February, '21] taxquarv: foulbrood legislation 125 



ties which I mentioned above as being necessary in a bee inspector. 

 The results could hardly have been more gratifying. Their work was 

 thorough and they receiv-ed the heartiest cooperation from the bee- 

 keepers themselves. When asked their opinion concerning the method, 

 almost without exception the beekeepers endorsed the plan. Many of 

 the county inspectors welcomed this plan, saying that they would much 

 prefer putting in all their time on their own work. Many of these county 

 inspectors are men with a big beekeeping business of their own, and they 

 have done the work of county inspection more because of their interest 

 in keeping foulbrood down in their locality than because of what they 

 got out of it in the way of salary. 



The following few instances may be given of the results of this year's 

 work in Texas under the present plan. In one county a beekeeper a 

 few years ago owned several hundred colonies. Foulbrood got into his 

 yards and he finally had less than twenty colonies left. He had given up 

 the idea of staying in the beekeeping business. One of our inspectors 

 spent a little over two weeks in his county and had every case of foul- 

 brood in his locality treated or destroyed. This man then declared that 

 he had changed his plans entirely and intended now to go into bee- 

 keeping on a big scale. Another beekeeper who lives in a county which 

 has had foulbrood for many years made the statement publicly that 

 "In our county we might have said in the past that Inspectors come and 

 Inspectors go but foulbrood stays on forever, but now for the first time 

 we feel that we have foulbrood on the run." A spring inspection of his 

 county revealed 200 cases of foulbrood. A thorough fall inspection 

 revealed but three cases, two of which were destroyed and the other 

 treated by the inspector. Just a few days before I left the office I 

 received a letter from two of our state inspectors in the southern part of 

 the state saying that they had discovered a foulbrood nest in that sec- 

 tion. One man owning 93 colonies had 74 diseased, and there were also 

 other cases of disease near him. This report came from a county which 

 has a county inspector and which has been reported free from disease 

 for several years past excepting for one case which appeared in the 

 inspector's own apiar}^ and which he destroyed. Aiany other similar 

 instances could be mentioned, but I think those given are sufficient. 



Many of the county inspectors are good beekeepers and good inspec- 

 tors and have done most excellent work. The fact some of them have 

 not been able to locate and eradicate all the foulbrood in their county 

 or counties (som.e of them have more than one county) is not necessarily 

 a reflection on their ability but is more a reflection, on the system. The 

 better beekeeper and inspector a man is, the greater his loss if he puts 

 in his time inspecting other people's bees instead of taking care of his 



