SHIPPING CASES FOR COMB HONEY 
749 
secured where the bees are exposed in the 
regular wire-cloth cages. 
There is another style that is the same 
as the nucleus shipping box. In lieu of 
frames of foundation it has a series of 
slats on which the bees may cluster. In the 
center of this slatwork is placed a tin can 
containing syrup—about 50 per cent water 
and 50 per cent sugar. Sometimes the syrup 
is fed thru a small hole in the bottom of 
the can. At other times a larger perfora¬ 
tion is made, thru which is pushed a piece 
of candle-wicking that allows the syrup to 
percolate thru slowty without dripping. E. 
B. Ault of Calallen, Texas, uses a screw 
cap thru which is punched a hole about 
half an inch in diameter. Over this hole, 
on the inside, is placed a piece of feltiug 
or thick cloth, when the cap is screwed 
down in place. After the can is filled with 
syrup it is turned upside down, when the 
syrup will percolate thru the cloth or felt¬ 
ing. 
The use of thin syrup for sending bees 
in package form is getting to be more and 
more common. While queen-cage candy 
was formerly used (see Candy) tests made 
at this writing would seem to indicate that 
the syrup is very much more satisfactory. 
It is not always easy to make a candy that 
is soft enough to enable the bees to utilize 
it during the entire trip; but the syrup 
will always be uniform, and any one can 
make it. 
SHIPPING CASES FOR COMB 
HONEY.— It is one thing to produce a 
fine crop of comb honey with sections nice¬ 
ly filled out, well scraped and graded, and 
another thing to deliver that honey to mar¬ 
ket without leakage or breakage. It should 
be borne in mind that a section of honey is 
exceedingly fragile, much more so than a 
bottle containing pickles, syrups, or any 
other commodity. For many years back 
comb-honey producers have been putting 
their nicely built sections in poorly de¬ 
signed cases, resulting in a large amount of 
breakage and leakage. This loss is usually 
assessed against the producer, and some¬ 
times the item alone is enough to wipe out 
the entire profit of the season. When he 
gets his returns he is so disgusted that he 
either quits the business entirely or pro¬ 
duces extracted honey only thereafter, 
The old-style shipping cases were made 
of light thin stuff having a glass front with 
a paper tray in the bottom and cross-cleats 
to support the sections of honey. They 
were altogether too light to protect their 
fragile contents; and the bottoms of the 
cases, or, rather, the cleats supporting the 
sections, were rigid, so that whenever they 
received a bump or jar from any 
cause, some sections were broken. The 
patent-medicine men and bottlers of canned 
goods put up their product in such a way 
that each separate bottle will be cushioned 
or protected from the ordinary rough 
usage that the whole box receives in the 
hands of the truck men and the express 
handlers, to say nothing of the damage re¬ 
ceived when shipped by freight. 
Old-style shipping case with paper drip pan and 
no drip cleats. 
The cut shows one of the old-style cases 
that provided a rigid or unyielding sup¬ 
port for the sections to rest on; namely, 
the wooden cross-cleats. The next two 
illustrations show a much more strongly 
built case. It will be noticed in the next 
cut that the bottom is padded with ordi¬ 
nary corrugated paper, the same material 
that is used by the patent-medicine men in 
packing their bottles of medicine. The 
shippers of all bottled goods are now using 
con’ugated paper around the bottle and un¬ 
der the bottom also. This material likewise 
makes an excellent cushion for the more 
fragile comb honey, so that when the case 
is dropped or receives a sudden jar the 
cushion of the corrugated paper absorbs a 
large part, if not all of the shock. Compar¬ 
ative tests show that sections in a case hav¬ 
ing corrugated paper will stand much 
