17G EIGHTEENTH ANNUAL REPORT OF THE 



be one of the principal things of reform; one of the principal industries 

 everywhere, especially Servia; it is considered one of the three great 

 branches; horticulture, dairy, bee-keeping; three branches of industry, 



Tri this country we are not fortunate enough to have attained 

 this high standard of perfection; even at our universities, where bee- 

 keeping is still considered to be kind of an annex, sometimes it is 

 tolerated rather than encouraged, because a certain number of citizens 

 in the state demand of those who are in power that bee-keeping be 

 given attention. Even our universities have in the past done very 

 little. T remember in our state of Minnesota we had to be lobbying 

 in the state legislature for eight years; we buttonholed several thousand 

 senators and representatives before we were fortunate enough to pass 

 a law establishing a department of bee culture in the universitj^. 



But in this new era of bee-keeping there are several specific things 

 which we have to consider. Now I am here, I suppose, just to give 

 you a few ideas which may gradual^ develop into something tangible. 



Bee-keeping may be considered as a science and may be considered 

 as an industry. It is a science of course; I beheve that in bee-keeping 

 practically all sciences are represeiited. There is chemistry; it enters 

 into the compounds of honey; the analysis of food and so on. 



In bee-keeping we have botany; every bee-keeper must know the 

 botany of his state. In bee-keeping we have geometry, construction 

 of wax cells; the way the bees manufacture comb and so on is a matter 

 for scientists to study. 



We have anatomy; we study, nutrition — we have to be familiar 

 with temperatures; we have to be^ builders and contractors, to con- 

 struct proper cellars — and so a bee-keeper has to be a scientist and 

 has many subjects to study before he understands the branches of 

 his occupation. 



Bee-keeping as a science moreover is developed by our universities 

 along practical lines. Before we can attain to any results in honey 

 production, we have to study cause and effects. We have to experi- 

 ment — to analyze. Our universities aind schools are the proper place 

 for this; the individual bee-keeper himself has neither time nor money 

 nor inchnation, and in most cases not the ability to carry on these 

 scientific experiments which result in better bee-keeping and larger 

 production of honey. 



Take for instance our scientific investigations covering wintering 

 of bees which Dr. Phillips has been carrying on for a number of years. 

 It takes certain instruments and electrical thermometers, observations 

 and records, which mean a large expenditure of time and money, which 

 only the government or state can afford to have; these scientific studies 

 have been made and published for the benefit of bee-keepers at large; 

 every one gains a certain benefit from it by conserving the lives of 

 his bees during winter. The result is the general production of larger 

 amounts of honey every year. 



Take the scientific investigation of the nutrition of bees. It is 

 claimed that the bees as the result of the accumulation of indigestible 

 matter perish in the winter. Who can take up this problem? Can any 

 one of you? Who has the material, the equipment and the means — 

 the knowledge to do these things? 



