98 
A YEAR AMONG THE BEES. 
next year. Prices vary according to the yield in different 
parts of the country. If shipping to a distant point in cold 
weather, I keep up a hot fire to warm the honey 24 hours 
before shipping. If very cold I wait for a warm spell. On a 
wagon, the length of a section should run across the wagon — 
on a car lengthwise of the car. I always prefer, if possible, 
to load the honey directly into the car myself. Then I know 
that it will carry well, unless the engine does an unreasonable 
amount of bumping. 
Much has been said about cultivating a home market, but 
there are two sides to the matter. If bee-keepers from 
neighboring towns come in and supply my home market at 
two cents per pound less than my honey nets me when 
shipped to a distant market, about all I can do is to leave the 
home market in their hands. I suspect, however, that it 
would have been to my advantage to have paid more attention 
to developing my home market for extracted honey. 
In deciding between a home and a distant market, there 
are more things to be taken into consideration than are 
always thought of. There is breakage in transportation, and 
the greater the distance the greater the risk. If I can load 
my honey into a car myself, and it goes to its destination 
without change of cars, I do not feel very anxious about it. 
On this account a car-load is safer than a small quantity, for 
a full car-load may be sent almost any distance without 
re-shipping. If re-shipped, it is not at all certain how it 
will be packed in a car. I once sent a lot of honey to 
Cincinnati, and when it arrived at its destination, the 
sections were actually lying on their sides I I suppose the 
railroad hands who packed it in the car at the last change, 
thought the glass was safest from breaking if the case was 
put glass side down. The strangest part about it was that I 
lost nothing by the breakage. The dogged persistence of a 
German consignee obliged the railroad company to pay all 
damage ; for the consignee was that staunch German and 
genial friend of bee-keepers — C. F. Muth. It is the only case 
