FIFTEENTH ANNUAL YEAR BOOK — PART VIII. 4 89 



by the generosity of the local bee men. The same condition has 

 prevailed to a greater or less extent all over the state and it 

 would have been otherwise impossible to have reached so many 

 apiaries without a much greater expenditure of funds. 



UNFAVORABLE CONDITIONS. 



The conditions that have favored the spread of disease have 

 made it extremely difficult for the inspectors to work. The fact 

 that no honey was being brought to the hive during much of the 

 summer made it very easy to start robbing and it very frequently 

 happened that an inspector would only get nicely started to work 

 when such conditions would compel him to stop. At such a time 

 an inspector had much better be at home for he can easily spread 

 disease instead of checking it. 



The protracted illness and death of the father of Prof. Bar- 

 tholomew, who was working in the northeastern district, inter- 

 fered with his work greatly and prevented him from finishing 

 some much needed inspection. Taken altogether it has been a 

 trying year for the inspectors. The unexpected appearance of 

 disease in so many new localities has made an unprecedented 

 demand for assistance and the unfavorable nectar secretion has 

 made it impossible to reach nearly all of them or to do really 

 satisfactory work in many of the localities visited. 



NEED OF COUNTY INSPECTORS. 



A season like the present one when conditions that favor the 

 spread of disease make it impossible for the inspectors to make 

 rapid progress in dealing with it make it very clear that in order 

 to get effective inspection a considerable number of men must 

 be available for work at the time when conditions permit good 

 work to be done. I am doubtful whether with a large appropri- 

 ation it would be possible to get a sufficient number of compe- 

 tent men for the short period that they can be thus employed. 

 Then, too, it is often necessary to travel long distances and con- 

 siderable expense is necessary. It seems to me that provisions 

 should be made for cases where disease is badly scattered in any 

 county, to authorize the county boards of supervisors to appoint 

 a competent resident bee keeper as county inspector on petition 

 of about ten resident bee keepers and the recommendation of 

 the State Inspector. In this way a man would be able to work 



