818 



AMERICAN BEE JOURNAL. 



say so, but if not, will some one kindly 

 tell me what words I should have used 

 to make my meaning plainer? 



Again Mr. Baldridge says that I do 

 not say how much I can use at the price 

 mentioned. My intention was all right, 

 but in hastily copying the announce- 

 ment, the words "in thousand pound 

 lots " were left out. 



But Mr. Baldridge would have the 

 reader believe that I knew all the while 

 that white clc^^er honey of any grade 

 could not be had at any price, etc. 

 Perhaps so, but from the report of the 

 "Honey Producers' Exchange" (see 

 Gleanings, page 629), in which quite a 

 number of the leading honey-producing 

 States of the East are credited with 

 from 50 to 75 per cent of an average 

 white honey crop, at a time when bass- 

 wood in most of these States was only 

 fairly coming into bloom, and from the 

 market reports, I had the impression that 

 white clover honey was not as scarce as 

 it might be in that locality. 



Furthermore, having just received one 

 thousand pounds of choice white clover 

 honey from Eastern Michigan, for which 

 I paid 25 cents — I mean 123^ cents per 

 pound (that is all they ask for choice 

 honey there, as the flow from that source 

 was a fine one last season) — it is just 

 possible that Mr. Baldridge is mistaken 

 in his assertion. At any rate, Mr. Bald- 

 ridge evidently believes that I am dis- 

 satisfied with the "rules for grading" 

 in question, and concludes that an ex- 

 planation on my part will be in order. 



I am free to confess that I do not 

 regard these " rules" as above criticism; 

 still, considering the fact that they were 

 gotten up and advocated in the conven- 

 tion by parties who do not make a busi- 

 ness of producing comb-honey, but whose 

 chief concern would seem to be the 

 profit that comes from the sale of these 

 goods, they are not such a bad set of 

 "rules" after all, and if the North 

 American Bee-Keepers' Association tones 

 down the requirements of the first grade 

 a few notches, then there will be some 

 encouragement for comb-honey special- 

 ists, who are favored with good loca- 

 tions, to attempt the production of some 

 of that grade, during a good honey-flow; 

 otherwise they will do well to await the 

 invention of appliances, or the breeding 

 of a new race of bees adapted to over- 

 come certain insuperable obstacles to 

 their success, such as slightly soiled sec- 

 tions and comb surfaces. 



It may be that some one will get up a 

 machine for planing off the one or pol- 

 ishing up the other without damaging 

 the goods. 



It might not have done any harm, how- 

 ever, if some rule had been adopted that 

 would at least hint at the grading of 

 that large part of the crop that is 

 marked by one or both of the defects 

 mentioned, or that still larger part, 

 which may be spoken of as considerably 

 soiled in sections or comb surfaces, or 

 both, and yet not very much so in either 

 respect. 



Perhaps it is unfortunate that the. 

 fourth grade, as suggested by Mr. 

 Baldridge was not adopted, as that would 

 at least have made a place for them, 

 while as the rule now stands, the first 

 group referred to have not even been 

 given a place beside crooked combs, 

 which, not infrequently, cannot even be 

 lifted from a case without gouging the 

 combs. 



Now let us see how this system of grad- 

 ing works. Suppose I have a quantity 

 of choice white honey to grade. Here 

 are a lot of sections taken from a 

 T-super. The combs are as white as 

 could be asked for, but although the sec- 

 tions have been carefully scraped with a 

 sharp knife, I find that it is impossible 

 to rid them of slight stains without 

 cracking the corners of sections in some 

 cases, and cracking combs in others. 

 Must these sections be relegated to a 

 place in the third grade, with sections 

 of dark honey less than three-fourths 

 full, and not sealed at that ? 



Here is another group, perfect in 

 every respect, except that a few cells 

 near the edges of the sections are not 

 filled, or if filled are not sealed. Must 

 these sections also be excluded from *the 

 first grade ? 



A third group, in every respect like 

 the last, except that, in order to secure 

 the capping of these few cells, they had 

 been left in the hive a little longer than 

 the other, resulting, as is almost invari- 

 ably the case, in a slight soiling of a 

 small part of the cappings on one side of 

 the combs. Must these also find a place 

 in the third grade ? 



A fourth group is faultless in every 

 particular, except that the combs are a 

 little thicker than the average, and, 

 therefore, weigh an ounce or two more ; 

 and a fifth group have combs a little 

 thinner than the average. Must both of 

 these be placed in the second grade ? 



The combs of a sixth group are not 

 quite as straight as they might have 

 been, but the sections can be lifted from 

 the case without marring the combs. 

 Must these be put in the second grade ? 



A seventh group cannot be found fault 

 with, except that the combs are not 

 firmly fastened to the bottom of the 



