•96 JOURNAL OF ECONOMIC ENTOMOLOGY [Vol. 7 



that its presence in the act was due to the bunglesome error of a clerk, 

 rather than to ignorance on the part of those who drafted the bill or 

 the legislative committees which recommended its passage. Despite 

 the fact that even diseased bees cannot be confiscated without due 

 recompense being made to the owner, the inspector can, under an 

 efficient law, prescribe and enforce such drastic treatment that the 

 owner will destroy the diseased colonies himself rather than stand the 

 expense incident to the treatment. The writer is not in favor of the 

 unnecessary destruction of property; on the contrary, is fully in favor 

 of saving diseased colonies wherever it is possible, but practical experi- 

 ence has shown that drastic action is sometimes necessary. In the 

 case of bees in box hives, also, the inspector can make the transfer him- 

 self at the owner's expense if the law so provides. In such cases the 

 cost of having the inspector do the work is much greater than if the 

 owner does it and this is usually sufficient to insure the transfer being 

 promptly made. 



There are many other points to which consideration can and should 

 be given in the formulation of an apiary inspection law, but perhaps 

 the ones we have mentioned may possess a suggestive value to those 

 directly interested in securing better legislation in this field. 



BEE-KEEPING AND APIARY INSPECTION IN MISSOURI 



By Leonard Haseman, Department of Entomology, University of Missouri 



The annual products of the Missouri bee are estimated to l)e worth 

 nearly one million dollars, and are the output of about forty thousand 

 apiaries or more than two hundred thousand colonies. This repre- 

 sents a considerable industry, and it is surprising how little actual 

 enthusiasm is found among the bee-keepers of the state and how 

 little state aid is given them in their attempt to improve conditions. 

 In Missouri any attempt to secure state aid must be backed by suffi- 

 cient evidence that the aid is needed and will produce results if is it 

 given. As yet the bee-keepers have been unable, seemingly, to impress 

 the legislature with their needs. This is not surprising when one 

 considers that the State Bee-Keepers Association, the only association 

 of its nature in the state, has at present a membership of less than 

 one hundred, when there are nearly forty thousand bee-keepers to 

 draw from. This shows a lack of support on the part of bee-keepers 

 themselves, and without that first little state support can be expected. 



In 1903 a few of the more progressive Missouri bee-keepers got 

 together and formed the present Missouri Bee-Keepers Association. 

 These few members gradually increased the enrollment of the asso- 

 ciation to soaiething like one hundred members. It is not a strong 



