THE BEE-KEEPERS' REVIEW. 



may be educated to almost any course or 

 plan. As a rule, we speak of the best of 

 anything as ''A 1;" and of an inferior 

 quality in such a way as to indicate that we 

 go down in the scale. 



With the Chicago rules so changed as to 

 have a "fancy" grade, and three other 

 grades, and call the colors in each grade 

 "white," "amber" and "dark," it will be 

 just about as well as we can do. 



AuBUKNDALE, Ohio, Feb. h, 1892. 



What a Fancy Grade of Honey and Clean 

 Cases May Do for Honey Producers. 



GEOKGE E. HILTON.* 



TT is diflicult to 

 1 write upon a 

 subject in which 

 one has little or 

 no confidence, and 

 I very much doubt 

 if the grading of 

 comb honey will 

 ever be universal. 

 But, as I was one 

 of the committee 

 at Chicago that 

 "agreed to disa- 

 agree," I should like to say just a few words. 

 My principal objections there were in the 

 wording of the first grade. The rules adopt- 

 ed at Albany I like better, in fact if the last 

 paragraph were left off I am not sure but 

 that would be about my idea of a No. 1 

 grade of honey. I was not in the hall at the 



''George E. Hilton is 4ti years of age. He was 

 born in the town of Leighton, County of Bedford, 

 England, and came tt) America with his parents 

 in the fall of 1851. Has resided at Fremont, 

 Mich., since 187ii. Commenced bee keeping four- 

 teen years ago. Has owned and managed at one 

 time 250 colonies. Has made a record of seventy- 

 five lbs. of comb honey per colony, spring count, 

 for eight consecutive years. His supply business 

 now occupying much of his time he has reduced 

 his becS to 100 colonies. He has served two years 

 as Pres. of the Mich. State Bee Keepers' Associa- 

 tion, and is now serving Ids third year as Sec. of 

 the same. He organized the Fremont Progressive 

 Bee Keepers' Ass'n, and was its Presidpnt until 

 he organized the Newaygo Co. FaninTs' and Bee 

 Keepers' Ass'n, which absorbed tlie fcnnipr. He 

 is now serving his seventh conseeuiive year as 

 Sec. and Treas. of the latter. He has been ap- 

 pointed by the Board of World's Fair Managers 

 for Michigan a member of the special committee 

 on Apiarian Products. He has invented a cliaff 

 hive and T super tliat bears his name, which is 

 all the royalty he asks. At liome he has served 

 two years as Village C'ouncilman ; is Treasurer of 

 the Republican League ; is a member and Trustee 

 of the First Congregational Church; has been 

 Superintendent of the Sunday-school for up- 

 wards of four years, and is now President of tlie 

 County Sunday-school Association. 



time the rules at Chicago were adopted, but, 

 first grade is as follows : "All sections to be 

 well filled ; combs straight, of even thick- 

 ness, and firmly attached to all four sides ; 

 both wood and comb to be unsoiled by travel 

 stain or otherwise ; all the cells sealed, and 

 the honey of uniform color." Now if I lived 

 in a locality where my "first grade" came 

 from Spanish needle, asters, golden rod or 

 buckwheat, (all good honies in their place), 

 the above rules would please me first rate ; 

 and I want to ask the friends who attended 

 the Chicago convention, also those at the 

 Michigan State Convention, that if a ton of 

 the above honies were placed on any of our 

 Western markets, and a ton of such honey 

 as I had at these conventions were placed 

 beside it, which would sell first ? ( )r, should 

 I ask two cents per pound more for my first 

 grade than was asked for the first grade 

 amber, which would be sold first ? Comb 

 honey is, and always will be, a luxury, and 

 the markets of the world demand a fancy 

 article. Could we establish a grade, and get 

 a reputation on that grade, those of us who 

 are fortunate enough to be in a locality 

 where we can produce a fancy grade, can 

 obtain from eighteen to twenty cents per 

 pound for our product when the amber 

 honies will go begging at twelve and four- 

 teen cents, the " cost of production " being 

 no more in one case than the other. Now I 

 think the convention at Chicago made a 

 mistake, and did friend Baldridge an injus- 

 tice, by not adopting the following note : 

 "The color of the honey to be known as 

 light, medium, and dark ; the crates to be 

 unsoiled, but if otherwise, the honey in such 

 crates to be classed in the next grade below 

 the one indicated in the instructions." Now 

 then, suppose I have company, and we are 

 walking through my market place and I de- 

 sire a case of honey for tea. I find a con- 

 signment of fancy honey, but the shipper 

 has been careless, or indifferent ; he had 

 some cases left over from last year that he 

 has picked up around his local market, he 

 wants to economize, so he uses these first ; 

 not having enough, the balance is placed in 

 nice clean cases and has arrived in good 

 order ; all being the same price there is no 

 question as to which I will take. But sup- 

 posing the honey in a nice clean case cost 

 one cent more per pound, do I want to muss 

 my clothes by carrying the dirty case for 

 twelve cents ? No, and this pays for a new 

 case, and the producer's reputation is estab- 



