2o8 



June, 1909. 



American ^ec Journall 



would be from one-half to two-thirds 

 more than in single cases. And add to 

 these facts that these crates are of small 

 value, or no value, for reshipping to the 



Crane Shipping-Case Open. 



retail dealer, unless he wants the same 

 number of small cases as in the large 

 crate, so that we find wholesale dealers 

 crating single cases to their retail cus- 

 tomers. And here is where the great- 



Carrying Crane Case. 



est amount of breakage comes in when 

 shipped from the wholesale dealer to 

 the retail merchant. 



After studying over the subject for 

 some months I succeeded in assembling 



a case of corrugated paper that I 

 thought might help us out somewhat, 

 and later ordered 500 of the pattern 

 made by myself. Now I am free to 

 confess that while it had seemed to me 

 for many years that corrugated paper 

 would be a good material for a ship- 

 ping-case, yet I had never thought one 

 could be made strong enough to answer 

 the purpose. What would happen should 

 they be piled one on top of another, 

 ID or 12 deep, or if a box or other 

 material should come against one and 

 crush it and the honey in it? I found, 

 however, that by the use of partitions 

 a case would, sustain a very heavy 

 weight on top of it, and by using two 

 thicknesses it was not likely to get 

 jammed in at the ends or sides and the 

 honey injured. Each partition also tend- 

 ed to break every jar or jolt, and largely 

 increased the safety of the honey. 



However much faith I had in my "im- 

 proved case," it required a good deal 

 of bravery on my part to fill the 500 

 paper cases with honey and think of 

 committing them to the tender mercies 

 of the railroads. 



An accident as we were filling them, 

 in which a case dropped nearly 3 feet 

 (•(I inches, to be accurate), to the floor 

 without injury to a single comb, lielped 

 to reassure me. Determined to know 

 the best as well as the worst of these 



paper lY^ inches wide, would support 

 a weight of over 60 pounds. And yet 

 we would not advise the use of paper 

 until it has been fully tested. We know 



Crane Case With Glass. 



cases, we shipped 10 with a lot of wood- 

 en cases to a customer some 200 miles 

 away, where they would without doubt 

 have to be changed from one car to an- 

 other at least 3 times before reaching 

 their destination. Our mind was re- 

 lieved when we heard from our custo- 

 mer that while more or less combs were 

 broken in every wooden case, not a sin- 

 gle comb was broken where packed in 

 our "improved case." 



Now, I do not wish to be understood 

 that honey will not break in these cases, 

 but that it is much, very much, safer 

 than in wooden cases; so much so that 

 dealers have been very willing to pay 

 extra for the last two years for honey 

 put up in these cases — enough more to 

 reduce very materially the cost of the 

 cases. 



These cases, as we have used them, 

 consist of a frame a little wider than 

 our sections are tall, with a top and bot- 

 tom that covers the sides and meeting 

 in the middle, while a honey-dripping 

 board goes on the bottom inside, of 

 single-faced corrugated paper, and the 

 inside filled with the partitions that sup- 

 port the top, bottom, sides, and ends, 

 making the case very strong. We have 

 held the top and bottom together with 

 binding twine but are thinkine- of using 

 paper or cloth stickers. I made some 

 experiments last fall that would indicate 

 that paper stickers would answer every 

 purpose. I found that 2 pieces of strong 



Crane Shipping-Case Closed. 



that binding twine is entirely satisfac- 

 tory as well as inexpensive. The weight 

 of these cases is only about half that of 

 wooden cases with glass, thus saving 

 freight from factory to bee-keeper, and 

 also from the producer to market. 



One thing that I fear will prevent 



Showing Stkkni.th ok Cr.\ne C.^se. 



the rapid introduction of these cases, 

 is that honey in them is not so attractive 

 as in wooden cases, with one side of 

 glass. No honey shows in them, and 

 many persons will fear that their honey 



