l"^'.l'.' 



(U.KAXIXCS IN nVA<: ClM/rilRK. 



l.V 



fan miiaiiis thai it il'ifs do tluil very thiiiK: 

 and in any attiMnpt lo I'stablisli a system of 

 pra<1in»r. it will not do to leave out of eonsidei'- 

 ation tlie demands of i-iislomei's. The day may 

 come « Inn aiipeiiianee will he of less eonse- 

 queiK'c than llaxor; and when it does einne. 

 pradJMK must he rhanijed to meet changed 

 conditions. At present the consumer do(>s not 

 asli any thin;; fni'thef tiian as to the appntr- 

 •/jjrt'of the article; and. w luMher we liUe it or 

 not. we must pay some at ten lion to his demands. 



It is possible, however, that, the {traders a1. 

 Alliany did not alloixether ijjnore t h(> nutttcr of 

 flavor, hut i-onsidereii that there was no iioney 

 of iifjlit color delicient in flavor. There is a 

 difTi'rence in the flavor of white honeys: hut. if 

 I am not mistaken, any of it is good enough in 

 flavor to l«^ taU'en by tlie consumer at tiie liigli- 

 esl piice. providing it is all right in looks. 



Slraight eoml)S are demanded in fricmd 

 Green's two best grades, but nothing was said 

 about sti'aight combs at .Mbany. The less cum- 

 bfM'some the wording in <lescriliing a grade tiie 

 better, providing nothing essential is omitted: 

 ami it is a question w hether one .s<'ction could 

 he found in a thousand which would be crooked 

 enoush to throw it out of a grade, if it were all 

 rigiit in other res|)(>cts. Possibly there may i)e 

 something in this that I either do not now think 

 of or do not know about : but just as it appears 

 to me at present, it s<'enis hardly necessary to 

 demand straight combs. (Jreen's A grade de- 

 mands white cai)pings; but that is evidently 

 meant for o\w sid(\ as afterward one side is 

 allowed to be "nearly p<'rfect in color." The 

 Albany .\ grade says nothing about white cap- 

 pings: hut as perfect color is demanded, I sup- 

 pose it amounts to the same. 



There are other points worthy of notice, but I 

 ntust defer mention till next issue. 



Marengo. 111. C. ('. Mili.kh. 



[If we understand Dr. Miller correctly, he 

 rather leans toward the Alljany grading, and 

 will probably do so more yet after reading Mr. 

 Elwood's article.) 



GRADING COMB HONEY. 



CIIICAGO 6KAIHX«i .\ND .MI.SS 

 CKITICT.SM Ci:iTICISF,I). 



In ( Jr.KAXi.vos for Dec. 1.5. 1891. Miss Emma 

 Wilsr)!! writes about some of the woik done at 

 the Chicago convention, and attemi)ts to give 

 from memory the instructions for grading comb 

 honey, as adopted by the convention, and then 

 criticises thr' same. That any one should at- 

 tempt to give such instructions from memory, 

 was and is a gri-at siu-prise to me. and especial- 

 ly when the aitparent [jurpose was for passing 

 criticisms upon them. As might have been 

 expected, the instructions as adopted by the 

 eonvi'Ution are not. in some impoi'tant respects, 

 the instructions as given fiom memory by Miss 

 Wilson: and as they have become ijulilic" prop- 

 erty, and are to he " picked to pieces." it seems 

 to me that (Jr.ioANTXOs ought to find room to 

 give them precisely as adopted, so that all of its 

 readers may see for themselves what they are. 

 I expected (ii-KANixos would have done so 

 before this, or I should have made this request 

 some time ago. 



Miss Wilson .says that the instructions for 

 both the first grade and s(?cond grade require 

 that each section shall be "perfectly filled :'" 

 whereas the words •'well filled " are used in- 

 stead in the rules adopted, which makes quite 

 a difference. She says each section in the .sec- 

 ond grade may have" as many as three cells of 

 pollen, whereas the word "pollen" or "bee- 



bread '" does not appear In any of thi- instruc- 

 tions adopted. This was oiK^ of the essentials 

 that should havi' been attended to. as wcdl as 

 both combs and wood l)eing .s7/f//it?j/ soihid by 

 Ira\'el-siain. propolis, or oiherwise. Personally 

 I should not ol),ject, to these modi Meat ions l)eing 

 incorporated in the rules for the second grade; 

 still. I dini't l)eliev(! it is for the best, that any 

 bee-keeper be encouraged to produci^ comb 

 honey with moic or less pollen in it, nor to have 

 the comb and wood soiled even slightly by 

 Iravel-stain or ol herwise. 



Miss Wilson says there wei'e <juil<' a number 

 at the convention who thought tlnn'e would in 

 future be very little lirsl-grade honey put upon 

 the market under thr- instructions. On the con- 

 trary. I think' there will be enough to supply 

 the demand at a fancy price, and a gri-at deal 

 more than may hv. anticipated. And why? 

 Hecause it will in future pay to producer first- 

 grade comb honey. There are always plenty 

 who are able to supply the demand for any 

 commodity w henever it jiays to do so. 



The fo/(u' of comb honey seems to give some 

 bee-keepei's a deal of trouble. Th(^y seem to 

 think that only white honey should Ik^ first- 

 class, whereas colorshonld iioi. aside from being 

 unifoi'm, l)(; considered at all. And why? ]}e- 

 caus(^ some consumers prefer dark honey to 

 white, without regard to price, when of the 

 same grade. Now, this is not guesswork by any 

 means. Iteing almost constantly in the honey- 

 trade, and dealing diiectly with consumers. I 

 know that what I have stated is true. The col- 

 or of honey may be designated as white, dark, 

 and medium. I se(^ no reason why theie should 

 be more colors designated. This being the case, 

 there will be only three colors to mention, or to 

 be kept in view, for each grade. 



Miss Wilson says; "Suppose you receive an 

 order lor a lot of lirst-class honey, and you send 

 buckwheat honey, do you suppose the party 

 will be satislied?" If this party orders first- 

 grade daik honey, he or she will, in that case, 

 have no just cause for complaint. No one 

 would or should ship buckwheat or any otlier 

 dark honey to a party who orders white honey. 

 Really. 1 see no trouljle in the direction indicat- 

 ed. M. M. Baldkidok. 



St. Charles, 111., Feb. 4. 



[We should have published the Chicago grad- 

 ing befote. but overloolvcd it, and therefore take 

 pleasure in giving it to our readers now, more 

 particularly as some of its features have been 

 criticised by Mr. Elwood. 



FIRST (JKADE. 



All sections to lie well tilled; coimIjs striiig-lit. of 

 even thiclsness, and firmly attached to all four sides; 

 l)oth wood and coml) to Ix; un.soilcd by travel-stain 

 or otlierwlse; all the cells sealed, and tlie hnnoy of 

 uniform color. 



SECOND GRADE. 



All sections well filled, t)ut with coml)s uneven oi- 

 croolced, detached at the bottom, or witli but few 

 cells unsealed; both wood and comb un.soiled by 

 travel-stain, or otherwise, and the lionej'of unil'ortn 

 color. 



THIRD (iRADE. 



Sections with wood or coniljoi-ljoth. travel-stained 

 or otherwise much soiled, and such as are less than 

 three- fourths tilled with honey, whether sealed or 

 unsealed; and crates coiitaininf»- two or more colors. 



Tli(> Society voted to adopt the forefjroinfr rules as 

 a whole, and to request the Secretary to i^resent 

 tliemtothe North American Bee-keepers' Associa- 

 tion, at its next meelinj.'', at Albany, for (;on.sidera- 

 tion, i-evision, and adoption. 



Following the above rules, Mr. Baldridge had a 

 note, whii-li read as ffillows: 



Nntr, —The color of the Iioney to l)e known as 

 lifrht. medium, and dark; the crates to be unsoiled; 

 l^ut if otherwise, the honey in such crates to be 

 classed in the next grade below tlie one indicated in 

 the instructions. 



