1899 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE. 



645 



" amber," and " dark ; " and sometimes or in 

 some localities a class called "light amber" 

 is allowed. You are, however, aware that 

 there are a great many different shades of 

 these respective colors, and, in classifying my 

 honey, it has been one of the hardest tasks to 

 decide into which class each particular sec- 

 tion ought to go. Inclination says, "This is 

 good enough to be classed as amber." Con- 

 science answers, " If you were buying it you 

 would call it dark." Reason says, " The pub- 

 lic is not as discriminating as the producer ; 

 and while some might call it dark the majority 

 would not know the difference, but would 

 take it as amber." Here I stand between 

 three advisers, each good in his way. Which 

 one shall I follow? 



When I lived in Southern California I sent 

 a shipment of extracted white-sage honey to 

 a commission house in San Francisco. Ac- 

 cording to my honest judgment this honey 

 was white, though I knew it was not water 

 white. On receiving returns I complained of 

 the low price obtained for white honey. The 

 commission man answered that the honey was 

 amber. Well, he had the honey ; it was, pre- 

 sumably, sold, and there w r as nothing left by 

 which I could prove that I was right. 



Now that the question of grading has re- 

 ceived considerable attention, though not yet 

 a settled matter, I think it would be just as 

 important for the bee-keepers to have some 

 fixed rules for classification. The grading 

 can be taught to a certain extent by pictures 

 in black and white, but not so the classifica- 

 tion by color. A few years ago I requested 

 you to send me samples of the darkest shades 

 that would be allowed as white and amber. 

 You did so, but stated that the samples were 

 not exactly w T hat you would prefer, but were 

 as nearly right as you could select them from 

 material on hand at the time. I see that your 

 Mr. Boyden is making a collection of samples 

 of different honeys, and I would suggest that 

 he send his collection to the U. S. B. K. con- 

 vention to be held in Philadelphia, and that 

 everybody, if possible, who attends this con- 

 vention, also bring samples of all the different 

 shades aud colors of honey that can be obtain- 

 ed. Then let this representative body of bee- 

 keepers decide what shall be the darkest 

 shade of white, light amber, and amber, al- 

 lowable ; also, if light amber is excluded, 

 what separate shades of this color may be 

 allowed as white, and which must go as amber. 

 When the matter is decided, let the A. I. Root 

 Company put up samples in small vials, in- 

 closed in mailing-blocks, plainly marking 

 each sample as darkest white, darkest light 

 amber, or darkest amber, and offer these sam- 

 ples for sale at a nominal cost, so that every 

 honey-producer, and, if possible, every honey- 

 dealer, would desire to have a set of them. 

 Then we should have a definite standard to 

 judge by, which would obviate many disputes 

 and much dissatisfaction in buying and sell- 

 ing our product. Give printed directions for 

 liquefying the samples, particularly for the 

 sake of dealers who may not know any thing 

 about it. If possible, let representative honey- 

 dealers have a voice in fixing the rules for 



classification. While there may be changes 

 in the shape and dimensions of the section, 

 and while the filling and finish of the comb 

 are largely dependent on the honey-flow and 

 on characteristics of individual colonies of 

 bees, so that grading-rules can never be fixed 

 with mathematical exactness, the classification 

 by color, on the other hand, can be fixed with- 

 in certain unchangeable limits if the bee- 

 keepers will only agree upon them. It would 

 be well done if the U. S. B. K. A. had such a 

 set of standard samples, with which compari- 

 son could always be made by those who would 

 furnish samples for sale to bee-keepers and 

 dealers. 



It will be understood that any honey of a 

 darker shade than darkest amber goes into 

 the class called dark. The color, as fixed by 

 the classification rules, should, of course, ap- 

 ply equally to comb and extracted honey. 



In preparing these samples the honey should, 

 if possible, not be extracted, but dripped or 

 pressed from new combs. The process of 

 extracting has a tendency to cause granulation. 

 Whether it is the churning or the exposure of 

 the honey in very small particles to the air 

 that causes granulation, the above statement 

 is a fact which I have proved by the experience 

 of many years. I have samples of liquid hon- 

 ey probably a dozen years old, pressed or 

 dripped from the comb, standing in jelly- 

 tumblers with loose tin covers, which show 

 no sign of granulation yet. As the heating 

 and re-heating of honey is liable to darken 

 the color, this should be avoided, as far as 

 possible, with the samples. 



I hope that this subject may receive the 

 earnest attention of the convention, and that 

 we may soon have a set of classification rules 

 that will be satisfactory to everybody. 



Independence, Cal., Aug. 14. 



[I think you misunderstand Mr. Niver if 

 you think he is an advocate of nine different 

 gradings. If there is any thing he tried to 

 impress on your humble servant it was the im- 

 portance of having a few grades, and the folly 

 of trying to have an "extra fancy" and a 

 "double-extra fancy;" and as a bee-keeper 

 seldom markets more than one kind of honey 

 at a time, his dealer or buyer will have only 

 two grades to consider — No. 1 and fancy. But 

 if the bee-keeper sends to market, all in one. 

 consignment, white, amber, and buckwheat, 

 he might have nine grades ; but this is the ut- 

 most possible limit, and is a rather extraordi- 

 nary condition of things. 



It might prove interesting and valuable to 

 have samples showing the difference of colors 

 in extracted honey. But one trouble would 

 be that they would soon candy, and then 

 when they were melted up the shade would 

 be slightly darkened. We might have "col- 

 ored cards " which, if they could be produced, 

 could be sold as low as a cent apiece, or by 

 the hundred at a much less price. I am not 

 sure but that, if several grades of honey show- 

 ing the representative shades were sent to a 

 maker of printing-ink, he would be able to 

 duplicate very closely those shades ; then all 

 that would have to be done would be to print 



