•Journal: 



• DELVoTF_D- ., 



•To -B E. ELS -**$*-/!,.. 



•ANDHoNE.Y•;.^^«C/ 



'ANDHOMEL- ■"' 



li6HrDBY(^l-r\P0r- 

 ?5perYeai^ \^ A^cdinaOhiO 



Vol. XX. 



JANUARY 15, 1892. 



No. 2. 



GRADING HONEY. 



.1. A. (iitr.KX I'HorosKs anotiiki: svsrI;^[. 



1 must siiy iliat I iiin not at all satistied witli 

 oitluT of tli'o systi'iiis of shading i-oinb hon(>y 

 that liavi' lu>i'ii pfoposcd. That adopti'd at the 

 Xorthwestorn coiiviMitioii was ratlior too exact- 

 ing in sonu> of its rcciiiirciiicnts. and in some re- 

 spects was incomplete. I think this would be 

 admitted by a good share of those wlio voted 

 for it. At" best, it was a compromise adopted 

 with the expectation that it would be fnrther 

 revised before being accepted as a uniform sys- 

 tem of grading. But while it placed tlie stand- 

 ard too liigh. 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 

 according to the Northwestern scale. It pays 

 to have such a grade: and any one who under- 

 stands selling honey can readily get a fancy 

 price for it. With this grade added I would not 

 liave much fault to find with th<> Albany sys- 

 tem of grading. 



There are excellent reasons for the establish- 

 ment of a superfine grade of honey, and there 

 are also gootl reasons for using names or letters, 

 instead of numtiers. to indicate the grades, 

 though I have always used numbers for all but 

 the best, which I call •' extra select." following 

 with numbers 1. •.'. and 3. My system of grad- 

 ing might be formulated about as follows, us- 

 ing letters advocated by the Albany committee: 



KXTKA SKI.KCT. 



Light - I'olored lioney. uf ffoofi tiavor; comh.' 

 straight, well built out, of even tliickness. and near- 

 ly uniform weight, attached to tiie section on all 

 side^: ;dl cells sealed, with white <'a|)|iiugs, and 

 with both comb and sections unsoile<l hy liuvel- 

 stain or otherwise. 



"a" gradk. 



Light - colored honey, of good Havor; combs 

 straiglit and well built out, with eaijpings white, or 

 l)ut sliglitly amtjer-i-olori'd; one face of each comi) 

 perfect in appearance, fully scaled, except the line 

 of cells toiii-liing the wood. The other side shall be 

 perfei't in color and sealing, or nearly so, and sec- 

 tion not badly soiled. 



•' (;" GRADK. 



Honey of good ijuality. In tliis grade shall be 

 plaet'd all irregular ••otnbs, or those containing pol- 

 len, and all in which the capping is dark or consid- 

 erably soiled. Sections must be nearly filled, with 

 few or no unsealed cells. 



" M " GRADK. 



In tills gi'ade shall bi' placed all honey of inferior 

 (inality, all combs containing nun-h jjollen. or badly 

 ti;Lvel-stained, oi'othei-wise objcctioTialile. Sections 

 must be ;it least three-fontths fnll. with one -side 

 M-ell sealed. 



The above is ?/ijy 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 establish any system that 

 will be satisfactory in all parts of our country. 

 This is evident when we see that the eastern 

 men want the saffron-colored comb of the Miss- 

 issippi 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 buckwheat honey graded by it- 

 self, though they do not seem to care about 

 other kinds. I believe there is but little buck- 

 wheat honey producc^d in the West, though 

 there are other kinds tliat deserve 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 buck- 

 wheat-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 jjrincipal objects of grading, 

 and open the way to almost as many disputes 

 and differences of opinion as were possible un- 

 der the old system — or lack of it. 



It will be difficult to make some bee-keepers 

 understand why their first-class honey, gather- 

 ed from autumn wild flowers, should bring a 

 lower price than another man's second or third 

 class clover, although the commission man un- 

 derstands it perfectly. Would it not be better 

 to put it in the second or third grade on the 

 start, and so class it? Again, it is undesirable 

 that the selling value of comb honey depend 

 more upon its appearance than any other one 

 quality — provided, of course, it has not an act- 

 ually disagreeable taste. The kinds of honey 

 are legion. Unless a man is familiar with all 

 these varieties, which is something hardly pos- 

 sible, how is he going to be able to make a 

 guess at the value of honey offered him from 

 another locality? Even if he is familiar with 

 the kind of honey offered, there is much chance 

 for misunderstanding, for the average bee- 

 keeper is very much at sea with regard to the 

 sources from which his honey was gathered. 

 Moreover, there are very few localities where 

 any one variety of honey may be secured free 

 from admixture. The varying nature of this 

 admixture so changes the character of the hon- 

 ey, that what passes for white-clover honey in 



