IS'.lT 



GLEANINliS IN HEE CULTURE. 



481 



bought and sold honey graded accurately by 

 those rules, and thoir exporieiicc? 



Exporience-mectings are often of value. The 

 last year we had an unusually fine crop of 

 honey in this section, and I said to myself, "I 

 will try to grade my honey just right if I can. 

 1 even cut out the rules, as adopted by our In- 

 ternational Association, from one of our jour- 

 nals, and tacked it up on a door close by where 

 I was at work, that they might be handy to 

 refer to often, as I was in doubt. Let us see 

 how it worked. 



I pick up a section. It is unsoiled, either 

 wood or comb; is of even thickness, and comb 

 to wood attached all right; but, alas! it is not 

 " Fancy," for a dozen cells on one side, inside 

 of the outside row, at the bottom, are unsealed I 

 It does not matter that the outside rows on both 

 sides of the comb are nearly all sealed; those 

 unsealed on the next row from the bottom con- 

 demn it. 



I next handle a section that seems all right; 

 but, hold: the separator was a little warped, 

 and the comb is not exactly of even thickness. 

 Not one person in twenty would notice it; but 

 a bee-keeper will, and it must be thrown out. 



Again, I find a section that fills the bill; but, 

 again. I am disappointed; for on one side, near 

 the bottom, a little brownish tint shows travel- 

 stain. This section will not even answer for 

 No. 1, for is not No. 1 to be without travel- 

 stain? And yet I would as soon place this 

 comb on my table as any other, even if Presi- 

 dent McKinley were my guest. 



I pick up another section; and, while the 

 comb is faultless, the section is a little stained 

 with propolis. The propolis has been removed, 

 but it does not look " unsoiled." This must not 

 be labeled No. 1. Let us be accurate. 



The next comb proves a great success. It is 

 " Fancy " in every respect. We are more hope- 

 ful. We shall yet have a few cases of real 

 orthodox "Fancy;" but the very next comb, 

 although otherwise all right, has two little 

 cells with their eyes open, inside of the row next 

 to the wood. Half the cells next the wood are 

 sealed; but nothing is said about that in the 

 rules, and we are going to grade our honey by 

 rule. So this section is not fancy— only No. 1. 



Again we try it, and are rewarded in finding 

 one or two fancy combs with another equally 

 good: but a small knot-hole in the separator 

 caused a little bulge on one side of the comb, 

 while another is "just a little" soiled on one 

 side by the very industrious Italians bringing 

 up cappings from the brood-chamber and mix- 

 ing with the new wax, and thus soiling it 

 enough to be perceptible, and we can not even 

 grade it No. 1; but as there seems to be no 

 grade below that, what shall we do with it? I 

 believe some of our largest dealers say they 

 have no use for only two grades. And so I 

 might go on giving my experience in trying to 



grade by rule; but after trying it a while I 

 gave up in disgust. It seemed as if the bees 

 had never been informed that these grading- 

 rules had been adopted in Washington some 

 years ago by a lot of very wise bee-masters, and 

 so they have kept right on finishing off their 

 surplus without any regard to them in more 

 than twenty different ways, putting pollen into 

 some of the whitest combs, leaving a cell un- 

 capped here and there, or forgetting to attach 

 the combs at their edges firmly enough to sat- 

 isfy the rules, although strong enough to bear 

 transportation to the ends of the earth. Worse 

 than this, they have desecrated and tramped 

 over their own work until it is unfit for any 

 grade according to the rules. 



I said I gave up trying to grade by rules 

 adopted by our N. A. B. A., and so I did— not 

 because it was impossible, perhaps, but wholly 

 Impracticable and unwise. Had I succeeded in 

 getting one-fourth or one-half of my honey to 

 correspond with "Fancy" of the rules laid 

 down, I have no reason to believe I should have 

 received a penny more for it than for it as 

 graded, while I should have been quite sure to 

 receive less for the remainder. 



1 asked one of the largest dealers in New 

 England to make any suggestions or criticism 

 upon my honey, or find all the fault with it he 

 could. He wrote me it was entirely satisfac- 

 tory, except that it was rather heavy weight. 

 The season being good, the boxes were heavier 

 than usual. I took 24 cases out of a pile of sev- 

 eral tons, and shipped to Liverpool, and soon 

 had an order from there for 240 cases just like 

 those I sent, which sold in the open market 

 there at the same price as very best grades of 

 English honey, notwithstanding the English 

 prejudice against foreign goods. 



In looking it over I do not see how I could 

 have graded my 1896 crop of honey to any bet- 

 ter advantage than I did. And, again, I feel 

 that had I tried literally to follow the rules 

 laid down I should have missed it. It is un- 

 doubtedly desirable to have some general rules 

 in grading for commercial purposes, or to facil- 

 itate the trade of honey in large lots. I do not 

 see how half a dozen lines can describe the 

 process of grading so as to do justice to both 

 producer and purchaser. Much must depend 

 on the good judgment of the one who grades, 

 as well as in following the rules. 



Brevity is said to be the soul of wit; but I 

 doubt if brevity in rules for grading honey is 

 any part of wisdom. According to the rules as 

 they now stand, a speck of propolis on the out- 

 side of a comb, or even the section, would spoil 

 it for "Fancy "or even No. 1, while a heavy 

 base or septum of wax, or even several cells 

 partly filled with pollen, might pass for 

 "Fancy." 



I take up a bee-journal and look at the quo- 

 tations, and I am not surprised to find consider- 



