AMERICAN BEE JOURNAL. 



659 



from Mr. Muth, that he thought brace 

 and burr combs could be prevented al- 

 most entirely. He was inclined to think 

 that the thickness of the top-bar, irre- 

 spective of sufficient strength, had some- 

 thing to do with brace and burr combs. 



H. R. Boardman— Close spacing only 

 partially prevents brace and burr combs. 



N. D. West — We should be careful to 

 have combs in the center of the frames, 

 and perfectly true in the frames. 



The General Manager of the National 

 Bee-Keepers' Union, Thomas G. New- 

 man, then delivered the following ad- 

 dress, entitled. 



No. 4.— Old Mr. Blobbs— " Wow ! Owch ! 

 Help! Murder! Police!"' 



The National Bee-Keepers' TJnion ; Its 

 Scope and Iiegitimate Work. 



At the last election of officers for the 

 Union, Amendments to the Constitution 

 were adopted, which allow the Union 

 to exert its influence and devote its re- 

 sources "for any purposes in the inter- 

 est of the pursuit of bee-culture, when 

 sach are approved by the Advisory 

 Board." 



This Amendment defines "the Scope" 

 of the Union most fully. Its powers are 

 circumscribed only by its available 

 funds, and the " interests of the pur- 

 suit." 



It remains with the Advisory Board to 

 determine " its legitimate work." But 

 that Board should always "feel the 

 pulse " of bee-keepers generally, remain 



within the limits of the work sanctioned 

 by their sentiments, and thus "keep in 

 touch" with the spirit of "the ever- 

 living present" — the times in which we 

 live. 



Prominent among the later sugges- 

 tions as to a field of operation, in addi- 

 tion to the defense of the pursuit of bee- 

 keeping when assailed by the i^orant 

 and prejudiced, is that the Union 

 should assume the aggressive, and prose- 

 cute adulterators of honey. 



Much as we may approve this senti- 

 ment, it must be admitted that there are 

 difficulties to be encountered, because of 

 the diversity in the laws of the several 



JlO-J^f^ 



No. 5. — " Great Scott, I've got to run, or 

 I'm a dead man!" 



(See No. 6 on next page.) 



States. What is needed most, is a gen- 

 eral law enacted by the National Con- 

 gress of the United States against the 

 adulteration of all kinds of food, appli- 

 cable alike to every State and Territory. 

 Then something may be accomplished in 

 that line which will be beneficial — until 

 that is done, I fear that we shall " labor 

 in vain," except perhaps in isolated in- 

 stances. 



Another difficulty is that the analyza- 

 tion of honey by chemists of even Na- 

 tional reputation cannot always be re- 

 lied upon for proof of sophistication. 

 This has been proven by many samples 

 of absolutely pure honey having been by 

 them pronounced " probably adulter- 

 ated." The reason for much of this 

 confusion lies in the fact that the honey 

 from localities varies in consequence of 



