1918 



AMERICAN BEE JOURNAL 



21 



honey has outrun the supply, and no 

 honey was held over, but the house 

 was used very successfully in 1914. 



We visited several of Mr. Burle- 

 son's apiaries and found them in 

 good condition and doing well. The 

 bees are kept with the hives in pairs. 

 For hive-stands two 2x4 scantlings 

 are cut 6 feet long and nailed to- 

 gether with cleats, a separate board 

 about 14 inches square is used for an 

 alighting board just in front of the 

 hive. In taking the honey he makes 

 it a rule to extract a yard a day and 

 return home with the harvest and 

 visit a different yard the next day, 

 and so on until he is through all his 

 apiaries. 



He is very enthusiastic about pound 

 packages. He made large shipments 



of the pound packages last spring and 

 was uniformly successful. 



Ma sachu setts Meeting. — Wednes- 

 day, January 9, at 1 p. m., the bee- 

 keepers of Massachusetts will meet 

 in the library of Horticultural Hall 

 at Worcester to discuss matters of 

 general beekeeping interest. At 3 

 o'clock, in the same day, Mr. E. R. 

 Root, of Medina, Ohio, will talk on 

 "Importance of Honey Production." 



There will also be exhibits of 

 honey, wax and apiary appliances, in 

 Horticultural Hall, during the three 

 days, to which the public will be in- 

 vited. It is intended to emphasize 

 the value and uses of honev in the 

 home. B. N. GATES. 



T. W. BURLESON AND CREW READY TO EXTRACT 



LEGAL SERVICE 

 1 DEPARTMENT 1 



Shipping Honey — Claims for Damage 



"In November, 1913, I shipped a 

 crate of four cases of comb honey to 



■ ■ by railroad. A week later 



two cases of comb honey were ship- 

 ped back to me. It was badly 

 broken and leaking, and I would not 

 accept it. He wrote that it was 

 broken by the railroad company. It 

 was in first-class condition when I 

 got the bill of lading. Can you help 

 me collect the damages? 



ILLINOIS. 



Answer: We can only give advice 

 through this department and cannot 

 undertake to look after any kind of 

 legal case. 



Where an article is delivered to 

 the railroad company in good condi- 

 tion and is lost or damaged en route 

 the company is liable for the amount 

 of damages. There is usually very 



little trouble about settlements in 

 cases of this kind if properly han- 

 dled. A shipper should never ac- 

 cept damaged goods without having 

 the fact of the damage noted on his 

 shipping receipt by the agent. Where 

 the agent is friendly and reasonable 

 the easiest way to make a collection 

 for damages is through him. If he is 

 disposed to take the matter up with 

 the claim department of the road and 

 to make a fair statement of the case, 

 the settlement is usually prompt. 

 Railroads dislike having claims of 

 this kind placed in the hands of at- 

 torneys, since there are lawyers who 

 make a specialty of damage cases 

 against railroads. It too often hap- 

 pens that the railroad company is 

 compelled to pay claims that are not 



entirely just. Accordingly when a 

 shipper takes the short cut and pre- 

 sents his case directly he is quite 

 likely to receive both courteous and 

 fair treatment. It is necessary, how- 

 ever, to send along all the papers so 

 that the claim department can see at 

 a glance the history of the shipment. 



It sometimes happens that a local 

 agent is inclined to be surly and un- 

 reasonable. I have even known cases 

 where the agent himself was at fault, 

 and he then used his influence with 

 the road against the settlement of an 



T. W BURLESON 



honest claim, apparently to shield 

 himself from blame. In a case of this 

 kind it becomes necessary to dis- 

 regard the agent and take the matter 

 up with the claim department of the 

 road or employ an attorney to do so. 



Where the damage occurred as 

 long ago as 1913 there may be some 

 delay in getting a settlement, as ev- 

 erybody will have forgotten about 

 it by this time and it will be harder 

 to prove the facts in the case. All 

 claims for damages to goods in tran- 

 sit should be filed promptly. 



Under present tariff regulations the 

 freight rate on comb honey in un- 

 protected cases is double the first- 

 class rate, while cases properly crat- 

 ed in carriers go at a much lower 

 rate. This applies to all points west 

 of the Mississippi River. The large 

 number of claims for damaged comb 

 honey brought about the higher rate 

 on unprotected shipments. 



