192 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE. 



Mar. 1 



certainty that they would not leak, though 

 there was not much difficulty that way. 

 That class of bags was altogether too lim- 

 ber, and when filled they would not stand 

 alone, and each one must be placed in a 

 form or some kind of support to hold until 

 the honey would become hard. I planned, 

 however, to have forms made in which to 

 put each bag separate, so that, when the 

 honey was solid, the whole lot would be 

 alike, and pack like so many rolls of but- 

 ter. 



But I realized that it would be best to 

 have a special bag made of heavy paper; 

 also that probably it would be best to have 

 the bottom square — the ordinary bag has 

 a rectangular bottom, longer than wide. I 

 wrote The Root Co., or perhaps the editor, 

 and they sent me a few bags such as they 

 used in their business, and recommended 

 me to correspond with Mr. Robert Gair, of 

 Brooklyn, N. Y., in regard to making bags. 

 I went on with my experiments, and figured 

 out the sizes to hold a given amount, made 

 a few samples, and filled one or more to be 

 sure that my estimates were correct. While 

 this experimenting was going on I discov- 

 ered that a bag that had a square bottom, 

 would, when filled, without any form or 

 mold, assume the round shape; and if of fair- 

 ly heavy paper they would stand alone too. 

 Thus I continued with the problem, work- 

 ing out the details until I finally decided 

 upon four sizes and their dimensions, en- 

 deavoring to have them so as to pack in 

 cases of regular sizes, hoping to have cases 

 that would hold, say, half a dozen of one 

 size and a dozen of a smaller, and probably 

 a dozen and a half of another size. The ob- 

 ject was to have the cases as simple as pos- 

 sible, and not have to have a great variety 

 of shape and sizes; but I arrived at no very 

 satisfactory conclusion in results on that 

 point. 



Let me digress right here a little from 

 the main subject, to explain a little about 

 the shipping package. According to the 

 railroad classification rules, there is noth- 

 ing to cover the new package, but it says, 

 "Not otherwise specified, first class." 

 Honey in barrels, casks, kegs, and cans 

 boxed, takes fourth class. So you see the 

 new package, if shipped in boxes, would 

 have to take first-class rating, same as 

 comb honey. But you see if it were packed 

 in kegs or barrels it would take fourth 

 class, and for the present that is the pack- 

 age. 



I sent a box of the bags of honey to Den- 

 ver, and had the matter place:" before the 

 classification committee, hoping to get a 

 classification, pointing out that the pack- 

 age was one of the very safest to stand 

 knocking about; that nothing short of fire 

 or smashing all to pieces could materially 

 damage the goods; leakage was out of the 

 question. But I had my trouble for nothing, 

 I was simply referred to the rule that honey- 

 packages not otherwise specified should 

 take first-class rate. That being the sit- 

 uation, the only thing to do until we can 



get a fair classification is to pack in bar- 

 rels or kegs, which, while no doubt not in 

 full accord with the intent of the rule, is 

 according to the letter of the law, in that it 

 is in ''^ kegs or barrels.''^ No doubt the in- 

 tent was to cover liquid honey in these 

 packages; but we can use nail-kegs, lime, 

 salt, and such barrels, and for safety in 

 transit it is much less likely to damage or 

 loss than the tight barrels with liquid 

 goods which the rule was intended for. 

 Nevertheless, it is still advisable to have 

 the classification so it will cover packages 

 of candied honey in boxes, or any proper 

 package that is convenient for the producer 

 to ship in, but we probably can not accom- 

 plish this until there is more of a demand 

 along this line, and some pressure. 



The sizes I have decided upon as desir- 

 able are 2, V/z, 5, and 10 lbs. For the retail 

 trade from stores, the smaller package will 

 take the lead. As compared with other 

 small packages, the paper bag is so much 

 cheaper that it ceases to be much of an 

 item. I never did use much glass, but have 

 used large quantities of tin, principally 

 lard-pails. I used the regular lard-pail 

 because it was regular, and, being a staple 

 stock article, was more easily obtainable, 

 and there was a freight classification that 

 enabled me to get them in at rates that 

 would not apply on other kinds. 



The tin cost me, on 4 to 7 pound packages 

 (the 3 and 5 pound pails) , stenciled or lith- 

 ographed with business card, and warrant- 

 ed (formerly illustrated in this journal), 

 about a cent and a half a pound. Lately 

 the price has advanced until now it costs 2 

 cents a pound. I can pack in paper for 

 approximately^ a tenth the cost of tin for 

 equally large packages. Let me illustrate 

 this by figures. The first order for bags 

 cost me, f. o. b. Loveland, $45.06, and was 

 sufficient to hold 23,000 p( unds and a little 

 over, while at the same time th'ce-pound 

 lard-pails would have cost me $450 and up- 

 ward. Let me make another comparison. 

 My last order for bags had some improve- 

 ments, and cost a little more than my first 

 one, but I wish to show the diiTerence be- 

 tween this and glass. Of 2-lb. Muth jars, 

 70 gross would hold 20,160 pounds of hon- 

 eys and would cost at Medina, Root Com- 

 pany's catalog list price, $525. Two-pound 

 bags, same as sent to j'ou, Mr. Editor, to 

 hold the same quantit}^ of honejs cost me, 

 f. o. b. Loveland, about $70. The reason 

 I say about is because I do not take time to 

 hunt up the freight-bill, but I know this is 

 very close. I have given the list price of 

 the glass jars, but of course there would be 

 a discount on so large an order; but re- 

 member that the freight to Loveland would 

 be no little item on such a bill of glass- 

 ware. The editor can, if he desires, tell 

 what would be the discount on such an 

 order for glass, and can also tell very close 

 what the freight-bill would be to Denver; 

 but I suspect the discount would not equal 

 the freight. I suspect more breakage in 

 glass too. 



