710 



AMERICAN BEE JOURNAL. 



Tlie Orading: of Honey has 



long been a subject of interest, and it is 

 now one of the live issues of the day 

 among apiarists. Disputes often occur, 

 as to the grade to which a certain ship- 

 ment of honey belongs. The buyer, 

 seller and middle man often disagree, 

 and many times the editor of the 

 American Bee Jouenal has been called 

 in to decide disputes as to the commer- 

 cial status of honey already shipped to 

 this city. 



When' there are no rules for grading 

 honey, it is a very unsatisfactory thing 

 to decide between producer and dealer, 

 or consumer. It is much like deciding 

 as to.the beauty of a lot of babies. Each ■ 

 mother naturally and honestly believes 

 hers to be par excellence ; but when it 

 comes to " scale " them according to 

 rules, defects are noted ; and as a 

 "finality," after dropping many contes- 

 tants for non-conformity to the scale, 

 the beautiful baby appears in all its 

 charming loveliness. 



So with corab-honey — every honey- 

 producer, being more famijiar with the 

 appearance of his honey than that of 

 other producers, does not notice the 

 imperfections of sections, crates, etc., 

 and knowing its deliciousness, decides 

 that it belongs to the first grade, and so 

 writes to the commission man. When 

 it arrives, the latter, looking at it only 

 with a commercial eye, sees many de- 

 fects, and a dispute is the result. The 

 dealer charging the producer with mis- 

 representation, and the producer charg- 

 ing the dealer with dishonesty. This is 

 just about how it works, and is but a 

 repetition of "complaints" coming to 

 us quite frequently. 



Now, an established scale of grading 

 would settle all such matters. There 

 would be no chance for either party to 

 misunderstand "cold facts," and much 

 trouble and ill-feeling would be averted. 



We stated these facts at the late 

 Northwestern Convention, and President 

 Miller suggested that the convention 

 should try to formulate a scale for grad- 

 ing comb-honey, and to this end a 



committee was appointed, consisting of 

 Dr. A. B. Mason, Mrs. L. Harrison, W. 

 Z. Hutchinson, B. Walker, George E. 

 Hilton, M. H. Mandclbaum and M. M. 

 Baldridge. 



This committee talked the matter 

 over repeatedly, but came to no conclu- 

 sion, and finally reported a disagreement. 



President Miller,, being always ready 

 to harmonize anything coming before a 

 convention, suggested that each member 

 of the committee present to the conven- 

 tion the points submitted to the commit- 

 tee. They did so, and after considerable 

 discussion of the points involved, the 

 following scale for grading comb-honey 

 was adopted : 



Flrst Grade. — All sections to be well 

 filled ; combs straight, of even thickness, 

 and firmly attached to all four sides ; 

 both wood and comb to be unsoiled by 

 travel-stain or otherwise ; all the cells 

 sealed, and the honey of uniform color. 



Second Grade. — All sections well 

 filled, but with combs uneven or crooked, 

 detached at the bottom, or with but few 

 cells unsealed ; both wood and comb 

 unsoiled by travel-stain, or otherwise, 

 and the honey of uniform color. 



Third Grade. — Sections with wood or 

 comb, or both, travel-stained or other- 

 wise much soiled, and such as are less 

 than three-fourths filled with honey ; 

 whether sealed or unsealed, and crates 

 containing two or more colors. 



This scale for grading will be sub- 

 mitted for the consideration of the 

 North American Bee-Keepers' Associa- 

 tion, at the meeting to be held at 

 Albany, N. Y., next week. 

 "* Some persons attempted to confound 

 with this, at the Chicago convention, the. 

 idea that white honey only can be first- 

 class ; but as we understand it, that 

 "has nothing to do with the case." 

 Color does not control the grade ; but 

 the points entered in the scale does so, 

 without reference to color. So that 

 there may be a first grade of honey of 

 Spanish-need^^e, buckwheat, white clover, 

 bass\yood, etc. 



To the Albany convention is submitted 

 this whole matter, and we commend it 

 to the careful and critical consideration , 



