licfc- 





124 



SIXTEENTH ANNUAL, REPORT OF THE 



They have received Mr. Rea graci- 

 ously and are co-operating most heart- 

 ily, so that there is hope for great ad- 

 vances in this state. 



North Carolina now produces con- 

 siderable honey but not enough to 

 supply her own demand, so that it is 

 now necessary to ship in considerable 

 honey annually. 



The increase in production and the 

 improvement in the quality of the 

 product will, beyond question, increase 

 the demand for honey, so that bee- 

 keepers in other states need have no 

 anxiety about competition from North 

 Carolina for a long time. It is to be 

 expected, in fact, that more honey will 

 be shipped into the state than at pres- 

 ent. 



In Tennessee, Mr. C. E. Bartholomew, 

 formerly of the Iowa Agricultural Col- 

 lege, is working on a co-operative 

 project between the Department of 

 Agriculture, the University of Ten- 

 nessee, and the State Commissioner of 

 Agriculture. His headquarters are in 

 the office of Prof. G. A. Keffer, Exten- 

 sion Director, University of Tennessee, 

 Knoxville, Tenn. Tennessee is also a 

 great field for bee-keeping and prob- 

 ably has more progressive bee-keepers 

 than most of the southern states, ex- 

 cept Texas. 



The brood diseases have made a start 

 and much missionary work must be 

 done to induce the bee-keepers to clean 

 up. 



In many parts of the state the "gum" 

 is common and perhaps the majority of 

 the bee-keepers are not using the bet- 

 ter methods. 



But the people of the southern states 

 realize, perhaps better than those in 

 other sections, what extension work 

 may mean to their agriculture and we 

 look forward expectantly to great re- 

 sults here. Mr. Bartholomew has been 

 at work only a short time but the out- 

 look is promising. 



The third man on the extension force 

 of the office is Mr. Kennith Hawkins, 

 formerly of Illinois. He is engaged on 

 a co-operative project between the of- 

 fice of Bee -Culture Investigations of 

 the Bureau of Entomology and the of- 

 fice of Extension Work in the South, 

 States Relations Service, of the Depart- 

 ment of Agriculture. 



Mr. Hawkins will travel throughout 

 the fifteen southern states, assisting the 

 various extension workers in their ef- 

 forts for the upbuilding of bee-keeping, 



and will assist individual bee-keepers 

 and organizations of bee-keepers wher- 

 ever possible. 



The fifteen southern states have 

 within their borders over half of all the 

 colonies of bees in the United States. 



The last several years show an ap- 

 parent falling off in numbers of bee- 

 keepers and of colonies, but there can 

 be no question that this portion of the 

 United States has unexcelled opportun- 

 ities for bee-keeping and, when the 

 modern methods have become common, 

 the south will produce enormous quant- 

 ities of honey. 



Attention should be called to the 

 fact that all extension work of the Bu- 

 reau of Entomology is in co-operation 

 with the established organization for 

 agricultural extension. This co-opera- 

 tion work is expected of all branches of 

 the Department but, I can assure you, 

 the co-operation was entered upon most 

 willingly by the Bureau of Entomology. 

 There is a vast and efficient organiza- 

 tion in the United States, authorized 

 by the Smith-Lever act, for the ad- 

 vancement of agriculture through ex- 

 tension work, the extent and value of 

 which are perhaps not sufficiently ap- 

 preciated. 



In this organization, bee-keeping 

 plays a small part at present, but it is 

 assuredly better for the field men in 

 bee-keeping to take their proper places 

 in this organization than to attempt to 

 go unaided into the enormous problem 

 of helping the bee-keeper. 



You will perhaps ask why the exten- 

 sion work in bee-keeping is confined at 

 present to the south. 



The opportunity in the southern 

 states has already been made clear. By 

 confining the work to this region there 

 is all the work, and infinitely more than 

 three men can do. 



A second reason is the receptiveness 

 of the people of the south to extension 

 work, in which regard they surpass 

 some northern communities. 



A third reason is that the south is a 

 virgin field in bee-keeping, offering an 

 opportunity to test the value of exten- 

 sion work in bee-keeping without being 

 misled by the results of other agen- 

 cies. 



When it is considered that only a 

 handful of southern bee-keepers read 

 our journals and our books, this will be 

 clear. 



Finally there is a reason worthy of 



