January, 19l3. 



American T^ee Journal 



no market there, he wrote to a mer- 

 chant in his old home town and made 

 a sale of the entire lot at a certain 

 price delivered. The shipment arrived 

 in good condition, although the cases 

 were not crated, but the rate was $3.00 

 per 100; while, if properly packed, it 

 would have been $1..50 per 100 pounds. 

 That man thinks the railroad stole $15. 

 I read a statement not long ago that 

 "no one but suckers paid the first-class 

 freight rate ; because, if they knew how, 

 they could get the article into a cheaper 

 class." I have also heard a great many 

 times that the rates were made as high 

 as the traffic would stand, and while 

 that statement at one time was well 

 founded, it is not true today. The 

 items that are taken into consideration 

 today are weight, size, volume, liability 

 to damage, liability to damaging other 

 freight, equipment required, claims 

 and value. It is not the large shipper, 

 the man who packs his honey carefully 

 and well, whotriesto send itto his cus- 

 tomers as cheaply as possible, who 

 makes it hard to get a reduction in the 

 honey-rates, but it is the little producer, 

 who does not know how to pack his 

 honey properly. 



COMPARING RATES. 



Comparing honey-rates with the 

 rates on niaple syrup is about as close 

 a comparison as we can find. In car 

 lots maple syrup is 5th class, while 

 honey is 4th. Glycerine, another liquid, 

 but worth a great deal more than 

 honey, and I hardly think the volume 

 is any greater when put into barrels, 

 takes 4th class rate; linseed oil, 5th 

 class; paints in oil, 5th class; syrups 

 of fruit for soda fountains, 5th class. 

 These articles compare with honey in 

 value, weight, bulk, liability to damage, 

 etc., yet all have a cheaper r^e. 



In looking over the tarififs of one 

 company whose lines traverse Illinois, 

 Iowa, Kansas, Nebraska, Missouri, 

 Minnesota, Wisconsin, South Dakota, 

 Wyoming, Montana and Colorado, and 

 there is quite an amount of honey 

 moved in those States, we find eight 

 special commodity rates on syrups and 

 molasses and one on honey. Seven 

 exceptions to classification on syrups 

 and none on honey. 



What causes honey-rates to be higher 

 than on other goods of like nature 

 when put up in the same style package ? 

 Honey in glass is billed as 2d class, 

 less than a carload; but crushed fruit, 

 preserves and jellies in glass, 4th class. 

 I once asked a claim clerk the cause 

 of this, and his answer was : " Did you 

 ever see crushed fruit or jellies packed 

 like that ?" pointing to a case of honey 

 in Mason jars that was leaking all over 

 the freight house. " Ninety percent of 

 the jellies and crushed fruits that we 

 handle are put up by packers who 

 know their business, but you cannot 

 say that of honey shippers." Just last 

 week I saw a shipment of some 

 500 pounds of comb honey packed in 

 old oil cases; some of the sections 

 were flat and some on edge, with two 

 or three thicknesses of newspaper for 



a cushion. Some in topless oil cans 

 and cans set in cases. Cases marked 

 with a lead pencil, and nothing to dis- 

 tinguish the top from the bottom. 



Just such cases as this help to keep 

 up the rate. It is scarcely believable 

 the way some freight is offered for 

 shipment, and I am sorry to say some 

 of it is accepted; packages of consid- 

 erable value wrapped in newspapers 

 and tied with a light string, very fragile 

 goods with hardly any protection. 



Many do not realize the amount of 

 business handled by the large com- 

 panies. Walk into the shipping depart- 

 ment of some large shipper and see 

 what they send out daily. Then there 

 are sometimes 50 or more of these 

 large firms at one railway center. Your 

 small shipment may go to the freight 

 house with 20 dray loads of all kinds 

 of freight, checked and receipted for 

 on a platform, placed in the proper car, 

 and also in the proper order in that 

 car. A shipment from Chicago to 

 States in the Rocky Mountains is 

 transferred some two or three times 

 en I'oule. 



PACKING. 



Do not think that because a ship- 

 ment is going by freight any old box 

 will do. Some writer, not very long 

 ago in one of our bee journals said : 

 "Any old lumber would do for cases 

 for extracted honey." Probably it 

 would if it was just going a short dis- 

 tance without any transfer. Out of five 

 shipments going about 900 miles, with 

 three transfers, three arrived with 

 damage to contents, and one with cans 

 badly jammed. These cases were all 

 built with new lumber, cement-coated 

 nails, and well put up, but I know 

 from handling some of my own cases 

 that they are heavy, and it is very easy 

 to break the case and not handle them 

 very roughly either. 



MARKING. 



Practically all stations are supplied 

 with marking pots and brushes. Tags 

 should be avoided as much as possi- 

 ble. We receive a great many notices 

 in this division that there is an "over " 

 at a certain freight station without any 

 marks of any kind, giving a description 

 of the contents, and trying to locate 

 the station to which it belongs. All 

 old marks should be removed or blot- 

 ted out, and agents and freight handlers 

 are not supposed to mark your freight 

 for you. During 1910 one express 

 company accumulated 4395 pieces of 

 express from which marks were gone, 

 and for which they were unable to find 

 owners. They probably paid for the 

 most of them. 



My only idea in writing this is that it 

 may help the little producer to put his 

 honey in shape so that when the Na- 

 tional tries to get the rates to which 

 we are entitled, the railroads will not 

 be in a position to say, " We cannot 

 give them on account of the large 

 amount of damage we pay yearly on 

 this article." 



Cowley, Wyo. 



An Easy Way of Getting Wax 



from Small Quantities of 



Comb 



BY ARTHUR C. MILLER. 



Wax rendering on a small scale, as 

 experienced by the bee-keeper of a few 

 colonies, is apt to prove such a sloppy, 

 disagreeable job that it is often shunned 

 after the first trial. The writer well 

 recalls the attempt of one man to get 

 the wax from about a bushel of old, 

 black comb. His wife was away, fortu- 

 nately, and after getting the fire going 

 well in the kitchen stove, he put on 

 the wash-boiler, half filled it with water, 

 and as soon as it was hot he began 

 putting in the comb. Soon he had a 

 fine, black pudding, and he commenced 

 bailing it out with the laundry dipper, 

 and poured it through the best wire 

 sieve into a nice, clean pail. It dripped 

 on the stove and floor, clogged up the 

 sieve, overflowed, and bedaubed every- 

 thing he touched. After several hours 

 of hard work, soaked with perspiration, 

 tired and mad clear through, he had a 

 few fragments of a nasty, black sub- 

 stance supposed to be wax. 



The next two days were spent in 

 cleaning up, and when his wife re- 

 turned he had a most beautiful excuse 

 for having bought sundry new house- 

 hold utensils. Now, if you want to get 

 any old combs, just suggest to him 

 that he extract the wax from them, and 

 he will give them to you and then, 

 "with a smile which is childlike and 

 bland," he will softly open his most 

 vicious colony, give it an accidental 

 kick, and as you take a hurried depart- 

 ure you may wonder whether you 

 really heard him say something or not. 



But despite his opinions, it really is 

 possible to render a small lot of comb 

 easily and well. The first requisite is 

 a convenient kettle to melt the comb 

 in; the second, a boiler of water; the 

 third, a wooden butter firkin or lard 

 tub ; and fourth, a strainer. The latter 

 is a combination of a piece of chicken 

 wire, inch mesh or less, and a. piece of 

 cheese-cloth. 



The process is this: Fill the kettle 

 half full of water, and as soon as it 

 begins to boil put in the comb, adding 

 a little at a time and stirring it in. 

 When the kettle is nearly full, and the 

 wax and water begin to boil, remove 

 the kettle from the fire and pour the 

 contents onto the strainer. The latter 

 is adjusted in this manner: The wire- 

 cloth is laid over the top of the lard 

 tub and pushed down in the middle 

 until it is basin-shaped ; then four or 

 fire wire nails or staples are driven in 

 the edge of the tub to keep the wire 

 from going in further. A piece of 

 cheese-cloth is then spread over the 

 wire-cloth, and the strainer is ready. 

 The contents of the kettle are slowly 

 poured onto this. 



When the strainer is about level full 

 it is allowed to drain for a few min- 

 utes, then boiling water is poured on, 

 a dipperful at a time, and from time to 



THE BEEWARE BRAND 



MEANS SUCCESS 



INSURANCE 



Send for Annual Catalog which T^ill tell 

 j-on who is joiir nearest DiHtrihuter. 

 C B. Lewis Company, Watertown, Wis. 



