644 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE. 



Sept. 1. 



dear sir, square cans have honey gates the 

 same as kegs and barrels ; and the matter of 

 convenience in retailing is, to my notion, far 

 ahead of the leaky wooden things. Nearly 

 all of the dealers' catalogs will be found to 

 illustrate a very neat little honey - gate for 

 square cans, costing fifteen cents, or mailed 

 for three cents extra for postage. Every user 

 of square cans should supply his grocer with 

 one of these little gates ; then the operation 

 of drawing a pound, a quart, or a gallon, is as 

 simple as putting up so much sugar. 



Now let me suggest that you put your honey 

 up in square cans again, and supply your 

 grocers with these little gates ; and if they 

 don't ask you to bring the honey in future in 

 such packages, then I shall miss my guess. 



In regard to honey in tumblers, while it is 

 true that this sort of package is more liable to 

 be daubed than any other glass receptacle, 

 yet all or nearly all of this daubiness may be 

 avoided. Tumblers should not be filled any 

 fuller than within a quarter of an inch of the 

 top ; and then the top should have inserted in 

 it paraffine paper, which, when crowded 

 down with a slight blow of the palm of the 

 hand, will usually make a package almost 

 honey-tight. To make it perfectly so, paste a 

 red or yellow label around the edge of the cap. 



It is true, there are self-sealing glass pack- 

 ages that will not drip or leak ; but these cost 

 so much more that the producer or dealer hes- 

 itates about paying the extra price. 



Your idea of a syrup-pitcher is all right. 

 We sold some a few years ago, but we had 

 difficulty in closing out the stock. But if the 

 scheme were worked right, pitchers of honey 

 might sell very readily and easily. One trou- 

 ble with a good many of the glass packages is 

 that they have served their usefulness as soon 

 as the honey is-out of them, and that is one 

 reason why the consumer hesitates about buy- 

 ing glass when he does not need it. But this 

 objection does not hold against Mason jars or 

 honey-tumblers as a rule. The one is useful 

 for storing jellv, and the other for cooked 

 fruit.— Ed.] 



GRADING AND CLASSIFICATION OF COMB 

 HONEY. 



Simple Rules Preferable to those more Elaborate 

 Fewer Grades; Suggestions for the Phila- 

 delphia Convention ; does Extracting 

 have a Tendency to Make 

 Honey Granulate ? 



BY WM. MUTH-RASMUSSEN. 



For the benefit of those who may not be 

 familiar with this subject, I will say that, in 

 judging extracted honey, only the term 

 " grading " is used, and applies to the color 

 as well as to the body (specific gravity) and 

 flavor of the honey, though, as a rule, in the 

 general market it is the color that mainly 

 governs the price. On the other hand, in 

 judging comb honey the term "grading," by 

 common consent, applies only to the filling, 

 finish, and general appearance of the comb, 

 and, to some extent, to the section or wooden 



frame within which it is built ; while the 

 word "classification" has reference to the 

 color of the honey contained in the comb, or 

 to the plant source from which it was gathered 

 by the bees. In a general way the word 

 "grading" includes "classification" as re- 

 gards comb honey, as, for instance, where I 

 further on, for want of a more distinctive 

 term, speak about Niver's nine grades. But 

 the word " classification " is never used instead 

 of " grading." 



I have just read your conversation with S. 

 A. Niver in Aug. 1st number of Gleanings, 

 and, previous to this, I had read all the pub- 

 lished articles, discussions, and comments on 

 grading as they appeared from time to time 

 in your paper. I have tried to follow the 

 grading rules, as agreed upon, as closely as 

 possible. While it has given satisfaction to 

 myself, and elicited commendation from my 

 customers, yet many regard such close grad- 

 ing as unnecessary, and the dealers will, as a 

 rule, not pay any thing extra for much dis- 

 tinction in grading, but prefer as few grades 

 as possible. Look at the market quotations 

 in the bee-papers, and you will find but two 

 or three grades quoted instead of nine, as 

 Niver would have it, or even more, by includ- 

 ing "extra fancy " according to your notions. 



A large firm in a city west of the Mississippi 

 River has an agent here, buying up comb 

 honey by the carload. They will have and 

 pay for only two grades, which they call No. 

 1 and No. 2. 



Though I have been so particular with the 

 grading of my honey that I would not trust 

 anybody else to do this work for me, still I 

 do not see that I get any more for it than my 

 neighbors who do not take so much pains. 

 The "grading," however, is all right if suffi- 

 cient latitude is allowed, as no two sections 

 are ever exactly alike. 



But even more important than grading is the 

 classification of the honey by color. The 

 grading only serves to please the eye more or 

 less, but the color of the honey within the 

 comb is the only means by which the buy- 

 er can judge of the quality of this honey until 

 he has bought it and is at liberty to taste 

 of it. 



My honey-room has but a single window. 

 When grading my honey I stand before this 

 window, with the door closed behind me, and 

 no light enters except through the window. 

 Each section is held up to the light, and the 

 color of the honey compared with that in 

 several sample sections standing on top of the 

 lower sash. As soon as the door is opened, 

 and the light strikes that side of the section 

 which faces into the room, the color of the 

 honey can be seen only indistinctly. 



I know bee-keepers who never look through 

 a section in this way. They judge the honey 

 merely by the outside appearance. If the 

 capping is white they call it No. 1. If the 

 capping is a little off in color, the section goes 

 into the second grade. For that class of bee- 

 keepers two grades are enough, and they 

 ridicule the idea of going to any further 

 trouble. 



As a rule, honey is classed as "white," 



