THE BEE-KEEPERS' REVIEW 



255 



The Pros and Cons of Corrugated- 

 Paper Cases. 



Just now, when there is considerable 

 discussion regarding lietter shipping 

 cases, tlie paper case comes in for a 

 good share of consideration. It cer- 

 tainly has some points in its favor in 

 its favor that must be considered. 



Mr. J. E. Crane, of Middlebury, Vt.. 

 one of our largest comb honey pro- 

 ducers, speaks very highly of this case 

 in Gleanings in Bee Culture, as follows: 



Mr. Foster asks me several questions 

 on page 323 in regard to corrugated- 

 paper cases, which 1 will try to answer. 

 First, he asks if corrugated cases will 

 carry honey as safely when shipped un- 

 crated as double-tier cases when crated. 

 That is a rather hard question to an- 

 swer, as we have never used double- 

 tier cases ; but from our experience in 

 shipping paper cases in small lots I 

 should expect there would be little dif- 

 ference. 



Another objection I\Ir. Foster raises 

 is that "the partitions make it difficult 

 to remove the sections of honey." It 

 is not so difficult as you imagine, my 

 good- friend. As the partitions come 

 above the sections it is both simple and 

 easy to remove one or two partitions, 

 when the sections of honey can be re- 

 moved even easier than when packed 

 solid as in wooden cases. "What arc 

 the advantages of the corrugated case 

 where honey is not shipped other than 

 in car lots?" In other words, of what 

 use is it to pack in paper cases when 

 you ship in car lots, and feel reasonably 

 sure it will go through safely?" Well, 

 I used to feel much that way; but the 

 efforts to sell honey direct to retail 

 dealers opened my eyes. We are apt 

 to think if we can only ship our honey 

 in a block or car lot to the large city 

 dealer, that is all there is to it — it is 

 his business to look after it then. It 

 is out of our sight and out of mind; 

 but we fail to remember that the large 

 city dealer does not sell by the carload, 

 but has to sell, in small lots, from one 

 to a dozen or more cases to small retail 

 dealers; and the carloads must sooner 

 or later be broken up into small lots 

 and reshipped in every direction, and 

 very often gets pretty rough treatment 

 Now, these small shipments, if the hon- 

 ey is in wooden cases, must be crated, 

 or run a great chance of getting broken, 



while the corrugated cases can be ship- 

 ped with little danger of breakage, al- 

 though uncrated. It costs in the large 

 cities from a quarter to half a cent a 

 pound to crate honey ; and then the 

 freight or express is more because of 

 the additional weight. You remember 

 what Mr. Byer told us some time back 

 in Gleanings, that a dealer in Toronto 

 told him he could ship these cases to 

 the Provinces of Manitoba, Saskatche- 

 wan, and Alberta without breakage. 



That Automobile Trailer. 



Quite a little has been written about 

 the use of the automobile in visiting 

 out-apiaries. Mr. F. B. Cavanagh tells 

 in Gleanings in Bee Culture about a 

 trailer that he uses. This is simply a 

 two-wheeled cart attached to the back 

 of an ordinary auto. He uses it not 

 only to carry hives and appliances, but 

 also to move bees. With it he does not 

 even fasten the bees in the hives, but 

 encloses the whole load in a wire cage : 



We do not shut the bees in nor do 

 we fasten the hives together in any 

 way. A removable wire cage complete- 

 ly surrounds the hives (the front sec- 

 tion was left off in the picture), so that 

 nothing can fall off the load. If day- 

 light approaches, causing the bees to 

 fly, we draw the canvas top tightly over 

 the load (it is tacked to one side), and 

 confine every bee to the cage. A fine 

 breeze circulates through the hives; 

 and, although the weather was very hot, 

 but few bees tried to escape through 

 the screen. I suppose it must have 

 taken their nerve to see through grated 

 bars the landscape swiftly whirling by. 

 The worst feature was in unloading 

 the bees at night, and, as every bee- 

 keeper can imagine, they "didn't do a 

 thing" but sting, sting, sting, with bees 

 all over the hives when we reached the 

 yards. However, with good smoke we 

 managed very well, and left the trailer 

 quite free of bees each trip, I never 

 care if bees are out of the hives so long 

 as the stragglers are at the yards, one 

 or the other, so that thev can hunt a 

 hive when daylight appears. 



Speaking further about the economy 

 of the auto, he says : 



We fieure that, while an automobile 

 is expensive, speed is essential in out- 

 apiaries scattered as far as 20 miles 



