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THE BEE-KEEPERS' REVIEW. 



"fancy amber," and "fancy dark;" and 

 " No. 1 white," " No. 1 amber," and " No. 1 

 dark," and "No. 2 white," " No. 2 amber," 

 and "No. 2 dark." I think "No. 1" and 

 "No. 2 "will be better terms (more eupho- 

 nious) to use in connection with the terms 

 "white," "amber " and "dark." 



Let no one get the idea that I have a desire 

 to " run this thing," to say how it f^hall be ; 

 I am simply expressing my views very freely, 

 just as I hope my correspondents will do. 



Now I will give the rules for grading as 

 adopted at Albany : 



Honey shall be «r;ideil in two grades, the first 

 to be known in tlie trade ae " fancy," ov " fancj' 

 white," and to be marked "A." It shall be 

 composed of well-filled sections of liKlit -colored 

 houies. One faceof eachsection sliall lif perfpct 

 in appearance, fully sealed, exc(i>t \u- lin.' "f 

 cells touching the wood. The other side of tlir 

 section shall either be perfect in eoloi- and Heal- 

 ing, or nearly so. 



The second grade shall be known in the trade 

 as fair to good, white, and be marked " C," and 

 shall be packed to meet the requirements of 

 those desiring a good honey, but who care little 

 for outside appearance. It shall be composed 

 of honey thrown out of the first grade, irregular 

 and travel-stained combs, sections, not perfectly 

 filled bu< ye* lia\ ini; but little unsealed honey. 



White hiiiiej .third grade, mixed with inferior 

 honey, inchulini; buckwheat and fall flowers, 

 shall be grade.l l.y itsrlf, and marke.l " M " We 

 desire that combs so liadly stained as to have the 

 appearance of satlrou lie thrown into this grade. 



Buckwheat honov shall be packed by itself 

 and shall be marked " B." 



Those bee keepers sending to market boxes 

 known as " pieces " shall put upon them a pri- 

 vate mark of their own. This should also apply 

 to honey-dew and any other kind not falling in 

 regular grailes. 



To my mind the above is too prolix, too 

 profuse, too long drawn out, too wordy, 

 contains too much advice, suggestions about 

 packing, marking, etc., etc. Rules for grad- 

 ing ought to be very concise, yet very care- 

 fully worded. 



I notice also a disposition on the part of 

 fome to oppose the adoption of any grade 

 requiring perfection. It will be noticed 

 that in the Albany first grade, imperfect sec- 

 tions are allowed in the first grade. In fact 

 there was no attempt at giving a rule that 

 called for perfection. I suspect the reason 

 was that it was well known that the great 

 bulk of honey could not go in such a grade, 

 and the calling of .it " second grade " would 

 work against its sale. But, as I have already 

 explained, the making of a grade above first 

 grade— a grade that shall be " fancy " or 

 "premium" or superfine, or something of 

 that kind, will remove this objection. But 

 I think I have said enough for the present, 

 and shall take pleasure in presenting to 

 my readers, in the next Review, the views of 

 others. 



EXTRTXOXeO. 



Grading Honey.— The Chicago Rules 

 Criticised. 

 The topic in which bee keepers seem the 

 most interested at present is that of the 

 "Grading of Honey." Mr, Byron Walker 

 was not satisfied with the rules as adopted 

 by the Northwestern Convention, and has 

 offered to pay twenty-five cei ts a pound for 

 honey that is first grade according to those 

 rules. M. M. Baldridge thought it would be 

 better if Mr. Walker would state his objec- 

 tion to the rules. Mr. Walker has done so 

 through the columns of the .4. B. J., and I 

 take pleasure in copying what he has to say 

 in criticism of the aforesaid rules : 



" I am free to confess that I do not regard 

 these " rules " as above criticism ; still, con- 

 sidering the fact that they were gotten up 

 and advocated in the convention by parties 

 who do not make a business of producing 

 comb honey, but whose chief concern would 

 seem to be the profit that comes from the 

 sale of these goods, they are not such a bad 

 set of "rules" after all, and if the North 

 American Bee Keepers' Association tones 

 down the retiuirements of the first grade a 

 few notches, then there will be some encour- 

 agement for ( omb honey specialists, who 

 are favored with good locations, to attempt 

 the production of some of that grade, during 

 a good honey flow ; otherwise they will do 

 well to await the invention of appliances, or 

 the breeding of a new race of bees adapted 

 to overcome certain insuperable obstacles to 

 their success, such as slightly soiled sections 

 and comb surfaces. 



It may be that some one will get up a 

 machine for planing off the one or polishing 

 up the other without damaging the goods. 



It might not have done any harm, how- 

 ever, if some rule had been adopted that 

 would at least hint at the grading of that 

 large part of the crop that is marked by one 

 or both of the defects mentioned, or that 

 still larger part, which may be spoken of as 

 considerably soiled in sections or comb sur- 

 faces, or both, and yet not very much so in 

 either respect. 



Perhaps it is unfortunate that the fourth 

 grade, as suggested by Mr. Baldridge, was 

 not adopted, as that would at least have 

 made a place for them, while as the rule 

 now stands, the first group referred to have 

 not even been given a place beside crooked 

 combs, which, not infrequently, cannot even 

 be lifted from a case without gouging the 

 combs. 



Now let us see how this system of grading 

 works. Suppose I have a quantity of choice 

 white honey to grade. Here are a lot of sec- 

 tions taken from a T-super. The combs are 

 as white as could be asked for, but although 

 the sections have been carefully scraped with 

 a sharp knife, I find that it is impossible to 

 rid them of slight stains without cracking 



