2^2 



AMERICAN BEE JOURNAL. 



good trim, but then, severe and uncon- 

 genial weather in February, March and 

 April may yet. prove fatal to the best of 

 them. 



On Jan. 25, a large flock of wild geese 

 passed, flying north, but in all proba- 

 bility these venturous flyers will soon 

 pass over again in a southerly direction, 

 complaining in their customary noisy 

 way, of the cold reception they were 

 treated to at their Summer haunts. 



After the season for Spring dwindling 

 is passed, I will report again. 



Grand Island, Nebr., Jan. 30, 1892. 



Tlie erasing of Honey. 



J. A. GREEN. 



I must say that I am not at all satis- 

 fled with either of the systems of grad- 

 ing comb-honey that have been proposed. 

 That adopted at the Northwestern con- 

 vention was rather too exacting in some 

 of its requirements, and in some respects 

 was incomplete. I think this would be 

 admitted by a good share of those who 

 voted for it. At best, it was a compro- 

 mise adopted with the expectation that 

 it would be further revised before being 

 accepted as a uniform system of grading. 

 But while it placed the standard too 

 high, I think the system adopted at the 

 North American Convention went to the 

 other extreme. 



Any bee-keeper who is up to the times 

 in the production of comb-honey can 

 readily select, after a good yield from 

 white clover, linden, or any other source 

 of white honey, a large proportion of 

 sections that are almost, if not quite 

 perfect in every respect — such honey, in 

 fact, as would be graded No. 1 accord- 

 ing to the Northwestern scale. It pays 

 to have such a grade ; and any one who 

 understands selling honey can readily 

 get a fancy price for it. With this grade 

 added I would not have much fault to 

 find with the Albany system of grading. 



There are excellent reasons for the 

 establishment of a superfine grade of 

 honey, and there are also good reasons 

 for using names or letters instead of 

 numbers, to indicate the grades, though 

 I have always used numbers for all but 

 the best, which I call " extra select," 

 following with numbers 1, 2 and 3. My 

 system of grading might be formulated 

 about as follows, using letters advocated 

 by the Albany committee : 



Extra Select. — Light-clored honey, 

 of good flavor ; combs straight, well 

 built out, of even thickness, and nearly 



uniform weight, attached to the section 

 on all sides ; all cells sealed, with white 

 cappings, and with comb and sections 

 unsoiled by travel-stain or otherwise. 



"A" Grade. — Light-colored honey, of 

 good flavor ; combs straight and well 

 built out, with cappings white, or but 

 slightly amber-colored ; one face of each 

 comb perfect in appearance, fully 

 sealed, except the line of cells touching 

 the wood. The other side shall be per- 

 fect in color and sealing, or nearly so, 

 and sections not badly soiled. 



" C" Grade.— Honey of good quality. 

 In this grade shall be placed all irregu- 

 lar combs, or those containing pollen, 

 and all in which the capping is dark or 

 considerably soiled. Sections must be 

 nearly filled with few or no unsealed 

 cells. 



"M" Grade. — In this grade shall be 

 placed all honey of inferior quality, all 

 combs containing much pollen, or badly 

 travel-stained, or otherwise objection- 

 able. Sections must be at least three- 

 fourths full, with one side well sealed. 



The above is my system of grading — 

 what I use in actual practice. I do not 

 expect that it will satisfy everybody. In 

 fact, I think we shall find it hard to es- 

 tablish any system that will be satis- 

 factory in all parts of our country. 



This is evident when we see that the 

 Eastern men want the saffron-colored 

 comb of the Mississippi bottoms placed 

 in the third grade, while the men who 

 produce it insisted at Chicago that it 

 ought to be graded No. 1. 



The Eastern men, too, want buck- 

 wheat honey graded by itself, though 

 they do not seem to care about other 

 kinds. I believe there is but little buck- 

 wheat honey produced in the West, 

 though there are other kinds that de- 

 serve to be graded by themselves quite 

 as much as buckwheat. As buckwheat 

 honey is well known to the trade, it 

 might be well enough to keep it in a 

 grade by itself, though no doubt much 

 honey is sold as buckwheat that was 

 never near a buckwheat field. 



But if we decide that there may be a 

 first, second and third grade of each 

 kind of honey, as was voted at Chicago, 

 we do away with one of the principal 

 objects of grading, and open the way to 

 almost as many disputes and differences 

 of opinion as were possible under the old 

 system — or lack of it. 



It will be difficult to make some bee- 

 keepers understand why their first-class 

 honey, gathered from autumn wild 

 flowers should bring a lower price than 



