70 



SIXTEENTH ANNUAL REPORT OF THE 



Let not too much territory be at- 

 tempted the first year. Keep up the 

 work in the state as it has been done, 

 outside of the territory outlined, and it 

 looks to the writer that it would take 

 less time and get more work done for 

 the money that can be done, possibly 

 by the present system, for it is a 

 known fact that, as long as we follow 

 the railroads only, there must be in 

 most counties a great amount of ter- 

 ritory not visited and sometimes the 

 largest bee-keepers are not nearest 

 town, and while the civil service does 

 not wish the Deputies to have livery 

 hire it follows that they will not go 

 far into the country, to do the work 

 that is needed done. 



Besides, if it is understood that the 

 entire country is going to be cleaned 

 up it will encourage some that are 

 faint hearted as this has been one of 

 the bones of contention, that the In- 

 spector has to contend with, the apiar- 

 ists often say, "What's the use for me 

 to .clean up when my neighbor a mile 

 and a half farther on is not going to 

 be visited?" 



Now» just one thing more and then 

 I'm through: 



I am not certain if this is strictly my 

 place to make this suggestion, but here 

 goes, anyhow: 



In the matter of records: That they 

 be kept by the Card Index System, and 

 I have heard arguments on both sides 

 of the question, and after talking the 

 matter over with Mr. Kildow, the In- 

 spector — with C. P. Dadant, and others 

 — I have decided, with the help of 

 others, to advise the said system for 

 this reason: 



Each individual case will have a 

 record of its own; not only that, but 

 without hunting over each year's 

 records, for a number of years, to find 

 the history of an apiarist and how 

 long he has been harboring disease 

 around him, it will all be on one card 

 for as many years as it is necessary to 

 keep a record, because when the record 

 shows him clean for two years in suc- 

 cession it will not be necessary to look 

 after the individual case any longer. 



After talking the matter over with 

 Mr. Dadant, by his suggestion, I wrote 

 Mr. Burton N. Gates, of Amherst, Mas- 

 sachusetts, for his Card Index System, 

 and through his kindness I am able to 

 present them to the Inspector and any 

 others that may wish to look them 



over, and I would suggest that they 

 be included in this paper. 



Now, fellow bee-keepers, it will not 

 offend me if my suggestions are not 

 accepted, but after serious thought 

 this seems to me to be a decided help 

 in inspection work. 



I thank you. 



Mr. Pyles — The quarantine caret is 

 presented to the Convention for in- 

 specUon. 



You will notice this card must be 

 filled out by the apiarist and given to 

 the Inspector the day he is quaran- 

 tined. 



The other card is only mailed to the 

 Inspector after the work is completed. 



Mr. Williams — Do you think from 

 those cards you could find out how 

 many people are keeping bees in the 

 state of Illinois? 



Mr. Pyles — Absolutely sure. 



Mr. Williams — How many keep bees 

 in the city of Pekin? 



Mr. Pyles — I don't know. 



Mr. Williams — You have not money 

 enough probably to find out. 



Mr. Dadant — We can find out as 

 far as we can go. 



Mr. Williams — I live in Pekin; I 

 have lived there for eighteen years, 

 and I don't know. Because I have 

 not made it my business to find out, 

 and to pay a man to find this out you 

 have not got money enough appropri- 

 ated to find it out. Let us not at- 

 tempt anything- that is too big for us 

 to handle. 



The first thing I think should be 

 done is to find out where the bees are, 

 who has them, and that is an awful 

 hard thing to do. I do not know how 

 it can be done unless you have a man 

 (now I am not talking for more men) 

 but I do not know how you can find 

 it out unless you have a man in your> 

 county who will make it his business, 

 for the good of the cause, or for pay, 

 to find out who has bees in that county 

 and report it to somebody. 



Mr. Dadant— I wish to answer this 

 objection to the use of the Card Sys- 

 tem: I grant that we cannot find all 

 the bee-keepers. I grant we have a 

 very imperfect system, but I hold, after 

 an examination of three states, that 

 the only way to get the system better 

 is to use the Card System. If we go 

 and examine a man's bees — hundreds 



