Jan. 19, 1899. 



AMERICAN BEE JOURNAL, 



35 



less in length, onl)- one of the two parts above mentioned 

 will do. 



But not only as to the length of the entrance this device 

 accomplishes the purpose, but also particular attention has 

 been paid to the heig-ht thereof. The •' Entrance Closer " 

 is arranged to cover and fit anj' kind of an entrance, 

 ■whether narrow or high, short or long, from '4 to ys of an 

 inch in height, and from 2 to 14ji inches in length. 



It is further provided with steel plates or strips, each of 

 the front ones having a screw, and connected by threaded 

 rods with the rear ones, thus forming a forkiike shape 

 (crank), and serving for the firm attachment to the hive- 

 wall. 



When inserting, the strips have to. be down on the bot- 

 tom-board, slide the rear strips (or plates) behind the hive- 

 wall, the perforated zinc thus remaining leaned and prest 



T/w Krcut:ini;cr Entrance-Closer. 



against the hive ; then turn the strips upright to the posi- 

 tion as shown in the illustration, screw by hand each screw 

 in both the strips against the zinc and hive-wall, and the 

 entrance is closed. It is done in shorter time than it takes 

 to read these directions. 



When separating, loosen both screws, turn the strips 

 from their upright position down to the bottom-board, and 

 the " Closer " will .slide out. 



No tool of any kind is necessary, no hammering, or any 

 waste of material, such as tacks, screen wire, etc. 



Bee-keepers who practice transporting their bees from 

 and to their out-apiaries, and those who are in the business 

 of buying- and selling bees, will find in this device a great 

 convenience and a handy contrivance lasting them for 

 years. It is durable, and owing- to its material being of 

 zinc it -will not rust. Cook Co., 111.. Jan. 10, 1899. 



Adulteration of Foods— Are We Likely to Get 

 Laws on the Subject? 



BY C. P. DADANT. 



THE interest which our bee-keepers have shown at all 

 times in this question shows that it is one of great im- 

 portance to them. Indeed, if it were not for the adul- 

 teration of honey, and the fear of adulterated honev from 

 the buyers, this article would probably be twice as valuable 

 and of much more ready sale than' it now is. Not only 

 fraud supplies an increase in quantity, but this increast 

 quantity is also of less .quality, and thus'harder to dispose of. 

 Then the knowledge of existing adulteration creates a 

 prejudice which, very often, as we all know, attaches to the 

 true product, since even the very finest article of comb 

 honey has been often suspected by uniformed, or rather ill- 

 informed, parties. 



From time to time this question of laws on adulteration 

 has been brought before the public, but never vet, in this 

 country, in as persistent a way as at present. 



About 1880 my father was appointed by the Western 

 Illinois and Eastern Iowa Bee-Keepers' Association to draft 

 and circulate a petition to Congress upon this matter. The 

 petition was sent out and finallv put before Cotigress with 

 something over 10,000 bee-keepers" signatures : but it was, 

 like many other things, buried without hope. 



Now. we bee-keepers are not in the lead ; the druggists, 

 the dairymen, the consumers in general, have preceded us 

 and joined with us to help put an end to the nuisance of 

 adulteration. A National Congress was called last year, 

 another has been called for this year, and the States are 

 also awakening to the necessity of action ; for an Illinois 

 Congress was called but a few weeks ago. But little real 

 good has been done so far. for it takes time to organize to 

 get a footing, so as to carry a weightv influence into a legis- 

 lature ; but the ball has been set a-roUing, and it is 

 hoped will not be stopt until the task is done. 



It strikes me that a National enforcement of pure food 

 laws IS a necessity for success. State laws, dift'ering in 

 each individual State, can only be make-shifts of temporary 

 standing and of imperfect action. Then it would be nece.s- 

 sary to have, as in ISurope, where such laws exist, inspec- 



tors, whose sole duty should be to see that the laws are en- 

 forced. There is nothing that can be objectionable in a law 

 compelling the sale of an article under no other than its 

 true name, and such a law ought to be enforced in every 

 State uniformly. State .sovereignty, on such questions, 

 since the abolition of slavery, has always seemed to me to 

 be no more than a farce, and the inhabitants of one State 

 ought to have no more right to do wrong than those of 

 another. What is right in Iowa cannot be vrrong in Illinois, 

 morally at least. , 



Some years ago Missouri had no law compelling a girl 

 to obtain her parents' consent to her marriage before she 

 was 18 years of age, and rash young ladies of the Sucker 

 State were known to cross the Mississippi with their lovers, 

 when matrimonially inclined, for the sole purpose of evad- 

 ing a law which did not agree with their plans. Either it 

 was wrong for a girl to marry without her parents' consent, 

 before she became of age. or "the Illinois law was wrong. 



If we have a State law on adulteration in Illinois, and 

 they have none in a neighboring State, may not the violator 

 of the law establish himself where he will find the greatest 

 freedom to perpetrate his frauds ? 



I believe the time is close at hand when we will obtain 

 some satisfaction on this subject. When the public spirit 

 is ready for a reform, it takes but little time to bring it 

 about, tho it sometimes takes a long agitation to mature the 

 popular mind on questions involving great interests. But 

 on this subject there is, or will be, but little open opposition. 

 The adulterators themselves want to appear honest and 

 fair, and the only points they will dare raise will be techni- 

 cal points of constitutionality or law, which ought not to 

 stop an important reform like this. 



Many reforms and many new things are on the public 

 mind, some of which will probably not mature for decades. 

 But some, like the hard-road question, will be pusht to a 

 solution by private enterprise in many places, even before 

 the country takes hold of them, thus "showing plainly that 

 they are ripe and must be carried throug-h. 



Meanwhile, let us all put a shoulder to the wheel. Pro- 

 pagandism is the only way to push a reform to completion. 

 If you believe a thing is right, do not let it re.st, do not 

 cease to speak of it, to push it, to advise it until it is done. 



Hancock Co., 111. 



Several Things Noted and Commented Upon. 



BY WM. M. WH-ITNEY. 



EDITOR YORK :— I have read what you say about .scrib- 

 blers, etc., in connection with your reference to "The 

 Storj' of Bee-Farming" in the Yoijth's Companion, 

 which story I read .sometime ago, and, novice as lam, it was 

 difficult to suppress a smile. While I endor.se all vou say 

 on the subject referred to, yet I desire to add that crudeness 

 is not confined entirely to the writings of novices in bee- 

 keeping. 



WHEN B.^SS-WOOD YIELDS BEST. 



As, for instance, in an article on " basswood bloom," 

 there appears the following on page 769 (1898) : 



" The condition most favorable for a large yield of nec- 

 tar is when the weather is vex-y warm and the air is filled 

 with electricity. At times when showers pass around with 

 great display of lightning," etc. 



Now, I imagine a broad smile lightin--; up the face of 

 an electrician, on reading that statement. Having been 

 taught that in a dry, cool atmosphere is the place to look 

 for superabundance of electricity, he will be surprised to 

 find the laws of Nature .so revolutionized as to completely 

 reverse the order of things. 



SINGLE-WAI,I, vs. DOUBLE-WAI.I, HIVES IN WINTER. 



And in another article in the same number of the Bee 

 Journal, on the care of bees in winter, while inferentially 

 condemning the double-wall . hive, the writer gives instruc- 

 tions for wintering- bees in single-wall hives, which, in 

 principle, is the same thing as the double-wall excepting- 

 the front, which, being unprotected, must in very cold 

 weather result in severely taxing the energy of the colony. 



My bees are in dovible-walled hives, and are packt snug 

 and warm, and there isn't a single day when the atmos- 

 phere is suitable for them to venture out, that they are not 

 on the wing, whether the sun strikes the front of the hive 

 or not ; and I will go him a " Pound Sweeting " — 16 ounces 

 to the pound — that in the same locality my bees will show 



