SHIPPING CASES FOR COMB HONEY 
751 
ments that are made from all parts of the 
country, in all kinds of shipping cases, 
should be taken into consideration, this 
loss would reach nearer 25 per cent. 
But there are a large number of bee¬ 
keepers who feel that they cannot afford 
to purchase even the cheap factory-made 
cases. If the loss should be from 10 to 20 
per cent with the cheap cases, it may be 
figured that the loss would be at least from 
25 to 50 per cent with the ordinary home¬ 
made cases or cases made at planing mills. 
The objections to the home product are the 
poor sawing, inaccuracy, and their miser¬ 
able appearance. Even if the honey goes 
thru safely, the eases look so cheap and 
poor that the average buyer will deduct at 
least one or two cents per pound on the 
honey. The honey may be ever so nice; 
but if it is put up in a roughly made con¬ 
tainer it will bring a lower price. 
The most serious objection to homemade 
cases is their variation in size. Some of 
them will be so shallow that when the 
cover is nailed down it will break nearly 
every section in the ease. Another case 
will be too deep and too long, with the re¬ 
sult that the sections will rattle about in 
the case and break down nearly as badly. 
The average planing-mill man does not un¬ 
derstand the importance of making the 
case absolutely accurate. His saws have 
very coarse teeth making rough edges, and 
his gauges are not accurate. His product 
will be anything but satisfactory for ship¬ 
ping so expensive and fragile a product as 
comb honey. 'When a good factory-made 
case with cartons or corrugated paper 
can be bought for a little more money, it 
is folly to pay a planing-mill man a few 
cents less for a case that will bring a loss 
in breakage and leakage amounting to 50 
per cent on the honey. 
SHIPPING CASES WADE OF CORRUGATED PAPER. 
A few years ago some effort, was made to 
use shipping cases constructed out of corru¬ 
gated paper or strawboard—the same ma¬ 
terial that is used in the safety cases, to 
cushion the sections. J. E. Crane of Mid- 
dlebury, Vt., used this kind of case for sev¬ 
eral years, and was wrell pleased with them; 
but some of the large commission houses 
and buyers of honey protested against their 
use. They claimed that they are not strong' 
enough to stand the rough handling of the 
railroad men; that as it is not practicable 
to put glass in them the fragile contents of 
the package are not understood, and, as a 
result, they receive a much rougher han¬ 
dling. Again, it has been claimed that the 
paper cases will not stand rain or wet like 
the wooden ones. If a single section is 
broken down, it is liable to cause the bottom 
of the case to soak up with honey, and this 
weakens the case so that it is of but little 
use to protect the rest of the sections. 
While such cases seem to answer very 
well for honey in bottles, it should be re¬ 
membered that a bottle of honey or a bottle 
of syrup or pickles will stand very much 
rougher handling than the ordinary section 
of honey. 
In later years the paper cases for comb 
honey have practically disappeared, and 
nothing more is heard of them. See Bot¬ 
tling Honey; also Marketing Honey. 
HOW TO SHIP COMB HONEY. 
One may have his shipping cases factory- 
made, or ever so perfect, and yet have his 
fine comb honey shipped in them broken 
down. As a rule it is not advisable to send 
such a product by express, altho it can be 
done. The experience of the authors has 
shown that comb honey sent by freight not 
only goes thru at a less cost, but in much 
better condition. 
Much will depend on whether comb hon¬ 
ey is sent in carlots or in less than carlot 
shipments. As a rule a single case of comb 
honey or half a dozen or a dozen of them 
can not be sent without being put into a 
special carrier or crate. No matter how 
modern the cases may be, with plenty of 
corrugated paper for top, bottom, sides, 
and ends, if they are sent uncrated, either 
by freight or express, there is almost sure 
to be a breakage and leakage of the comb 
honey. Where a customer wants a single 
case, or a couple of them, they should lie 
put in a box large enough so that they can 
be well packed all around in straw. Comb 
honey is seldom shipped in less than four to 
eight cases at a time, making an aggregate 
weight of not less than 100 pounds. The 
carrier or crates that ai'e ordinarily used 
will take eight cases, or the equivalent 
weight of 200 pounds. 
