150 DEPARTMENTAL REPORTS. 



original devices connected with queen rearing will be made, and tlie 

 results will be published. It is proposed to make a studj^ of certain 

 features of the bee-keeping industry in Florida, Texas, New Mexico, 

 Arizona, and southern California, and experiments will be carried on 

 to develop a safe and cheap method of wintering surplus queens. An 

 effort will also be made to collect information regarding the honey 

 resources and other conditions affecting bee keeping in Porto Rico, 

 Hawaii, Alaska, and the Philii^pines. 



SUGGESTIONS AS TO ESTIMATES FOR THE YEAR 1903. 



I recommend that all of the appropriations made for the year 1902 be 

 continued for the year 1903, with an increase in one item only and the 

 addition of another item. The investigation of the Mexican cotton- 

 boll weevil is one of such potential importance to the cotton-growing 

 industry that it is obvious that no eilort should be spared to find a 

 practical and cheap means of fighting this destructive insect. The 

 work of the summer of 1901 and of the spring of 1902 will not settle 

 the question. Many points will still remain to be set at rest. There- 

 fore the reappropriation of 13,500 for this investigation is urged. The 

 same may be said of the appropriation of 11,000 for the investigation 

 of the codling moth in the Northwest, with a view of ascertaining the 

 best remedial measures to be adopted in that section of the country. 



With apiculture, it seems very desirable that the appropriation should 

 be increased. The $2,000 appropriated for 1902 is sufficient to pay a 

 small salary to one expert, leaving a ver^^ small amount for the expenses 

 of the investigation work. The bee industry is such a large one in this 

 country, and its possibilities seem so extensive, that it appears well 

 worth while to comply with the earnest desires of the large and grow- 

 ing body of bee keejiers and to conduct some practical scientific work 

 which will be of assistance to them. There is a great necessitj^ for a 

 thorough investigation of the contagious diseases of bees. AVhole 

 apiaries in some sections of the country have been completely 

 destroyed by maladies about which nothing is known. Our extensive 

 correspondence shows that there is a constantly increasing demand 

 for information as to the possibilities of bee keeping in this country 

 and in our recently added territories. The large bees of Oriental 

 regions (Ajns dorsata) should be studied in the Philippines and, if 

 found possible, should be introduced into our Southern States. Tlie 

 apicultural pi'oduct of the country at present is estimated at 

 $20,000,000 annually, but this is but a small part of the benefits whicli 

 the country as a whole derives from this industry, since the fields of 

 fruit and seed crops are largely increased by the presence of bees in 

 numbers, this increase being brought about by cross fertilization 

 through the agency of the bees. I therefore recommeud that the 

 appi'opriation be raised from $2,000 to $5,000 for the fiscal year 1903. 



There has been for several j^ears past a i-apidly increasing demand 

 for information regarding the desti-uction of forest trees 1)}^ insects. 

 This destruction in certain sections has been so great as to amount to 

 serious loss. The Division, through pul)lications and correspondence, 

 has endeavored to supply the demand for information in regard to 

 insects of this class, but the knowledge at hand is not commensurate 

 with the situation, and a careful and extended investigation is 

 urgently needed and is called for by the great forestry industries of the 

 country. I tlierefore strongly urge that $5,000 be approjiriated for 

 the fiscal year 1903 for the investigation of damage to forests and 

 forest trees by insects. 



