56 MEETING OF INSPECTORS OF APIARIES. 
his entire time to his own business; yet I honor this American spirit 
you possess in that, having once started out to accomplish results, 
you refuse to turn back until the end is attained. 
I hardly feel like posing as an instructor to this gathering of in- 
spectors, but will call your attention to a few important points. A 
question often asked is, ‘* How does.the disease spread so rapidly?” I 
would answer, “ By means of infected honey.” No field bee from an 
infected colony goes out with its honey sack so empty of honey that 
it contains no germs, and on their return many bees mistake their 
hive and carry disease to their near neighbors in the same apiary, so 
that it is a common thing to find a badly infected colony and those 
in the same row infected in proportion to their distance from the 
source of contagion. 
How the disease spread from yard is yard when no robbing took 
place was for a long time a puzzling question, until I found an 
apiary of black bees 3 miles from an apiary of golden Italians that 
were infected. In many colonies of the yard of blacks could be found 
a sprinkling of the golden Italians and in nearly every case these 
colonies showed traces of disease. Evidently bees are often driven 
by stress of weather or some other cause to seek shelter far from 
home, and thus disease may be spread. 
We have found no bees immune from disease, yet some vigorous 
strains of Italians are nearly so. For years we have recommended 
the introduction of young Italian queens, but have warned the owner 
of an infected apiary not to depend on that alone, as it would prove 
disastrous in localities where the disease has just made its appearance 
and the bees are mostly black. This method will often prove very 
successful where European foul brood has existed for some time and 
lost much of its virulence, but, like the use of drugs, it is not a safe 
method for the inspector to advocate, while the shaking method has 
never failed us if done in a thorough manner. Colonies that are 
found to be diseased late in the season may be cured by taking away 
all their combs after brood rearing has ceased and giving them clean 
combs from a healthy colony, as any disease germs that are contained 
in the honey sack will have been eliminated lone before brood rearing 
commences in the spring. 
In conclusion I would say that to be successful as an inspector a 
man should not only be well versed in the management of bees and 
bee diseases, but he must be broad minded, even tempered, possess a 
liberal amount of tact and diplomacy, and be a shrewd judge of 
human nature. Yes, and even more, he should be able to win the con- 
fidence of others and share their burdens, and when the time draws 
nigh when the working tools of life shall drop from his nerveless 
clasp he may look back with satisfaction to a life well spent in the 
service of others. 
