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Prof. "Wiley has again " put his foot 

 in it," when giving the Senate committee 

 on agriculture the result of his microscopic 

 examinations of the various samples of lard 

 submitted to him. He stated that lard 

 made by Armour & Co., and branded " pure 

 refined family lard," contained cotton-seed 

 oil and stearine. IS -SM ■ '-- ' "'^^^ 



A sample of lard manufactured by Whit- 

 taker & Sons.brauded " pure imadulterated, 

 honest refined lard," contained no cotton- 

 seed, while a sample manufactured by the 

 same firm, branded "adulterated refined 

 lard," contained cotton-seed oil. He had 

 rendered the head, entrails, and intestines 

 of the hog, and found them to make a pure 

 lard that could not be distinguished from 

 other lard. Leaf lard had a little less color. 



Upon being questioned further on the 

 quality of the lard obtained, the daily 

 papers give these questions by the commit- 

 tee, and answers by Prof. Wiley : 



Prof. Wiley said he did not think there 

 was any way of distinguishing dead hog- 

 grease from pure lard. The way the hog 

 died had no effect upon the lard. 



Senator Blair— These lards made from the 

 intestines are as good as any ? 



Prof. Wiley— 1 had just as soon eat com- 

 pound lard as pure lard. 



Senator Blair— Do you eat dead hog lard ? 



Prof. Wiley— 1 presume I do. It is just 

 as good as any other. I would as lief eat it. 



The chairman— It is charged that manu- 

 facturers of lard take dead hogs and throw 

 them in, entrails, hair, and heads, and white 

 grease is rendered from them. Would that 

 be nocuous? 



Prof. Wiley— I think not. There is noth- 

 ing deleterious in decomposed animals. 



This opinion of the ivily professor is so 

 disgusting to every honest man that the 

 daily papers are administering to him a 

 a severe rebuke tor such charlatanry. The 

 Chicago Times remarks as follows : 



It is pleasant to be informed by Prof. 

 Wiley, Chemist of the Department of Agri- 

 culture, that there is no way of distinguish- 

 ing dead-hog grease from pure lard, and 

 that the way the hog dies has no effect upon 

 the lard. In that case, success to the adul- 

 terators. Tliere cannot be too little hog's 

 grease or too much cotton-seed oil and 

 stearine in what is eaten as lard. 



This is the same "skunk" who deliber- 

 ately and wilfully endeavored to ruin the 

 production and sale of " pure honey in the 

 comb," by inventing his lie about the manu- 

 facture of combs out of parafflne, filling 

 them with glucose, sealing them up with 

 hot ijous, and selling such as pure honey. 



His work is all in the interest of adultera- 

 tors— paving the way for their fraudulent 

 products, and tlieu covering them with the 

 mantle of the United States National 

 Chemist— saying that the abominable death- 

 dealing, filthy and fraudulent production is 

 just as good as the pure article I ! 



Such nefarious schemes put to blush the 

 honest and honorable— deceives our Gover- 

 nors and legislators, destroys honest com- 

 merce in healthy products, and fills the 

 mouths of clergymen in other lands with 



wonderful stories about adulterating bee- 

 farms and the like, which exist only in the 

 imagination of these would-be sight-seers ! 



This wily scamp and his followers are 

 doing more damage to morals and honest 

 dealing, than all other influences corabmed. 



Seasonable Triitlis.— In her- in- 

 imitable style, Mrs. L. Harrison crowds into 

 one short paragraph in the Prairie Farmer, 

 all these hints on important subjects for the 

 present season : 



Bee-keepers have been under a cloud the 

 past year, but it is lifting, and clear sky ap- 

 pears. According to reports from all points 

 North and West, bees have wintered well. 

 The colonies out-doors have had frequent 

 flights ; those in the cellar are healthy, and 

 the outlook is good. It is refreshing during 

 these freezing nights and chilly days 

 (March IS) to read of <)ees swarming and 

 gathering honey in Florida and Louisiana. 

 The blue-birds made a mistake this year, 

 and returned to this locality too soon. Those 

 who have bees in the cellar, should not be 

 in a hurry to put them upon the summer 

 stands, but let them remain until danger of 

 freezing weather is past. Such a thing as a 

 bee-keeper regretting that he did not re- 

 move his bees from the cellar earlier, has 

 never been heard of, but the opposite has. 

 If the bees are uneasy, give them a drink, 

 and they will quiet down ; sweep up the 

 dead bees, and give the others fresh air, but 

 let them remain. 



Crop Reports.— Mr. Caleb L. Sweet 

 gives us a "Prime" thought on obtaining 

 reliable statistics. He says;: Iti'teij ka«* 



As you request correspondents to suggest 

 plans for gathering statistics, let me state 

 that Mr. Samuel T. K. Prime, of Livings- 

 ton, Ills., is running one of the greatest 

 bureaus of private " crop reports " in the 

 world. I do not know how many corres- 

 pondents he has in the United States and 

 Canada, but my number is 1212. Corres- 

 pondents get their circulars once a month, 

 which is a summary of the correspondents' 

 reports for their labor. Dealers, I suppose, 

 pay him. He might take hold of this for 

 the honey producers, and ask his reporters 

 the questions desired. Under this plan the 

 producers and dealers could have the re- 

 ports by paying for them, while the con- 

 sumers would not, to any great extent, be 

 informed. 



We have commenced a correspondence 

 with Mr. Prime, to ascertain whether such 

 an arrangement as that suggested by Mr. 

 Sweet could be made at the terms upon 

 which it could be consumated. As soon as 

 we receive anything definite, we will in- 

 form our readers most fully. AVe are mak- 

 ing progress, and hope to evolve something 

 of great value to bee-keepers. 



nir. 4)!<*o. K. Hilton has had the sec- 

 ond thousand of his pamphlet on the pro- 

 duction of comb honey, printed at the office 

 oiQleaniiigs, and it is needless to say that 

 the printing is a grand improvement on the 

 former thousand, which was evidently done 

 where they had no facilities for such work, 

 and no experience in doing it. It is a great 

 mistake to have books or pamphlets printed 

 in such places. "Botch work" is all that 

 can be expected in such cases, and all that 

 is ever realized. 



Entrance Controller. — Mr. A. C. 



Tyrrel, of Madison, Nebr., has sent us a 

 contrivance for controlling the entrance of 

 hives, by enlarging or ensmalling it. It 

 consists of a bent piece of zinc with four 

 holes, having another piece with three of 

 such corresponding holes, which can be 

 slid along, and thus make the entrance of 

 any size desired. Mr. Tyrrel thus de- 

 scribes it : 



I use the device on my hives to prevent 

 robbing and swarming, and it is a drone- 

 excluder. To open, push the slide one 

 space to the right. This will allow the 

 worker-bees free egress and ingress, and 

 prevent queens from emerging. This latter 

 is to be used in case it is necessary to be ab- 

 sent for a time from the apiary during the 

 swarming season. To leave but one bee- 

 space, in case a colony is being robbed, push 

 the slide one space to the right,if the spaces 

 are already open ; if closed, two spaces to 

 the right. 



When extracting or taking comb honey, 

 if robbers are a source of annoyance, every 

 hive can be closed quickly and effectively 

 by simply pushing the slide so as to close 

 all the open spaces. If the weather is hot, 

 leave a half or quarter space open for ven- 

 tilation. 



The device is placed in front of the en- 

 trance to my hives. It has eleven spaces, 

 but any length can be made to correspond 

 with the hive used. A wire nail put through 

 the upper right hand corner, allows it to 

 swing to its place, perpendicularly with the 

 edge of the hive, when not in use, and 

 fastened with a small tack ; which, when 

 taken out, lets it drop to its place in front 

 of the entrance, and it is ready for use. 



l^it is desired to diminish the number of 

 drones, or save the best for breeding pur- 

 poses, after they leave the hive for a flight, 

 drop the trap to the front of the entrance, 

 and open the spaces. The workers can go 

 in and out, but drones cannot get back. 



I find this device much better than blocks 

 I have used heretofore, for it is always at 

 hand. It works like a charm. 



Statistics at Conventions. — Mr, 



D. A. Fuller, of Cherry Valley, Ills., makes 

 the following inquiry : 



Why cannot the desired statistics be gath- 

 ered at the bee-conventions better than any 

 where else, by the use of cards ? 



As not one in fifty bee-keepers ever at- 

 tend bee-conventions, taking reports from 

 members who attend them, would be totally 

 inadequate for statistics of the industry. 

 To be of any value, statistics must include 

 all the product of honey and beeswax, as 

 well as the number of colonies of bees. 



One or Oiu* European subscribers, 

 who is an Episcopal clergyman as well as 

 an apiarist, desires to locate somewhere in 

 North America, where he could in addition 

 to pastoral duties devote his time to bee- 

 keeping. If any one knows of such a com- 

 bination, offering a permanence, he may 

 address this office, and we will communi- 

 cate with the clergyman. 



• Apiary Register.- All who intend to 

 be systematic in their work in the apiary, 

 should get a copy of the Apiary Register and 

 begin to use it. The prices are as follows : 



For 50 colonies (120 pages) *1 00 



" 100 colonies (220 pages) 1 25 



" 200 colonies (420 pages) 1 50 



