36 



SEVENTEENTH ANNUAL REPORT OF THE 



had it took good care to hide it and say 

 nothing about it and they were trying 

 more or less safe means to put it out, in 

 many cases spreading it without knowing 

 it. I think we are on the right road and 

 we should keep on, and any of us, who are 

 informed, tell the others and then call the 

 inspector when we see that it can not be 

 helped. 



Mr. Root — I want to endorse what Mr. 

 Dadant said. We had the same thing in 

 our state and our law specifies that the 

 inspector shall go back inside of ten days 

 after making inspection. We found that 

 impracticable. We could not do it. We 

 had so many people in the state that we 

 could not cover it. It was all they could 

 do to cover a large part of the state once. 

 If we could do it once we were doing well 

 and we decided that the inspector would 

 go once and depend on the men, and we 

 depended on the judgment of the inspector 

 as to whether iVIr. A or Mr. B had cleaned 

 up his bees. In our particular county the 

 inspector relies largely upon our statements. 

 He comes around and inspects the bees, 

 I want him to do it, I want him to look 

 through all our bees. Then he comes back 

 and tells me certain ones in a part of the 

 county have become diseased. We make 

 it our business to have men call on those 

 people, whoever they may be, and see that 

 the matter is attended to, then we report 

 to the state. That can be done provided 

 you have asked the authority of the state. 

 I want to emphasize that education will 

 do more good than compulsion. If you 

 can get your inspector around once a year, 

 it is better to have him cover a part of the 

 state and after he has been around once, 

 rely on the men. 



I want to congratulate you on your 

 showing, that is better than a great many 

 other states. If you are getting rid of 

 foul brood under your present plan, it seems 

 to me that you are doing well under j'^our 

 appropriation. 



Mr. Kildow — A law expecting the in- 

 spector to come back in ten days does not 

 amount to very much. 



Mr. Root — It is too soon. 



Mr. Kildow — You have to consider who 

 the man is and use your judgment on the 

 conditions you find. 



The President — I insist on what I said 

 before. It is better to have some third 

 party verify the owner's statement that 

 his bees are clean. In a locality, you will 

 find some bee-keeper that is interested 

 enough to go in and inspect and report. 



Mr. Kildow — It is pretty hard to get a 

 man to go into his neighbor's yard. 



The President — Take our case. If we 

 had not done it what would have been the 

 result? One of our friends in this State 

 says foul brood is a blessing in disguise 

 because it compels us to keep our apiaries 

 clean. 



Mr. Dadanf — You are speaking of cases 

 where they all know their neighbors. It 

 is easy enough when we know them all, 

 we can inspect our neighbors' yards and 

 advise and suggest and report to the in- 

 spector, but where somebody else calls 

 you up to inspect his bees, that is not 

 altogether satisfactory. Even if they are 

 inspected, we know that there is a possi- 

 bility of the disease returning, because not 

 all the bees in the county have been in- 

 spected and while you are curing in one 

 place it may be in another, so that a great 

 deal of it has to be left to circumstances 

 and I think what we want to do is, not so 

 much to criticize our inspector as to en- 

 courage him and give him all the help 

 that we can. I think if any of us would 

 ask him to come back because there was a 

 serious case in the neighborhood, and he 

 refused to do it, we would have a right to 

 compel him, but to ask him to come back 

 where he has been once and the man has 

 agreed to treat the apiaries, I think until 

 we have more money, it would be a mis- 

 take for him to do it. If he knows a 

 person who can watch and who is reliable 

 and not likely to anger the man who has 

 the bees, well and good. But in how 

 many cases does he go to a part of the 

 State where he knows nobody except the 

 man he calls lipon who is complaining? 

 I think we must look at that matter from 

 all sides. 



The President — Well, ladies and gentle- 

 men, I do not want to be understood as 

 criticizing our State Bee Inspector. On 

 the contrary, I am making suggestions. 

 I know if I was a State Bee Inspector I 

 would not be satisfied with the report of 

 the man whose apiary I went to investigate 

 unless I knew him personally and I believe 

 I would find some means of informing 

 myself without depending upon him en- 

 tirely, at very little cost. Then I would 

 know what I am about. Mr. Kildow is 

 not sure. He cannot go on the stand and 

 swear that that apiary has been cleaned 

 up, whilst if we had the evidence of two 

 or three persons, it would be much better. 

 I believe in being as thorough a.s possible 

 in this inspection work. It is the only 

 way to rid the State of foul brood. That 

 is what we have the appropriation for. 



Mr. Kildow — At the same time, you 

 could not tell if vou went back in a month 



