Nov. 15. 1911 



677 



and heavier than most oils. However, we 

 have at last found a pump that will average 

 a gallon of thick cold honey a minute when 

 running at a speed of a trifle over two hun- 

 dred revolutions a minute. We attached 

 the pump to the bottom of an extractor and 

 belted it to a pulley on the extractor cross- 

 shaft so that it would run whenever the ex- 

 tractor was running. So little power is re- 

 quired that no difference is noted in the run- 

 ning of the engine that drives the extractor; 

 but at the same time we do not regard it as 

 practical to attach a pump to a hand ex- 

 tractor. It is hard enough to turn the ma- 

 chine without the addition of a pump. 



In some honey-houses, especially those 

 that are located on a side hill, the honey 

 may run by gravity direct from the extrac- 

 tor through the floor into a tank below, and 

 this, of course, makes a very ideal arrange- 

 ment. But in such rooms as are not adapt- 

 ed for the gravity plan the honey-pum]) is 

 very satisfactory, the honey being easily 

 elevated by means of a pipe to the top of the 

 tank in the same room. It is certainly a 

 very great convenience to have the extractor 

 firmly anchored on the solid floor instead of 

 having it elevated on a high box where it is 

 not only unhandy to work around, but 

 where the honey must be lifted by the pail- 

 ful to the tank. By the Townsend plan, 

 there is very little danger of running the pail 

 over; but the operator has to wait until the 

 proper amount has run out without ever 

 taking his hand from the gate, and this 

 consumes time. By the old plan of leaving 

 the gate open and allowing the honey to 

 run into a pail as fast as it is extracted, 

 less time is consumed; but there is con- 

 stant danger of running the pail over and 

 losing a lot of good honey, besides valuable 

 time. 



BETTER SHIPPING -CASES FOR OUR COMB 

 honey; an INTERVIEW WITH A PRODU- 

 CER WHO SHIPS BY THE CARLOAD. 



In our department of Stray Straws in this 

 issue there will be found a little discussion 

 between Dr. C. C. Miller and ourselves on 

 the question of wide or narrow glass, or bet- 

 ter shipping-cases with solid wood front as 

 well as back. While it is true that the pro- 

 ducer should adopt better and stronger ship- 

 ping-cases, it is equally true that that same 

 producer is governed by the buyer. Said 

 Mr. H. Trickey, of Reno, Nevada, who has 

 been with us for a few days, "The buyers 

 are in the habit of putting up a big kick be- 

 cause of the losses by breakage in shipment. 

 Instead of raising a howl after the crop has 

 been produced, for not using stronger cases, 

 they should instruct the producer a year 

 ahead as to the kind of cases they want 

 him to use." 



That's true. Why should not the buyers 

 of honey get together and agree on some 

 standards for shipping-cases which they 

 will accept? If, for example, they will say 

 they will pay one or two cents more for comb 

 honey put up in a standard case, the comb- 

 honey i)roducer himself would be very short- 



sighted if he did not adopt the better case, 

 providing, of course, it did not actually cost 

 more than the difference in price secured 

 for the honey. It is, therefore, up to you, 

 Mr. Buyer, as well as to the producer. Shall 

 we let the comb-honey business go by de- 

 fault, or shall we reform our methods and 

 cater to the trade of consumers who demand 

 both comb and extracted? It is not too late 

 to mend our ways. 



If some of our producers would make a 

 trip and see their honey unloaded, some of 

 their individual theories and notions would 

 be shattered instanter. They might be 

 able on future shipments to save many 

 times the cost of the trip. If adjustment 

 has to be made, it can be much more satis- 

 factorily arranged if the parties can see each 

 other face to face and talk it over. 



After we had written the foregoing we 

 showed it to Mr. Trickey, and, after reading 

 it, he said: "Besides the buyer, there is the 

 supply-dealer and the manufacturer. The 

 latter can do a great deal toward inducing 

 producers to use the right sort of shipping- 

 cases; and then if you fellows will urge in 

 your catalogs the importance of having 

 standard well-made shipping-cases, it will 

 help materially to solve the problem." 



"But," we said, "Mr. Trickey, the sup- 

 ply-manufacturers are already reducing the 

 number of the sizes of their cases; and, if 

 we are correctly informed, most of them 

 will urge their customers to adopt standard 

 sizes with corrugated paper in the cases, 

 top and bottom." 



"I do not know about corrugated paper 

 on top," said Mr. Trickey. "I believe it 

 may be all right to use it in the bottom of 

 cases. 



" There is another thing that the manu- 

 facturers ought to do, and that is, to print 

 on the covers of all their shipping-cases, in 

 plain large letters. Comb honey ; this side 

 up; handle ivith care. The average case is 

 so made that, when honey is packed in 

 it, no one but the bee-keeper himself 

 knows whether the case is right side up or 

 not. When upside down the leakage will 

 be worse; and when the case is opened up, 

 by removing the bottom instead of the top 

 the whole case of sections shows off to great 

 disadvantage to a prospective buyer. 



It is important also that there be a uni- 

 form weight or uniform tare. When the 

 cases are of different weight in a car of hon- 

 ey, the consignee or buyer is pretty sure to 

 charge up against the producer the tare of 

 the heaviest cases that he finds in the whole 

 lot of honey; and too oft mi the producer is 

 compelled to take what he can get or else 

 try to fight it out at long range." 



BIGHT-FRAME V. TEN-FRAME HIVES. 



For his locality Mr. Trickey favors the 

 eight-frame hive. "I say locality," said 

 he, "because I find that my smaller hives 

 do better — that is to say, I have more honey 

 in proportion to the amount of brood than 

 I did in the large hives. In another locali- 

 ty the result might be very different." 



