The importance of properly grading and packing comb honey does not seem
to be well understood by the average beekeeper. Some extensive buyers
of comb honey find it profitable to regrade and repack practically all
the comb honey they receive before sending it out to their trade. The
producer of this honey of course bears this extra expense by receiving
a lower price for his honey. The lack of uniformity of grading is to
some extent a result of differences of opinion as to what should be the
standard for the various grades. Grading rules have been of material
aid toward greater uniformity, but various producers may use the same
set of grading rules with very different results. It would be well if
a single set of rules were in use, since honey from various localities
may be sent to the same market. The grading rules in most common use
are given in Farmers' Bulletin 447, page 39.
After scraping the propolis from the wood, each section of honey may
be placed in a pile with others of its grade. Some put the sections
directly into the shipping cases as fast as they are scraped, but
better grading can be done if each grade is put in a separate pile
and the final grading all done by one person. By thus having a large
number of sections in each grade from which to select there is greater
opportunity for making the sections of honey in each case more nearly
uniform as to weight and the various shades of finish. Such uniformity
is especially desirable from the standpoint of the retailer. Sections
containing only a few cells of pollen should be placed in a lower grade
or sold as culls, while those containing a considerable amount of
pollen should not be marketed in the form of comb honey. An excessive
amount of pollen in the sections is usually caused by the use of very
shallow brood combs, extreme contraction of the brood chamber, or
hiving swarms on narrow strips of foundation in the brood frames with
partly drawn comb in the sections (p. 32).
=Packages for Comb Honey.=
Comb honey is usually packed in cases holding 24 sections (fig. 20).
Other sizes are sometimes used to meet special market requirements. The
markets have become accustomed to cases with glass fronts, by means
of which the contents are displayed to advantage. However, in keeping
with present practice in other package goods, considerable comb honey
is now placed on the market having each section inclosed in a carton.
This practice, while losing the advantage of displaying the honey, has
a decided advantage in insuring security from dust and insects while
in the markets as well as greater safety to the fragile comb when the
package is finally delivered to the consumer.
[Illustration: Fig. 20.--Shipping cases for comb honey. (From
Phillips.)]
=Marketing.=
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