312 
EXTRACTED HONEY 
Honey ; also Labels, for a further discus¬ 
sion of this question. 
PACKAGES FOR SHIPPING AND SELLING 
EXTRACTED HONEY. 
For the shipment of honey, tin contain¬ 
ers are much more satisfactory than wood¬ 
en. When tin is used there is never any 
loss by honey soaking into the package, 
while in ease of barrels or kegs the loss is 
sometimes 2 or even 5 per cent, and this is 
considerable. Such loss is greatly reduced 
by waxing; but that in turn includes much 
additional labor. In the West, the dryness 
of the climate causes wooden packages, 
such as barrels and kegs, to shrink to such 
an extent that they are entirety useless. If 
tin containers are tight in the first place 
they will remain tight, and no degree of 
dryness will affect them. While they are 
somewhat more expensive, yet this disad¬ 
vantage is more than offset by the greater 
convenience and safety in handling. 
Yet, whatever package is used, care 
should be taken to insure safe shipment. 
Every year in this country an enormous 
amount of honey is lost by the honey-ship¬ 
per’s carelessness in failing to provide 
proper shipping equipment when putting 
his crop aboard cars. Railroads are sup¬ 
posed to stand all loss in transit; and, 
therefore, in order to realize the necessary 
profit, excessive loss in transit compels 
them to raise the rates, and thus the ship¬ 
per is ultimately obliged to pay from his 
own pocketbook for his failure to provide 
strong shipping-cases. 
A round can as a container for honey or 
other liquid has long been condemned as a 
failure by the railroad companies. This is 
because of the fact that there is no way of 
keeping a round container upright and in 
its place on the car floor, and, once tipped 
over, it rolls about with every jolt of the 
car and gets battered or even knocked to 
pieces. As for the wooden jacket (a 
wooden veneer about % inch thick) it is 
about as good as nothing. The accompany¬ 
ing illustration gliows the battered and 
leaky condition in which jacketed cans 
sometimes arrive at their destination. 
When such packages are used, not only 
is the honey itself liable to be lost in tran¬ 
sit, but often the honey runs down upon 
other merchandise in the freight car, caus¬ 
ing considerable damage. It is on account 
of these repeated instances of loss and dam¬ 
age caused by leaking honey, that some 
shippers have recently been advocating 
steel drums, holding 15 gallons or possibly 
30 gallons. These are especially advised 
for export shipments to foreign countries 
where the packages receive very rough 
treatment, as on shipboard. The only pos¬ 
sible objection to shipping honey in this 
way is, that the drums are rather heavy 
and can not be lifted without a hoist. 
Moreover should the 'honey granulate in 
them, it would require a long heating pro¬ 
cess to reliquefy it. When steel drums are 
used, they must be either tin-lined or gal¬ 
vanized. 
By far the most popular package for 
A honey can after being shipped loose in a box. Most 
of the honey had leaked out. 
shipping extracted honey in bulk is the 
five-gallon sixty-pound square can. In 
later years it has come to be almost uni¬ 
versal. There are usually two cans to the 
wooden case, as shown. Note the strong 
% inch partition between the two cans. 
This is essential for safe shipment. With¬ 
out this partition the case is too frail to 
stand such a weight of honey together 
with the rough handling it is sure to re¬ 
ceive in shipment. 
