512 ANNUAL REPORT OF THE Off. Doc. 



and I heard an amendment that it should be cereals instead of corn; 

 that is all I heard. 



MB. HERR: That is the idea. 



The question being, shall the amendment prevail? It was 

 agreed to. 



The question then recurring on the original motion, as amended, 

 which was also agreed to. 



The CHAIRMAN: We will now hear the Report of the Committee 

 on Apiary, J. W. Nelson, Chairman, Shawville, Pa. 



'Mr. Nelson presented and read his report as follows: 



REPORT OF THE COMMITTEE ON APIARY. 



Br J. W. NEI>SON, Chairman. 



The spring of 1905 found the bee industry in a bad condition, ow 

 iii|g in part, to the extremely hard winter and in part to the pre- 

 valence of foul or black brood over a large part of the State. Spring 

 opened with fair weather during fruit bloom; followed by an abund- 

 ance of clover bloom. But the weather was so wet during the last 

 of May and the month of June that no surplus was gathered. July 

 was a beautiful month and some surplus was gathered. There was 

 an abundance of buckwheat, but most of the nights in August were 

 too cool and no buckwheat honey was gathered worth while. Sep- 

 tember was also cool and no white honey was gathered. On the 

 whole the season was medium; good in places and poor in others. 



Nothing-has been done in the way of legislation to protect the bee 

 keepers from the ravages of foul or black brood. I think a county 

 law would be best if property framed, but the best remedy would 

 perhaps be to educate the farmer at the Institutes and by Bulletins. 

 As to the contagious character of these diseases, to this end I attach 

 an article by E. W. Alexander, of New York, including the intro- 

 duction by E. R. Root. These and other experiments along this 

 line would seem to indicate that it is possible to exterminate the 

 diseases, if done intelligently, and that too without destroying the 

 diseased property. If this hope proves true, and I think there is no 

 doubt it will, it means thousands of dollars to the industry, for 

 there is no branch of agriculture that will yield so much return for 

 the money invested, either in money or information. 



It would be hard indeed to find a more interesting subject for 

 study than apiculture. As an introduction to the subject of Nature 

 study nothing else will compare with it. The bee is a most mar- 

 velous piece of creation, as to its physical structure in which it 

 shows its wonderful adaptation for the work it has to perform, 

 but it is the living link between the members of many families of 

 the vegetable kingdom and becomes the active agent in cross fer- 

 tilization in the perpetuation of their species. It will thus be seen- 

 that one can not progress far in the study of this little insect with- 

 out discovering one of nature's most mysterious processes. It would 



