64 



ADVANCED BEE-CULTURE. 



injured. It is the small lot that must be 

 "transferred,'- en route, that means topsy 

 turvy treatment. 



When our well-filled sections of white 

 honey have been put into their cases of 

 clean, white basswood, and are stacked 

 up in the honey house awaiting shipment, 

 what a beautiful sight ! So dainty, so 

 neat, so white. I'have sometimes stop- 

 ped work long enough to step back and 

 gaze in silent admiration. These self- 

 same, beautiful cases have again met my 

 gaze after they had made the journey to 

 Detroit, to Cleveland, or to Chicago. 

 But my gaze was no longer one of ad- 

 miration. It was one of wonder, of cha- 

 grin, of sorrow, of indignation. Had it 

 not been for the stencil marks that I had 

 put on with so much care, I should have 

 felt inclined to disown the cases. Dirty? 

 Well, yes. Coal dust and nastiness from 

 the floors of cars and warehouses had be- 

 smirched the beautiful, white wood until 

 — well, do you wonder that I have some- 

 times wrapped paper around the cases be- 

 fore shipping them ? 



I am happy to say, however, that there 

 is a remedy for all these troubles; it is 

 simply putting several of the cases into 

 one crate, not a box, as that would hide 

 the honey, but a crate, with slats on the 

 sides so arranged that the openings on 

 the sides will come exactly over the glass 

 in the ends of the cases. The bottom, 

 ends and top of the case are made of 

 boards. A crate may be made to hold 

 nine, twelve or sixteen cases. A little 

 straw may be put in the bottom. The 

 ends of a slat on each side, near the top 

 of the case, are allowed to project and 

 thus form handles. The position of the 



handles shows which side up the crate 

 should be kept. In fact, these handles 

 are so inviting that there is no disposi- 

 tion to put the crate in a wrong position. 

 The handles are so short that the crate 

 cannot be "dumped" without dumping 

 it on the toes of the carriers. Cases of 

 honey crated in this manner never tum- 

 ble over, and they reach their destination 

 free from even the finger marks of a 

 dirty hand. Last year I had four crates 



CRATE OF CASKS READY FOR SHIPMENT. 



filled with cases of honey shipped to the 

 Detroit Exposition, from there to the 

 Lansing Fair, from there home, and then 

 to Columbus, Ohio, and not a comb was 

 broken, while the cases were as clean as 

 when they left home. I greatly favor 

 the plan of placing a large label upon the 

 top of the crate having a large fl®" 

 pointing lengthwise of the crate, and 

 accompanied by the following in bold 

 type: "Load with the hand pointing to- 

 ward the end of the car or the 

 side of the wagon." 



