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(;i.HANiN(;s IN nvA-: t ri/ruKK. 



ir)5 



firadf. ami the (hirkrsi nl iln' litjlii litnirys iiiio 

 the si'niiul. (Irt'at cuvr sliould he taki'ii tlial 

 mixed iioiii-ys. i)f honeys of too <iarl< a siiaiii'. lie 

 not put into tlie " t" " praiie. It is impossilile to 

 •'Xpress on paper tlii' siiglit variation in shade 

 of lioney that will often thfow it ffoni one 

 sri'ade to anotlief. (Jfadinir honey is one of 

 the most ditlii-nit tasks the liee-keeper lia> to 

 do: and no one with niui-li exjierieiu-e is lookiiifi 

 forshoit. explicit inlesthat will coverall cases. 

 It is somethinfj that can not he done hy lamp- 

 liffht. and veiy seldom, indeed, hy pfoxy. 



The committet- ihousht liest to use the letter 

 ■■ A ■■ on tifsi sfad«'. " A " has l)een nsed l'oi- 

 many years (fifteen) for the liist ^rade: and as 

 it is "the (ii-st letter of tlie alphabet, nothiiifj cag 

 fro ahead of it. Should some amhilions inclivid- 

 nal use it donhle. it would express less rather 

 than more. For the second srade. "C.'" the old 

 mark for clover or white honey, was chosen rath- 

 er than '■ H." which has always been the mark 

 for bnckwheat honey. To have chantred these 

 letters would have caused confusion: and. be- 

 sides, the lettering would have been in nowise 

 descriptive. Then, again, if the letters had 

 been taken in regular al|)habetical order (A. H. 

 CD), it would imply that the quality followed 

 in the same order, making it little l(>ss objec- 

 tionable than the numerals 1. 2. 3. 4. It would 

 also place buckwheat honey tliird in (|uality. 

 whereas it stan<is lirst in iiuality with many 

 consuiuers. and in some markets it is also first 

 in demand. I5y the system of independent 

 lettering, each grade stands on its own merit 

 for quality. Any attemjit to grade or pack 

 biickwlieat honey with other dark honeys, as 

 suggested by Mr. Fra/.ier, in the last issue of 

 (Ji-KAXiXGs. will provi' a complete failure. 

 Those who buy buckwheat honey buy it be- 

 cause they like its flavor. They want nothing 

 else, and it should be nuifked so that it may be 

 known. Mr. Frazier makes nine (jualities. 

 which is double the number necessary, and 

 twice as many as dealei-s will accept. His 

 classification, however, is a wonderful improve- 

 ment over the Chicago grading, which is worth- 

 less. It is worse than worthli'ss. for it supplants 

 better methods and jiractices. It was not se- 

 verely criticised at Albany, for it was felt to be 

 a piece of bungling work that, the less said 

 about, the better. The recent attempt to revive 

 many of its objectionable features calls for a 

 few remarks. 



It will tu)t do to throw out a section from the 

 •• fancy " grade because it is not firmly attached 

 to the bottom. Some of the finest honey ever 

 marketed is of that kind, and all the trouble 

 it causes is in j)ackinir. wlx-n it .shoulfl lie 

 turned upside down. Then, again, nearly all 

 sections show travel or- projjolis stains, even 

 after careful scrafjing. and it will not do to 

 throw these out for the very slight stains re- 

 maining. Not only are such thrown out of the 

 first grade, but out of the secoiul as well. It 

 will not do at all to grade honey by the color of 

 the box. and say nothing about the coloi- of the 

 honey. I'.y the modern system of mai'keting. in 

 which orders are given to canvassing grocers. 

 and goofis delivered, honey-boxes are not usu- 

 ally seen l)y the consumer, and the honey itself 

 not seen until ufion the table. This fact was 

 taken into consideration when the Albany 

 <'ommittee derided that a box of honey, very 

 slightly imperfect on one side, might be graded 

 as '•fancy." The best side always goes uj) on 

 the table, when in appearance and otlier (piali- 

 ties it is strictly " fancy." In the first l'hic;igo 

 grade all cells are to be sealed, including the 

 line of cells touching the wood. Now. a sec- 

 tion is just as fancy — just as good in every way 

 — if these cells are not sealed. The honey also 

 carries fully as well, for any straining of the 



box will crack the sealing of thi> line of cells, 

 and cause il to leak badly. When these cells 

 are unsealed the bees usually remove the honey 

 liefore t.lie sect ion is remo\'ed from the hive. In 

 I heir third grade go such sections as are l«!ss 

 than three-fourths filled with lioney. and these 

 nuiy be partly or w holly inisealed at that. Such 

 sections ougiil to be lei'l at lutme. as the gener- 

 al marketing of these can not fail to injuria the 

 market. When they are sliip|)e(l. let the pro- 

 ducer place on them his private mark, and nev- 

 er fonirt to add his full luime and residence. 

 The same may lie said of si'ctions containing 

 cliiniks of tiee-bread. The man who buys one 

 of these last will not want any more lioiu^y for 

 some time. 



Three grades of each kind of honev is more 

 tjuin the market will bear. NVhiti- clover, al- 

 sike. alfalfa. Iiasswood. poplar, sourwood, lo- 

 cust, blue tlii>tle. white sage, blue sage, su- 

 mac, buckwheat, goldenrod, and a do/.en other 

 kinds multiplied by three, would strike terror 

 to the heart of the dealer. Had Mr. Haldridge's 

 complete draft been adopted it would have re- 

 duced the qualities to ten or twelve, and. in 

 justice to Mr. 1!.. ought td ha\c been done, so as 

 to have nuide sense of the remaiiider. 



Some of our committee rather favored anoth- 

 er grade of white honey; but th(> honey-mer- 

 chants present vigorously protested against 

 having so many grades, as it would only bring 

 confusion. It was thought by the majority 

 that light honey would bring more in two 

 grades. If in three grades the first (a small 

 (luantitv) would bring more: but.tbe second (a 

 much larger {piantity) would bring less, as it 

 woiiUI luit be as nice. p]ven if so small a quan- 

 tity were taken fi'om it as to make no [lercepti- 

 ble dinVrence in quality, the knowledge that 

 this was not the best would weaken jirices. The 

 third (or mixedi grade will take all honey not 

 light enough to go into the second grade, ex- 

 cept buckwheat, which, as before stated, must 

 be packed by itself. 



I notice that our secretary (W. Z. H.) says in 

 the report, that "• these rules were not the sen- 

 timent of the majority of the members of the 

 convention." I had supposed the duties of the 

 secretary weri> clerical, and that any opinions 

 he wished to have appear in the printed report 

 would first have to be pronounced before the 

 convention. It is hariily fair that a state- 

 ment of this kind should appear in our an- 

 nual report, as the facts in the case will 

 not warrant the assertion. A large part of 

 the honey sent to eastern markets, particularly 

 to New York, is graded l)y substantially these 

 same rules, with somewhat different letterings, 

 and they are the result of many years' experi- 

 ence in iiuirkeiing honey. The unifnrtTi satis- 

 faction given hy this system of grading does 

 not make it perfect, but there is no doubt that, 

 after discussion in a full convention, made uf) 

 so largely of east<'rn men. the report would 

 have been adopt<'il with no radical change. 



Starkville. N. Y. 1'. H. Ei.wood. 



7'o }tc ((illtilllicd. 



[!^'rhai)S we shall have to own up that we 

 here at the Home of the Honey-bees took the 

 original drafts of the comtnittee on grading the 

 Italian bee. and sent copies of the same 

 to the editors of the Bcc - keeiierK' Review 

 and Atnericnn Bee Jintrmd. and therefore we 

 shall have to shoulder the inaccuracies of the, 

 report on grading and accept the correction. 



Mr. Elwdocfs article throws much light upon 

 the Albany grading: and as h<' explains it we 

 have bul'little fault to find with it. Unlike 

 some of the other gradiiigs. it is not baM'd upon 

 theory, hut upon fifteen years" experience, of 

 the largest bee-keepers in the world, together 



