364 



queen may be yellow all over, and produce 

 1 erfeetly black bees. Conversely, a queen 

 that is almost black may produce bees that 

 are very yellow. We have seen this time and 

 time again. The color of the queen is no 

 cviterion of what the color of the bees will 

 be, although as a rule an extra-yellow queen, 

 if she mates with an extra-yellow drone, will 

 produce her kind. But an extra-yellow 

 cj[ueen, if she mates with a dark drone, will 

 ]) reduce all colors of bees ranging from 

 dark to very light yellow; or she may pro- 

 duce miserable-looking hybrids because the 

 bees take after their father. As is well 

 known, all oi¥spring, whether insects or an- 

 imals, will resemble the father or look like 

 the mother, and sometimes both. 



Again, we find that there is some confu- 

 sion as to what the term "golden" meaiis. 

 One breeder takes tiie view that it implies 

 "yellow-to-the-tip." Others seem to give it a 

 more flexible scope, meaning four and five- 

 banded bees, or bees that are much more 

 j^ellow than ordinary three-banded stock. 

 When we refer to a "golden sunset" we may 

 mean a beautiful ball of fire fringed with 

 red and white with a predominance of gold- 

 eri yellow. In the same way we would say 

 that "golden Italians" are nothing more 

 than extra-yellow Italians — bright pretty 

 bees with three, four, and five bands all in 

 the same hive. In other words, a colony of 

 goldens should show much more yellow than 

 tlie ordinary stock. 



THE J^VAV COLORADO COMB-HONEY GRADING 

 RULES. 



Along last December the Colorado Bee- 

 keepers' Association, one of the most in- 

 fluential organizations in the United States, 

 adopted a new set of grading rules that in 

 many respects are a decided advance over 

 any thing that has been proposed liereto- 

 fore. Not only the rules but the general 

 suggestions on grading are worthy of care- 

 ful reading by our Eastern beekeepers as 

 well as those of the West. Here are th.e 

 rules, together with the suggestions for 

 grading : 



NBW HONEYOBADIXG RULKS ADOPTED BY THE COL- 

 ORADO STATE BEEKEEPERS' ASSOCIATION, 

 DECEMBER 13, 1911. 



Fancy White. — Sections to be well filled, comb 

 firmly attached on all sides and evenly capped, ex- 

 cept the outside row next to the wood. Honey, 

 combs, and cappings white, and not projecting be- 

 yond wood ; wood to be well cleaned ; no section in 

 this grade to weigh less than 13% ounces. 



No. 1. — Sections to be well tilled, combs firmly at- 

 tached on all sides and evenly capped, except the 

 outside row next to the wood; lioney white or very 

 light amber ; comb and cappings from white to 

 slightly off color; comb not projecting beyond the 

 wood; wood to be well cleaned; no section in this 

 grade to weigh less than 13% ounces. 



Choice. — Sections to be well filled, combs firmly 

 attached, not projecting beyond the wood, and en- 

 tirely capped, except the outside row next to the 

 wood; honey, comb, and cappings from white to am- 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE 



ber, but not dark. Wood to be well cleaned; no 

 section in this grade to weigh less than twelve 

 ounces. 



No. 2. — This grade is composed of sections that 

 nre entirely capped, except row next to the wood, 

 weigliing from ten to twelve ounces ; also of such 

 sections that weigh 12 ounces or more and have not 

 more than 50 uncapped cells all together, which 

 must be filled ; combs and cappings from white to 

 amber in color but not dark; wood to be well clean- 

 ed. 



Extracted Honev. — Must be thoroughly ripened, 

 weigh 12 pounds per gallon. It must be well strain- 

 ed, and packed in new cans. It is classed as white, 

 light amber, and amber. 



Strained Honey.— This is honey obtained from 

 combs by all other means except the centrifugal ex- 

 tractors, and is classed as white, light amber, amber, 

 and dark ; it must be thoroughly ripened, and well 

 strained. It may be put up in cans that previously 

 have contained honey. 



Grading Instructions. — The aim of establishing 

 grading rules is to secure uniformity in the methods 

 of packing and grading, and thereby make it possi- 

 ble to put on the market a product of such excel- 

 lence that careful buyers will pay top prices for it. 



A few brief directions are deemed necessary to 

 the parties doing the actual work of preparing, grad- 

 ing, and packing. 



In removing filled supers the smoker must be kept 

 well filled so no ashes will spot the cappings. Robber 

 bees must be kept from them ; and when piling su- 

 pers up in the honey-house, one or several sheets of 

 newspaper should be used between supers, to catch 

 any possible drip and keep out dust and ants. 



The shipping case adopted as the standard by the 

 Colorado State Beekeepers' Association is the double- 

 tier case with glass front, holding twenty-four sec- 

 tions, 4^/4x4^4x1% inches each. Use slim cement 

 coated flat-head nails one inch long for nailing cases, 

 put the best-looking side of grooved front strips to 

 the outside, and select the best and smoothest finish- 

 ed boards for covers. If bottoms or cover boards 

 should project, they must be planed off. This is nec- 

 essary for proper loading. A sheet of plain paper 

 goes into the bottom of the case, forming a tray ; on 

 top of this belongs a sheet of corrugated cirdboard, 

 corrugations up. On top of the lower tier of sections 

 goes another paper tray and cardboard. Generally 

 a sheet of corrugated cardboard is also furnished to 

 lay on the top tier of sections. If this is not the 

 case, and plain paper is used, it must not be per- 

 mitted to stick out of the case. 



The mark of the grade of honey must be put into 

 both handholes of each case, as follows: 



Fancy white must be marked XX in handholes. 



Numi'er one must be marked X in handholes. 



Choice must be marked in handholes. 



Number two must be marked II in handholes. 



Sections must be well scraped. This means that 

 ail propolis (bee-glue) and beeswax must be removed 

 from the edges and outside of all sections of honey. 

 Some use a short and very sharp butcher-knife with 

 broken point; others jirefer a smaller knife with 

 a square edge, kept square by the frequent use of a 

 file. Sections that are badly mildewed must be put 

 into the cull hone}'. 



The cleaning and grading of honey must be done 

 in a well-lighted place, but not in the direct rays 

 of Ihe sunlight. A well-ventilated and screened room 

 with one or several large north windows is the ideal. 

 No grading should be done by artificial light, be- 

 cause neither artificial light nor strong sunlight will 

 enable a person to grade comb honey properly, ow- 

 ing to its transparency. A large bench or table is 

 needed to give plenty of room for the work and the 

 placing of shipping cases to pack the various grades 

 in. Except for the fancy white it is necessary to 

 have several cases for each grade on the bench so 

 that honey of the same shade and finish will be 

 cased together. Even in the No. 2 grade the pack- 

 ing of various shades of color in one case is bad 

 work. 



To avoid errors in casing, each grade should al- 

 ways have the same space on the bench, and cases 

 should be marked with grade before covers are nail- 

 ed on. 



If possible one person only, with a good eye for 

 color, should be entrusted with the work of grading 

 the crop. The other work may be done by any num- 

 ber of persons. This plan secures uniformity of 

 grading, and places the responsibility for this most 

 important work on one person. The grader should 

 be provided with a copy of the grading rules and 



