76 EIGHTEENTH ANNUAL REPORT OF THE 



The President. — Nominations for the position of Treasurer are 

 in order. Mr. Seastream is the present Treasurer, who was appointed 

 after Mr. Becker's death. What is your pleasure, gentlemen? 



Mr. Pitner. — Move that the present Treasurer be elected for the 

 full year. 



The President. — Mr. Seastream is nominated. I would enter- 

 tain a motion that the Secretary cast the ballot, if some one will make 

 that motion. 



Motion made by Mr. Heinzel that the Secretary cast the ballot 

 for Mr. Seastream for Treasurer, was duly seconded and carried and 

 the ballot cast accordingly. 



The ballot for five Vice Presidents resulted in the election of the 

 following: First Vice President, Mr. Heinzel; Second, Mr. Withrow; 

 Third, Mr. Coppin; Fourth, Mr. King; Fifth, Mr, Tyler. 



BEE-KEEPERS AND BEE-KEEPING AS SEEN BY A 



BEE INSPECTOR. 



(By Professor F. Eric Millen, State Apiarist of Iowa.) 



Mr. President, Ladies and Gentlemen: I have found, after some 

 years of apiary inspection, that the inspector not only inspects the 

 apiaries, but the bee-keepers inspect the inspectors and sometimes the 

 bees also take part in that inspection, so that the inspection is not all 

 done from one side. 



A few years of apiary inspection leaves some very marked im- 

 pressions upon the inspector. One finds that year after year the same 

 conditions exist and the work to a large degree becomes routine, that 

 is, the actual inspection work; and I have found that bee-keepers can 

 be classed into three or four pretty well defined classes, and first I 

 would name the amateur bee-keeper. 



The amateur bee-keeper is one of the most interesting bee-keepers 

 with whom the inspector comes in contact. We find that the amateur 

 has usually more ambition and more interest than any other one class 

 of bee-keepers, probably with the exception of the specialist, and the 

 interest of the amateur is quite different from the interest of the spe- 

 cialist, because the specialist has come to the time when he realizes 

 that the only way he can continue to make a success of the business 

 is to keep plodding on, and that it has taken him a long time to arrive 

 at the place he has reached. The amateur is constantly dreaming of 

 the day when he can have his large apiaries and probably spend his 

 winters in the south, or go to California, as some of the specialists 

 do now. However, the amateurs vary quite a little, too. We find 

 that some of them will get the bee fever and really it is no wonder 

 that any one gets the bee fever. The subject itself is so fascinating 

 and the amateurs see the honey in the combs and then they see a 

 colony of bees, probably in the obseryjation hive, and they hear about 

 the life history and the behaviour and development of the bees, and 

 the first thing we know, they have an apiary and we have an amateur 

 bee-keeper and the fever may rise and keep rising and the time may 

 come when that amateur bee-keeper develoi)s into a specialist. A great 

 many of our specialist bee-keepers to-day have developed from the 

 amateurs of a few years ago. 



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