say more here. A stand- 

 ard of excellence for Italian bees was also 

 adopted. The schedule of marking is as 

 follows : Comb-building, 10 : honey gather- 

 ing, 3.5 ; prolificness, lo ; wintering, ir> : gen- 

 tleness, 10 ; color. 5. The bees must have 

 three yellow bands, adhere well to the combs 

 when handled, and not rush around, gather 

 in clusters and fall to the ground. It seems 

 to me that some of the points taken would 

 be rather difficult to decide — that of honey 

 gathering or prolificness for instance. 



The meeting adjourned early in the day of 

 the third day, and I took advantage of this 

 early adjournment to go out about thirty 

 miles to Hoosick Falls, the birth place of my 

 wife. It was here that I got my first glimpse 

 of a mountain. < )ae of my wife's cousins 

 went with me over into Vermont, about two 

 miles, to Bdunington, where there was lately 

 completed a tall stone monument in com- 

 memoration of the battle of Bennington. 

 The sight of the mountains with their frosty 

 summits was a treat to me. I could not 

 look at them enough to satisfy myself. 

 Then when we were coming home in the 

 evening, what a beautiful sight to look back 

 at the peaks rising one above another in the 

 gloom of moonlight, the farther away peaks 

 being scarcely visible in the hazy, misty 

 night. 



Yes, I visited the old house that had been 

 my wife's home in girlhood. A new house 

 had been built where the old one stood, the 

 old one moved away and converted into a 

 carriage house. I went up stairs and found 



the bedrooms still intact. I was shown the 

 room that had been my wife's, and as I 

 stepped into it, it seemed as though I were 

 standing in a holy place. I wished that I 

 might be left there alone one half hour to 

 indulge my imagination in the weaving of 

 strange fancies, but the voice of my com- 

 panion, in some common place remark, 

 brought me back to the world again. 



When I was ready to start for home the 

 next day, all the beekeepers had gone, so I 

 had to go alone, and as I settled myself into 

 a seat in the car at Albany, about three P. 

 M., and thought of the all-night, and all-the- 

 next-day, ride before me, it seemed like 

 a long way home. When the shades of night 

 came down and I could see lights beginning 

 to twinkle in farm houses along the way 

 there arose in my mind the picture of my 

 humble little office with the wide doors open- 

 ing out into the sitting room where the 

 ruddy glow from the coal stove would be 

 just beginning to show, with the wife and 

 children gathering about it, and, as I leaned 

 my head against the side of the car and 

 closed my eyes, I thought if there is any 

 man in this broad land that is truly blest, 

 that is satisfied with and enjoys his lot in 

 life, it is the editor of the Review. 



THE GRADING OF HONEY, 



There is probably no topic in whi^h bee 

 keepers are now more interested than that 

 of grading honey. It is a new subject in 

 that there has never before been any attempt 

 to formulate a set of rules whereby uniform- 

 ity might be secured. Now, two conventions 

 of a national character have each had the 

 hardihood to recommend a set of rules. 

 Each convention has adopted a different set 

 of rules. Erich has its fault", and, at best, 

 so it seems to me, they are simply " motions 

 before the house," — a starting point from 

 which the matter may be discussed : and I 

 am sure the Review cannot do better than 

 to make the '' Grading of Honey " a special 

 topic for discussion in the February issue. 



First, let's give the set of rules adopted by 

 the Northwestern Convention when it last 

 met at Chicago. They read as follows : — 



FiKST (Ira OK. Al 

 coiiilif- s' vaii;li . of e' 

 taclic.l t(. all r..h,^ii 

 bo vlliMiili-il liy I v.w r\ 



cells 



SIT; ioiiw to h(> well filled : 

 •II •hickiipss, ami tirmly at- 

 ■s: hdtli Wddd and comb to 

 >-aiii or otherwise; all tlir 

 .f iinifon.i coloi. 



but 



Second Grade.- All sections woll till 

 with cr-mbs niiovcn and cronki'ii. ilctachcd at tin 

 bottom, or with tint few cflls unsealed; hotl 

 wood and comb nnsoilpd by travel-stain or othei 

 wise, and the honey of uniform color. 



