94 JOURNAL OF ECONOMIC ENTOMOLOGY [Vol. 7 



We cannot endorse too strongly the placing of bee disease eradication 

 work in the hands of entomologists rather than beekeepers. While 

 it is true that an intimate knowledge of beekeeping is the first and most 

 important qualification of an efficient inspector, yet beekeeping after 

 all is applied entomology in every sense of the word, and dealing with 

 the diseases of bees is as much entomological work as is the utiUzation 

 of entomogenous fungi or bacterial diseases in the warfare against 

 injurious insects. The objection to a practical beekeeper having charge 

 of disease eradication lies in the fact that such a man usually lacks the 

 scientific knowledge and training necessary to thorough work. 



While the chief inspector, or board having enforcement of the law 

 in charge, must be allowed a certain latitude in the making of regula- 

 tions, all essentials should he included in the law itself as far as possible. 

 Legislative powers cannot be delegated to boards or officials and, while 

 such authorities may adopt regulations for carrying out the expressed 

 provisions of the law, they can go no further than this without exceed- 

 ing constitutional limits. 



The several states may not pass laws which interfere with interstate 

 commerce and hence state officials cannot prohibit the shipment of 

 nursery stock, or bees, or other commiodity into a state. At the same 

 time, it is certain that their jurisdiction over such shipments commences 

 as soon as the latter have crossed the interstate line and the shipments 

 may be stopped, inspected or condemned according to their condition 

 and the state law governing them. The practical effect of this is to 

 prevent shipments into a state except in those cases where the ship- 

 ments will meet all requirements for intrastate shipment after their 

 arrival. The state law, to be efficient, should provide for adequate 

 inspection and quarantining of shipments immediately upon their 

 arrival within the state and in like manner should provide suitable 

 provisions for preventing the shipping of diseased bees from one point 

 to another within the state. In this connection, the inspector should 

 have full authority to enter depots, warehouses and cars for the purpose 

 of inspecting bees therein which are in transit or which have been 

 accepted for transportation. Provision in the law for preventing the 

 sale or shipment of combs, hives and other fixtures likely to be infected 

 is almost as important as preventing the sale of diseased bees. 



One of the difficulties met with in eradication work is the dissemi- 

 nation of the disease through sale or shipment of honey taken from 

 infected colonies. There is little question but what there is wide- 

 spread dissemination of foul brood by this means and our failure to 

 guard against this constitutes perhaps the weakest point in our present 

 plan of foul brood eradication. At the same time, it does not appear 

 practical to legislate against the sale of such honey and were the states 



