788 



THE AMERICAN BEE JOURNAL, 



Bee. 16, 



kept well filled, that there may be no vacancy In the brood- 

 combs to be filled with the next flow of honey. The object is 

 to keep the brood-combs constantly filled with either brood or 

 honey, so that all the white honey gathered may be stored in 

 the sections. If this practice Is kept up judiciously through 

 the honey season, we are sure to catch all the honey iu the 

 sections; and later on we can transfer it to our purses in a 

 greatly reduced form. A. E. Manum. 



Mr. Greiner — I extract the honey from those sections that 

 are less than two-thirds full, and use the honey in feeding 

 back to secure the completion of those that are nearly finisht. 



Ten members had tried feeding back. Four would con- 

 tinue the practice. 



W. Z. Hutchinson — I have fed back thousands of pounds 

 of extracted honey, and have always found it profitable to 

 feed it for securing the completion of unfinisht sections. It is 

 only under peculiar circumstances that it can be fed at profit 

 when the bees have the comb to build. Black bees are the 

 best for this purpose ; hybrids next best ; then dark Italians, 

 and golden Italians no good whatever. There is a great dif- 

 ference in individual colonies of the same variety. Some will 

 store the honey rapidly, but are slow at capping, others store 

 ft slowly but cap it quickly. Others do good work, make it 

 nice and smooth, while some are very rough in finishing up 

 the work. All of these characteristics are carefully noted 

 and written down upon the hive-cover, and, as the sections 

 are lessened in number and some colonies discarded, those are 

 dropt that do the poorest work. About a quart of hot water 

 Is added to 10 pounds of honey. I do not always wait until 

 every section is finisht before taking off the case. It there 

 are one or two in the corners that are unfinisht, the case 

 comes off just the same, and the sections are taken out and 

 sorted, and when there is a case of unfinisht ones it goes back 

 on the hives. Hot weather is needed to succeed at feeding 

 back. It is likely that there are locations where it would not 

 be profitable. In Michigan we have a dearth of honey from 

 the close of basswood, and sometimes from the close of clover 

 until buckwheat, a period of a month or six weeks In which 

 the weather is very hot and no honey is coming in. If rightly 

 managed at this time the feeding back of honey to complete 

 unfinisht sections can be made very profitable. I have secured 

 as many as four pounds of increase in the weight of comb 

 honey from the feeding of five pounds, altho the general aver- 

 age is about two pounds from the feeding of three. 



F. Danzenbaker — I put 15 or 20 unfinisht sections at the 

 entrance of a hive at night, and in the morning the combs are 

 empty. 



Mr. E. Kretchmer, of Iowa, f urnisht the next paper on 



The Shipping of Comb Honey. 



That man never gets too old to learn, proves true to many 

 of us. Altho I had shlpt tons of honey prior to 1893, it was 

 during the Columbian Exposition in Chicago, whilst in charge 

 of the Iowa honey exhibit, that several heretofore unnoticed 

 changes in the packing of comb honey presented themselves, 

 and which during the second installment of honey for that 

 exposition was put to practical test. Prior to the time named, 

 altho we packt the honey with due care, I had no knowledge 

 of the actual condition in which it arrived at its destination. 



Altho the first shipment of honey for the Columbian Ex- 

 position was packt with great care, many of the cases, when 

 unpacking them at the fair grounds, were not in as good con- 

 dition as we desired they should be ; in some of the cases it ap- 

 peared as if only a single comb had become detatcht from the 

 section, and in the moving of the crates, this loose comb had 

 fallen against the next comb and knockt It off the section, and 

 the force of the two combined against the next, had brokeu it 

 out likewise, until the entire row of honey from the glass to 

 the back of the case, was broken down; the leaking honey, 

 altho retained in the case, soakt into the wood of the next sec- 

 tions, and also damaged these. 



In the second shipment for the lowaexhibit we effectually 

 prevented the above-described damages by constructing the 

 shipping-cases wider and deeper : We placed a sheet of ma- 

 nllla paper In the bottom with the edges neatly turned up, 

 forming a shallow pan ; within this pan we nailed small tri- 

 angular strips on which wo placed the sections of honey, and 

 between the several rows inserted wood separators. In the 

 same manner as in the supers. Whilst the use of paper pans 

 In the shipping-cases, and strips of wood under the sections is 

 now well known to many, it may be a matter of surprise to 

 them to know that they are not yet In general use, and the 

 writer found it necessary to write numerous letters to fully ex- 

 plain their uses. 



Separators In shipping-cases are, I think, not yet very 

 much used, but I find that if separators are used, a comb 



broken from a section is confined to the space within that sec- 

 tion ; it cannot break or deface the next adjoining section, 

 whereas, if the separators are not added, the entire row is fre- 

 quently broken down. Wood separators are cheap, costing 

 less than two cents for a case, whilst their benefit Is more than 

 ten-fold. I therefore think that no shipping-case Is complete 

 without the separators. 



I have been to some expense, both at the World's Fair and 

 while visiting numerous honey markets, to ascertain the most 

 desirable size, form and detailed construction of shipping- 

 cases, and it appears that commission merchants and retail 

 dealers in honey prefer a case holding 2-1: sections, single-tier 

 high, with glass on one side from 2 to 3 inches wide, with the 

 top boards fitting between the front cleat and the back, so as 

 to hold the top in place while retailing from the case, and so 

 as not to show the joint on the front or glass cleat. 



In this paper I will not say where, or to whom to ship, but 

 outline more fully the form of shipping-cases, how to fill them, 

 and how to forward them, and when, and thereby prepare the 

 way for a fruitful discussion. 



As already stated, the 24-section case, showing four sec- 

 tions through the glass, seems to be preferred, and therefore 

 we should furnish the size and form desired. In construction 

 the cases should be light, the cleats for holding the glass 

 should be grooved, not rabbeted, and the glass slid into these 

 grooves so that, should the glass break, the grooves will retalri 

 the pieces in position. Having placed the paper pan and wood 

 strips in the bottom, select 24 sections of honey, as nearly 

 alike as you can ; place four average sections near the glass, 

 top up, that is, in the same position as they were on the hive ; 

 if inverted some open cell Is liable to leak, and the honey run- 

 ning over the white face of the comb mars the beauty of Its- 

 appearance. Should there be a little space endwise, make 

 them tight with little wedges at the end; next drop in a wood 

 separator, which should be as wide as the hight of the sec- 

 tions. In this manner fill the case, wedge up the back of the 

 sections so they are tight sidewise, lay on another sheet of 

 paper, which should be large enough to project a little with 

 the edges, then fasten on the top, preferably with small screws. 



Goods shipt by express must be speedly loaded and un- 

 loaded, and are consequently not handled with the same care 

 as freight shipments, where ample time is usually taken to 

 load and unload ; therefore honey shipt by freight arrives usu- 

 ally in better condition than when shipt by express; but ex- 

 press shipments go through in less time than shipments by 

 freight, and if as a matter of speed honey has to be shipt by 

 express, I find that single shipping-cases without being crated 

 or connected with other cases, go by express in better condi- 

 tion, and are handled more carefully, than heavier crates ; but 

 shipments by freight or in wagons should have 6 or 8 cases 

 crated together in open crates so as to show the glass and 

 honey through the openings, with a liberal supply of straw 

 under them. The addition to the directions to so load that 

 the edge of the comb should be towards the locomotive, is, 1 

 find, never regarded, as the crates are usually so placed to fit 

 the space In the car ; but the top of the crate should have in 

 large, plain letters this direction: "this side must be up," 

 which is usually regarded. 



In hauling, I advise the use of vehicles with springs; if 

 such cannot be had, a liberal supply of straw under the crates, 

 and slow driving would be desirable. 



Do not attempt to ship comb honey great distances In 

 warm weather, nor when the honey is liable to freeze, as it is 

 more liable to break and leak. I well remember how a care- 

 less shipment in hot weather nearly ruined the honey market 

 of a city ; the honey arrived badly broken and the cases leak- 

 ing; the dealer, in his eagerness to dispose of it, labeled It: 

 " Comb honey, 8 cents;" the market reports of the local paper 

 next quoted: "Comb honey, 8 cents per pound;" this 

 quotation spread to near-by places, and for months this was 

 the prevailing price. E. Kretchmek. 



Mr. Greiner— I find honey less likely to break In shipment 

 in warm than in cold weather, as the combs are less brittle. 



Capt. J. E. Hetherlngton— I pack honey in one end of a 

 car with six Inches of hay underneath, and I cover it with a 

 cloth to keep off the dust and cinders. I think that the combs 

 are fastened more securely in the oblong section. We do not 

 put our cases in large crates. We get better results by not 

 crating. The dealers of New York certainly know how to 

 ship honey, and they never crate the cases. 



Mr. Ritchie— I bought 500 pounds of honey of a New 

 York dealer, and it came in bad shape. In shipping small 

 lots I find that the largo crates are an advantage. 



S. A. NIver— It's the trucking with two-wheel trucks that 

 does the mischief. Where four-wheel trucks are used It is all 

 right. (Continued ?iert week. ) 



