WR GIES & 
TREATMENT FOR BEE DISEASES. G1 
shaking bees being a very expensive operation, but you do not need 
any brood during the honey flow, and the time makes a great 
difference. 
Mr. Yor. There is one thing to be taken into consideration. Bees 
are worth less per colony in Texas and California than in the East. 
When you talk to a man here about burning 30 colonies, it does not 
take all his bees. 
Dr. Pumurpes. I do not know about Texas, but I do know that 
farther west an eradication of 50 colonies to many of the bee keepers 
of the West is not a serious proposition. The western bee keeper's 
normal increase is more than his loss, so it is not like the loss to a 
small bee keeper. 
Mr. Arcuiey. In Texas we hardly ever find an apiary in which 
every colony has the disease; therefore, when we burn the affected 
colonies we have enough left to rebuild the apiary. 
Mr. Ranxrn. In considering this matter of bee disease and bee 
inspection one sometimes wonders if the ideal inspector exists. It 
would seem that bee inspectors are born, not made. The fact that a 
man knows bee disease and its treatment does not indicate that he is 
necessarily a good inspector. The most successful inspectors of 
whom I know are men who not only know bee disease thoroughly, 
but also have the ability to handle the bee keeper whose bees they 
are inspecting. The successful bee inspector, then, must first of all 
be able to diagnose the disease and know it under all its varying 
conditions. Next, he must know its treatment and management 
under every condition which may arise; he must know every con- 
dition on which the success of the treatment depends. Then, last. 
but also of vital importance, he must be able to use tact in the hand- 
ling of the men whom he is appointed to help. He must know from 
the appearance of a man and from the first words exchanged just how 
to proceed with that particular individual to secure the best results. 
Let me add a word in defense of the inspectors. I know 14 of 
those in California personally, and among them are some very ex- 
ceptional men. They are not all equally successful, although I believe 
they all know bee diseases thoroughly, but among the entire number 
I do not know a single man who is serving as bee inspector merely 
for the money he receives for the work. Let us give credit to whom 
credit is due. These men are doing good work, and it is through 
these men that the bee keepers must look for the suppression of bee 
diseases under the present system. Give them your support and en- 
couragement, but never under any consideration criticize them in 
public in a way which would interfere with the work on bee disease. 
The laws provide for the removal of an incompetent man, and if a 
man is not competent to serve as an inspector let him be removed and 
