IS'CJ 



CLEANINGS IN HEE CULTURE. 



411 



or any oilier that looUs white. lUit a boo-keep- 

 «'!• has his prefenMices for tiiese difTeroiit kinds, 

 aiul the publie will too. just as soon as it is bet- 

 ter posted. So. if we settle on three or four 

 jri'ades bas(>d on th(> inake-uoof the siH'tion. in- 

 dependent of the sonii'e of t lie contents, we can 

 then start in with white, amber, dark, and 

 buckwheat, if yon choose, and then there will 

 be no dilliculty afterwarii in adtiing particular 

 kinds alontr with buckwheat, just as rapidly as 

 there is any need for it. 



If you say. " Hut W(^ don"i want more tlian 

 four or live grades all told, takiiifi into account 

 tiie kind of honey and every thins." I i"<'ply 

 that, if there (rrt' moie kinds, then you may as 

 well recognize tliem. There's buckwlieat. that 

 stands out byitself: it isn't amber, it isn'tdark: 

 it's buckwheat, and yt)n can't lump it in \vith 

 any thing else. Isn't it possible that Spanish 

 needle ought just as much to stand by itself".' 

 Of course, as long as the jinblic tiiake nodis- 

 erimination atnong the dilTei'ent light honeys it 

 is well enough to put them all into one class 

 and call them white: l)ut our system siiould be 

 such as to allow a change any time, if for any 

 reason the public want any one of the whites 

 singled out from the others. 



Let me repeat what I have been trying to get 

 at: That the three or four grades dep.MKling up- 

 on make-up. independent of the flowers from 

 which the honey was gatjiered. is something 

 that ought not to he so very hard to agree upon, 

 no matter liow much we may differ as to the 

 relative merits of the different honeys them- 

 selves: that part —that is, the appearance — ran 

 be graded. I doubt whether you can grade 

 with any general satisfaction the different kinds 

 of honey. Plenty of people consider buckwheat 

 a higher grade of honey than white clover. If 

 you attempt to call one or the other first grade, 

 you make an invidious comparison. But you 

 may cUi-ssif}) the kinds of honey without strok- 

 ing any one's fur the wrong way. If you class- 

 ify very simply as WjJit and d(trk, that's not 

 saying which is best. So it seems to me we 

 might agree on a few^ (/rndes based on appear- 

 ance, and then more or less rldsses based on 

 contents. 



I know that most of us are pretty busy now, 

 but I do hope that we may have a fuller ex- 

 change of views on this subject before we meet 

 at Wasliington. C. C. Mili^ek. : 



Marengo, 111. 



[We are heartily in sympathy with you in 

 your efforts, doctor, to get a uniform system of 

 grading, but our faith is weak. As bee-keepers 

 will not all use the same kind of hive, so we 

 doubt wh(!ther they would agree upon one sys- 

 tem of grading. However, we do not wish to 

 throw cold water upon the att<>mpt to secure 

 this object, worthy as it is: and we therefore 

 submit again, for easy reference, the system of 

 W. C. Frazier, which Dr. Miller seems to favor 

 more than a'l the rest. 



COLOK. 



Gnuk -'A." 

 AV'liite honey, clover, l);issw()()(l, and tiiiubed Imn- 

 «ys, which are white or hg'lit colored. 

 Ormlf "B." 

 Honey.s wliich are yellow or aiiil)er, such iis alfalfa. 

 Spanish needle, etc. 



Oradf "C." 

 All dark honeys, l)nckwlieat, etc. 



CONDITION. 



" Faiiry." 

 Combs which are well .sealed, stiaifrht, and even; 

 sufficiently attached to ship without breaking-; 

 combs ana sections unsoiled. 



" Choke." 

 Corn lis well filled, firmly attached; not more tlian 



one-fourth of the surface can l)i' travel-stained or 

 unsealed, but inny be Ijulged. 



" Family." 

 .\ll honeys whose condition floes not wariant, 

 placing them in eithei' of the al)ove grades. 



Now, in support of the ;il)ove I Iwive not much 

 arjiuinenl to oll'ei-, :is I think it is simple, not neai-ly 

 as complex ;is , my tliMt have heretofoic been otJer- 

 I'd; also, hy it all honey raised in this country 

 conid be graded, and its e.xact <piality known. For 

 instan<'e. the best honey from t'alifoi'nia would be 

 marked " Fanc> 11." 'I'he reyrioiis that pr'oduce 

 buckwheat honey would mark tln'ir liest coml) hon- 

 ey " l"'ancy (", " while those who are fortunate 

 eiiou^rh to secure white honey in first-class style 

 could mark their product " Fancy A." The Krade 

 marked " Fainil.\ " will find a nnich more ready sale, 

 at a better prict', than the .same honey would tiring' 

 if miirked 3d or -tth {frade. It would not take the 

 lioney-producers loiifr to learn that "A" means 

 white, "B" yellow oi' ambei-, and "C" dark, and 

 thentoKrade a<-cordinfj- to condition; and there is 

 no use in having- four or five ditlerent gi-ades so 

 that it would take an expert to jiaok honey. The 

 three grades of condition are enough—" Fancy ' for 

 the best; •'Choice" for good honey, slightly bulged 

 or travel-stained; "Family" for what's left after 

 the two above grades are taken out. Then the let- 

 ters can be used for grading extracted honey; as it 

 is graded mostly according to color, they would be 

 as applicable to extracted as to comb. 



Now. is it not possible that we can adopt this 

 in the luanner proposed by Dr. Miller, with 

 some very slight changes, or, at least, agree 

 enough upon it so as to be able to submit it to 

 the North American when we assemble at 

 Washington'?] 



IMBEDDING "WIRES IN FOUNDATION BY THE 

 USE OF ELECTRICITY. 



A ClIEAI' BATTERY FOR EVERY ONE. 



We had intended, as announced, to write up 

 more fully, and illustrate, the method of im- 

 bedding wires by electricity; but the following, 

 from the Bec-hcepers' Review, covers the sub- 

 ject so well that we thought we could do no 

 better than to copy it entire: 



To make a batterj', take three one-quart fiaiit^jars 

 (glass), and cut ott' the tops just lielow the taper. 

 The best way to do this is to cut with a glass- 

 cutter's diamond, then tap lightly with a small 

 hammer or the head of an iron bolt, all around in- 

 side the jar. just opposite the cut made by the dia- 

 mond, when the toi> will come off just where the 

 diamond made the cut. Another way is, to file a 

 groove around the jar, or grind one with an emery 

 wheel, then tap with a hammer. This is the way I 

 do it; and although it is not so perfect as the above 

 methods, yet it answers the purpose. Take a red- 

 hot poker and move it slowly around the |)lace to be 

 cut. When 1 have l)een around the jar abtint twice 

 I drop about a taljlesi)oonful of cold water on the 

 place whence I remove the poker, when the top will 

 bi-eak off. but not always so very straight. 



Out of i's hard wood make a round cover. Vi inch 

 laiger all around than a jar, for each jar'. Scribe a 

 cir'cle on each cover, one incli less in diameter than 

 the inside diameter of a jar. Make five or six holes 

 ihrongh this cii'cle, having them equallj' distant 

 from one anotlrer, and of such a size that a carlxm 

 will fit tightly in each liole. (See Fig. 8, C, C, C.) 

 Tlie center hole is for zinc. The more carbons used, 

 tlie higher the tension of the battery. Get carbons 

 long enough to I'each within >4 inch of the bottom of 

 t Ik' jar wlien complete. [In this place, waste pieces 

 of cai'lion long enough for this purpose can l)e ol>- 

 laiiied of the electric-light trimmers, simiily for the 

 asking. — Ed.] File a notch around one end of each 

 carbon, .^ of an inch from the end. (See Fig. 1.) 

 Put the carbons half waj' through the cover, and 

 fasten one end of a No. 20 copper v,'irv around the 

 notched place ill one carbon; then wind it around 

 the next carbon, and so on, until the last one (in 

 that cover) is leaelied; leaving one foot of surplus 

 wire for making connection. Shove the carbons 



