103 JOURNAL OF ECONOMIC ENTOMOLOGY [Vol. 1 



respondenee with any one person would be kept in a separate folder. 

 The method outlined above does not require any extra work and very 

 much less time is needed to refer to the correspondence from any one 

 county. This method presupposes, of course, that carbon copies of 

 letters are filed instead of using the letter book system. 



Owing to the lateness of the hour, the meeting adjourned until 9.30 

 a. m. Saturday, with the understanding that the two papers remaining^ 

 on the program be read first. 



Morning Session, Saturday, December 28, 1907 



Arrangements had been made for a joint meeting of this association 

 and the Association of Horticultural Inspectors and the program had 

 been arranged accordingly. The session was called to order at 9.30 a. 

 m. by President Morgan, and the following paper was presented : 



BEE DISEASES: A PROBLEM IN ECONOMIC 

 ENTOMOLOGY 



By E. F. Phillips, WasMngtcn^, D. C. 



Bee keeping in the United States is a sole means of livelihood to a 

 comparatively small number of persons, but taken as a whole it forms 

 an industry which commands recognition. Every year the manufac- 

 turers of supplies in this country make from 60,000,000 to 75,000,000 

 sections for comb honey and practically all of these are used in the 

 United States. A study of market conditions will reveal the fact that 

 there is three or four times as much extracted honey as comb put on 

 the market, mainly because of the heavy demand for confectionery 

 and baking purposes. A species of insect which forms the basis for 

 an industry adding from $20,000,000 to $25,000,000 to the resources, 

 of the country annually is well worthy of consideration in economie 

 entomology. 



No one conversant with bee keeping conditions would claim that 

 the entire field is now occupied. It is safe to say that many times as 

 much nectar goes to waste and dries up annually as is gathered by 

 honey bees; probably this country could produce ten times the pres- 

 ent yearly honey crop were there more and better bee keepers properly 

 located. In attempting to aid in the building up of this industry, it 

 is necessary to determine the causes which prevent its rapid growth. 

 The two principal causes seem to be too general an ignorance of mod- 

 ern methods of manipulation, and the brood diseases of the bees. 

 The education of all bee keepers to proper methods is no small un- 



