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open, only close enough so they will hold the cases, the object be- 
ing not so much to cover the cases as to prevent rough handling. 
If cases are shipped without being in carriers, railroad hands are 
likely to throw them as so many bricks, putting them in the car in' 
any sort of position. Years ago I shipped some cases loose in a 
car, to go a pretty long distance, and when they were transferred 
to another car some of the cases were on their sides, and, of 
course, badly smashed sections of honey was the result. A car- 
rier is generally made to contain eight 24-section cases, or sixteen 
12-section cases, and provided with handles. Being so heavy, they 
are necessarily handled with less roughness than would be the 
loose cases. Load in car so sections run parallel with the rails. 
If sections are sent in cases, unprotected, they take a higher 
freight rate than if packed properly with a layer of straw on the 
bottom. 
Shook Swarming. — Q. What do you call “shook swarming?” 
A. “Shook swarming” is bad English that has, I am sorry to 
say, grown into quite common use in place of “shaken swarms,” 
or “shake-swarming.” Perhaps a more appropriate name would 
be one used in Germany, "anticipatory swarming.” (See Shake- 
swarming.) 
Smartweed. — Q. Will honey gathered from smartweed be 
strong in taste like pepper? Last year the honey gathered in the 
fall was so strong after being swallowed that it would burn the 
throat for two or three hours. Smartweed was plentiful. 
A. The general run of what is called smartweed honey will 
not smart your mouth at all. But the plant from which it is 
gathered hardly ought to be called smartweed, for if you chew 
the leaves it will not smart your mouth any more than to chew 
so much lettuce. It also goes by the name of heartsease — the 
better name, the botanical name being Persicaria. Persicaria 
punctatum is the real smartweed, and if you chew a leaf of that 
you’ll wish you had let it alone. I don’t know about the honey 
from this, whether it is acrid or not, but it is possible. 
Smoke. — Q. When is the best time to blow smoke in at the en- 
trance when opening a hive, on a cloudy day, or sunshiny day, or 
both ? 
A. The time to blow smoke into the entrance is just before 
you take off the cover, no matter what kind of a day. 
Q. How long can you keep the hive open when handling bees 
without smoke? When they come to the top of the frames do 
you smoke them back? 
