360 



AMERICAN BEE JOURNAL. 



pursuit. A great deal of cheap honey is 

 sold throughout Kansas, and we can't find 

 out where it comes from, either. I suppose 

 it is all right to sell impure articles, pro- 

 vided it says so on the package. 



I believe if the right steps were taken we 

 could get some good bee-keeper in each 

 county who would join the Union, and be 

 made one of the Board of Directors; that 

 would give the Manager a better opportu- 

 nity to fight the violators. 



What do you say about the matter, any- 

 how i I would like to hear through the 

 columns of the Bee Journal. 

 Yours truly, 



W. Emmett Potts. 



Well, Bro. Potts, we don't know how a 

 Board of Directors composed of 3,500 mem- 

 bers could well be managed, but if they 

 were once secured, no doubt means would 

 be originated by which they could be 

 properly and advantageously handled. 

 Something ought to be done, we think, to 

 increase the membership to such an extent 

 that it would become a power in securing 

 needed legislation for the protection of bee- 

 keepers in their rights, and also against 

 those who are injuring the reputation and 

 sale of pure honey by flooding the markets 

 with villainous adulterations. 



There is no use in talking, producers of 

 pure honey cannot successfully compete 

 with sellers of glucosed mixtures, unless 

 we have a law compelling such adultera- 

 tions to be correctly labeled, as in the case 

 of butterine, oleomargarine, etc. We be- 

 lieve that the Bee-Keepers' Union is the 

 organization that should go forward in the 

 work of getting the necessaiy laws enacted, 

 and then help in their strict enforcement. 

 Of course, all the bee-papers will mightily 

 aid in all such efforts. 



Perhaps General Manager Newman will 

 have something to offer relative to the sug- 

 gestion made by Bro. Potts, or any other 

 plan that will extend the influence of the 

 National Bee-Keepers' Union. 



4'oiiveiitioit Kcports, as published 

 in the Bee Jolkxai,, seem to be worrying 

 a certain contributor to the Progremve Bee- 

 Keeper. Just read what he says about such 

 reports : 



I notice that a recent number of a certain 

 bee-journal is given mainly to reports of 

 various bee-keepers' associations, but 

 please, Mr. Editor, do not think that I am 

 hinting at the Progressive. What I wish to 

 say is this : 



I do not know how interesting these re- 

 ports are to others, but to me a greater 

 part is very dry reading. If there is any- 



thing that is new and worthy of considera- 

 tion brought out at a convention, editors 

 should let the readers have it, but it is not 

 very interesting to learn that Mr. A pre- 

 fers the frames hanging crosswise of the 

 hive, while Mr. B prefers them hanging the 

 other way ; and that C recommends put- 

 ting the empty super under the one nearly 

 finished, while D says it should be put on 

 top; that Mr. Smart Aleck uses shade- 

 boards, while Mr. Know-it-all prefers trees 

 or vines for shade, etc. ; for in all proba- 

 bility the individual who reads it will flx 

 things according to his own notion, and 

 according to circumstances. 



A bee-journal (or any other journal) 

 should be something like a fanning-mill, 

 and its editor a good operator of the same, 

 capable of sifting out the chaff and tares, 

 and giving its readers the plump, round 

 grains. 



If we weren't pretty certain who wrote 

 the above criticism, we'd say he shows un- 

 mistable symptoms of natural laziness. 



The idea of comparing a bee-paper to a 

 "fanning-mill," and its editor the fellow 

 to turn on the wind ! And what for ? Why, 

 so that writers or readers like the above 

 wouldn't have even the slight trouble of 

 picking their "intellectual teeth" after 

 "eating" the " plump round grains" of 

 apicultural knowledge. What in creation 

 is this world coming to, any way ? Some 

 people will soon want their food already 

 digested, and given to them with a spoon 

 during their sleep, as it would be almost 

 too much trouble to wake up and also have 

 to endure the digesting operations. True, 

 true ; " wonders will never cease !" 



I%ot Eilitoi*. — We learn from Prof. 

 Cook that the announcement we made on 

 page 264 is a mistake. He is not to be the 

 editor of the bee-department of the Rural 

 VaUfor/iiini. He says he has no time for the 

 work, and had so informed the editor of 

 the above paper, notwithstanding which 

 the Califuniidii, announced it practically as 

 we had it on page 264. 



Protection for Bees in j^pring'. 



— In the March i.V^'tw, Bro. Hutchinson has 

 this to say about the early spring manage- 

 ment of bees : 



Most of my readers know that I favor 

 taking the bees from the cellar quite early, 

 certainly as soon as the last of this month 

 in ordinary seasons, and then protecting 

 them for nearly two months. The advan- 

 tages have been given several times in the 

 Jitricw. hence I will not use space in their 

 repetition, but instead I will describe a 



