July, 1921. 



(! 1, E A N I N O S T N B K K C V T, T U R E 



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ministering the grading was what to do 

 with the bottling industry. To supply a 

 constant demand wholesalers were mixing 

 honey from all parts of the United States 

 and selling it under all sorts of brands. An 

 arrangement was finally made with them to 

 follow the State regulation in grading pure 

 Wisconsin honey and to mark honey which 

 was eitlier blended or entirely from other 

 sources with a statement to that effect. 



Whether with justice or not, our beekeep- 

 ers consider Wisconsin clover and basswood 

 honey just a little finer than any thing else 

 on the market. Bottlers need some of it 

 because of the ease with which it may be 

 prevented from granulation — especially as 

 compared with the western product where 

 it meets the stiffest competition. As a re- 

 sult Wisconsin honey is almost always held 

 at from three to five cents above the whole- 

 sale market price for honey from other 

 parts of the United States. Even in this 

 year of a dull market, nearly the entire 

 supitly of extracted honey (80 per cent) had 

 by .January 1 been disposed of at an aver- 



Now and then I hear of little incidents 

 which show how standardization is taking 

 among consumers. In one place a grocer 

 was called over the phone one morning and 

 given an order which concluded: 



"Oh, yes — and I want a five-pound pail 

 of honey. Have you any on hand?" 



"Certainly, ma'am,'' and it was duly 

 sent. 



Later in the day the pail came back un- 

 opened. 



"What's the matter?" asked the gro- 

 cer. 



"It's marked 'Ungraded,' and I want 

 'No. 1.' If it isn't the first quality we 

 can 't use it, ' ' was the answer. And noth- 

 ing the grocer could say convinced this cus- 

 tomer that if the beekeeper produced ' ' No. 

 1 ' ' extracted honey he would neglect to 

 label it so. 



I have not touched on the details of the 

 grades, but a word will suffice for that. All 

 extracted honey which is well strained and 

 fully ripened so that it weighs 12 pounds to 

 the gallon is known as Grade No. 1 Kx- 



Upper two sections "faiK 



On lower vow the two on the riRlit ;ne "Xo. 1," iind tlie others "No. 2." 



age wholesale price to the producer of 25.8 

 cents a pound, according to the U. S. Bu- 

 reau of Crop Estimates. In other words 

 our beekeepers think "Wisconsin'' is just 

 as big an asset to them as "Airline'' is to 

 the A. I. Root Company, and they intend to 

 cash in on that asset if possible. If tlie pri- 

 mary purpose of the honey-grading regula- 

 tions, then, is to provide for an accurate de- 

 scription of honey quality and finish, m sec- 

 ond and equally important object is to ad- 

 vertise what we believe to be a particularly 

 fine product. 



Standardization of Grades of Honey. 



It is too soon to determine the ultimate 

 effect of standardization on the honey busi- 

 ness. Large quantities are, of course, being 

 sold ' ' Ungraded, ' ' but this is a. smaller pro- 

 portion than was expected. Over 600 bee- 

 keepers have secured grading stamps al- 

 ready, including all the larger commercial 

 producers and many farmer beekeepers. 



tracted. In addition the color, net weight, 

 and packer 's registered number are re- 

 quireil on the container. Comb honey is 

 divided into Fancy, No. 1, and No. 2, de- 

 pending on the finish, the attachment to the 

 wood, the number of uncapped cells, etc. It 

 is also marked with the color, and with the 

 ])acker's number. 



A standing committee of the State Bee- 

 keepers ' Association is working with the 

 marketing division for the perfection of the 

 standards and the successful administration 

 of the law. If it were practicable, many of 

 the best beekeepers would like to see the 

 source of honey required as part of the 

 label, and the color omitted. But so much 

 of the State's product is mixed, that few 

 beekeepers know exactly where their bees 

 are getting nectar from day to day. Nor 

 is there an adequate chemical means of dis- 

 covering whether honey really came from 

 the plants the beekeeper says it did. The 

 greatest variation in quality is in the amber 



