1879 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE. 



483 



The following is the draft of the gradlng-rulos 

 aiiuMuiod by him. By referring to the VVash- 

 ingtiui rules abovo, the reader will see just 

 where they differ. You will notice that he 

 leaves out some things that are almost impos- 

 sible of attainment in " Fancy." and makes No. 

 1 flexible enough to take in the great bulk of 

 the best honey of the bee-keeper. 



walker's AMENDKD WASHINGTON RULES. 



Faxcy.— All sections to be well filled, combs 

 straight, of comparatively even thickness, and 

 firmly attached to three sides, the comb un- 

 soiled by travel-stain, or otherwise; all the cells 

 sealed except the row of cells next the wood. 



No. 1.— All sections well filled, but combs un- 

 even or crooked, detached at the bottom, or 

 with one-eighth part of comb surface consider- 

 ably soiled or unsealed, or the entire surface 

 slightly soiled. While a slight soiling of sec- 

 tions by propolis should not exclude them from 

 the fancy grade, the sections must be reasona- 

 bly neat in both grades. 



Prior to the reception of Mr. Walker's letter 

 and his rules of grading, I had received a draft 

 of the rules from Mr. B. J. Thompson, of Wa- 

 verly. Wis., which he had modified to read as 

 follows: 



THOMPSON'S GRADING RULES. 



Fancy.— All sections to be well filled, combs 

 straight, and firmly attached to all four sides, 

 the comb unsoiled by travel-stain, or otherwise.; 

 all the cells sealed except the row of cells next 

 the wood. The wood, if stained, to be thor- 

 oughly cleaned in every grade. 



No. 1. — All sections well filled, but combs un- 

 even or crooked, detached at the bottom, or 

 with but few cells unsealed; comb may be soil- 

 ed a little by travel-stain, propolis, or other- 

 wise. 



Dr. Miller, having seen both Mr. Thompson's 

 and Mr. Walker's drafts, wrote as follows: 



After carefully comparing the gradings, put- 

 ting much faith in Walker's grading as an hon- 

 est man of intelligence and much experience, 

 and after considerable discussion with Emma, 

 who doesn't entirely agree with me, here's 

 what comes: 



Fancy. — All sections to be well filled, combs 

 straight, firmly attached to three sides, the 

 comb unsoiled by travel-stain or otherwise; all 

 the cells sealed except the row of cells next the 

 wood, the outside surface of wood well scraped 

 of propolis. 



No. 1. — All sections well filled, but combs un- 

 even or crooked; one-eighth part of comb sur- 

 face soiled or unsealed, or the entire surface 

 slightly soiled. Outside surface of wood well 

 scraped of propolis. 



Mr. Thompson leaves out of fancy "of even 

 thickness," and Mr. Walker says, "of compar- 

 atively even thickness." I leave it out entirely. 

 If you have "combs straight" there won't be 

 much trouble about "even thickness," and 

 " comparatively " Is indefinite at bast. 



Both men omit "both wood and," which I 

 think is all right; but by putting nothing in its 

 place they jump to the other extreme, and you 

 will see that allows a man to put in fancy honey 

 all his sections without a knife ever touching 

 one to scrape the propolis. So I add " outside 

 surface of wood well scraped of propolis." 

 Walker comes at it indirectly by saying, "rea- 

 sonably neat in both grades." 



In No. 1 1 omit " detached at bottom." as that 

 is not necessary, being already allowed in fan- 

 cy by saying, "attached to three sides." I 

 think it might be better to word No. 1 thus: 



" No. 1.— The same as fancy, only the combs 

 may be uneven or crooked, one-eighth part of 

 comb surface soiled or unsealed, or the entire 

 surface slightly soiled." 



The other way leaves it that the comb need 

 be attached only at the top, which would hard- 

 ly do for shipping. Please understand that this 

 last No. 1 stops at the paragraph quoted. 



I've tried without prejudice to say what 

 change would allow such men as Walker and 

 Muth to use the grading; but no amount of 

 tinkering will make it right to call the bulk of 

 the crop fancy and the rest No. 1. It isn't hon- 

 est, and that's all there is about it. 



Emma objects, and with no little reason, to 

 "combs unsoiled by travel-stain or otherwise." 

 If it were really fancy it would be all right. 

 But as fancy is really the bulk of the crop, and 

 No. 1 the seconds, it will be impossible to get 

 more than half the sections to come up to the 

 requirement in that particular. It Isn't the 

 general thing to take off a super of sections in 

 which every section is snow-white. Some of 

 the comb surfaces are slightly discolored before 

 three-fourths of the sections are sealed. A very 

 slight discoloration does not and ought not to 

 rule them out. But perhaps that can stand, 

 as in practice it can not be strictly adhered to. 



I don't like any of it, but I think I've tried to 

 follow out the spirit of what you want. 



C. C. Miller. 



Marengo, 111. 



[Now, I am not going to say at this time which 

 set of rules is best; but one thing is certain: 

 Before we adopt another set for Gleanings, we 

 shall need to know that the set we do fix upon 

 shall receive the approval of the brethren who 

 have so kindly shown up the mistakes of the 

 accepted Washington grading. I am not sure 

 that any thing we can patch up of an old thing 

 will be as serviceable as something that has 

 been made by one person and is brand-new. 

 What think you of the first set of rules, or the 

 one originally proposed by Dr. Miller? As for 

 myself I am at present inclined to believe that 

 the Washington grading as amended by Walker 

 or Miller would be as good as any. They would 

 have the advantage that they would be the 

 same as the ones with which we have been fa- 

 miliar, without their objectionable features. Of 

 the two, the Miller- Washington is the briefer. 

 Let's have brief expressions on postals from a 

 large number. The revised rules, to be of any 

 use for this season, ought to be ready for our 

 next issue. — Ed.] 



