Feb. 25, 1904. 



THE AMERICAN BEE JOURNAL. 



147 



know how to treat it, and all that, but unless he possesses 

 tact, and is a good student of human nature, he will labor in 

 vain. 



The greatest share of our inspector's troubles come from 

 ignorance on the part of bee-keepers. The man who is largely 

 interested in bees, who reads the journals and books, seldom 

 gives the inspector any trouble. The man who has a few 

 colonies, knows but little of bee-keeping, and cares less, who 

 simply hives swarms and "robs" the bees in the fall, whose 

 colonies, when they die, always perish because of the millers. 

 This is the man who causes the inspector no end of trouble. 

 I visited one such man four times before I succeeded in rid- 

 ding his apiary of disease. Possibly I might have accom- 

 plished the same result with a less number of visits by invok- 

 ing the assistance of the law, but this is a course I have never 

 yet found advisable to follow, although I may some time be 

 driven to this expedient. 



This man had once made considerable money out of his 

 bees, having as many as forty colonies at one time. They had 

 died out and dwindled away. . His idea was they had smoth- 

 ered in the winter, or were destroyed by the millers. Four 

 colonies remained alive. One (a swarm that had that year 

 built its own combs) was free from disease; the other three 

 were "on their last legs" with foul brood. On my first visit 

 he was not at home, but I showed the foul brood to his wife. 

 On the evening of that day. after 8 o'clock, I drove 12 miles 

 to see him and talk w'ith him. He had never heard of foul 

 brood, and didn't believe there was any such thing. Carefully 

 and thoroughly I went over the ground with him, several 

 times, read him the law, etc. He finally admitted that there 

 might be such a thing, but he knew that if it was of the nature 

 given it could never be eradicated. I told him that it was too 

 'ate in the season to treat diseased colonies; besides, his were 

 too far gone for treatment ; that they would die before 

 spring, and the honey that they left would be a source of con- 

 tagion to all of the bees in the neighborhood; that the only 

 thing to do was to destroy the bees and combs. I told him 

 I would be in that neighborhood in two weeks, when I 

 would call again. 



He was quite glum and stubborn about it — "was very 

 busy, and didn't think he would have time." I left him 

 some literature and went on. When I came again he was 

 very busy picking peaches and couldn't possibly stop. I of- 

 fered to do the work myself, but he wanted to be present 

 and help if it "had got to be done." 



Next time he had threshers and could not stop. I said 

 to him : "My friend. I have been patient with you, but I 

 can't keep coming here every two weeks. The next time I 

 come something must be done. Now set a time when you 

 can work with me and I'll come. " 



He set a day; met me at the station with his carriage, 

 took me home with him, and took care of me. He pro- 

 vided a large kettle or "cooker," and, the next morning, I 

 put on my overalls, and we went at it. The bees had died 

 in about three dozen hives. The combs had stood there and 

 been eaten by the bee-moth larvae, and mice had made their 

 nests in the hives, and, taken all in all, it was a nasty mess. 



The frames were put into the big kettle and boiled; the 

 refuse in the hives burned under the kettle; the hives painted 

 on the inside with kerosene oil and burned out. The three 

 diseased colonies were brimstoned. and the combs burned. 

 We worked hard all day, and my friend was really pleased 

 with the results. He had at last become convinced that 

 there was such a disease as foul brood, and that the only 

 course to get rid of it was the one we were following. He 

 said : 



"I must say, 'Well done, good and faithful servant!' I 

 am glad you came, and made me clean things up. Perhaps I 

 can build up again now and make something." He drove 

 me to the station, and parted with every expression of 

 friendship. I think such a course more desirable than "en- 

 forcing the law." 



At another time I was called into a neighborhood by a 

 young man who was trying to get rid of foul brood, but 

 could not. because there w'as so much of it scattered around 

 him. I found some three or four small apiaries that were 

 about "played out" with foul brood, and ordered the owners 

 to destroy them. It seems that my predecessor had been in 

 that neighborhood the year before, so the people had heard 

 of foul brood. When I came back in two weeks, not a 

 colony had been destroyed. At the first place where I called 

 the man had gone to the lumber woods to work ; the woman 

 was away visiting at a neighbor's, but a boy of 15 was at 

 home, and coolly informed me that "folks of that neighbor- 



hood had been 'talking it over,' and had decided that they 

 were not going to have their bees destroyed." I wasted no time 

 on him, but hunted up his mother. She said her husband 

 had not had time ; he would be home in two weeks and 

 would surely attend to it. I reminded her that he had 

 made me a similar promise two weeks ago, but had not ful- 

 filled it. I could not keep coming every two weeks. I must 

 see the bees destroyed before going home. She questioned 

 my authority in the matter — said any one might come along 

 and claim to be a bee-inspector. I showed her that no one 

 could gain anything by so doing, and al.so showed her my 

 commission of appointment, with the big seal of the 

 government, and the signatures of the ofificers who 

 appointed me. This seemed to satisfy her on that 

 score, but she was very sarcastic. "They would be 

 having chicken inspectors yet!" But she would not consent 

 to the destruction of the bees. I told her that while I had 

 the authority to destroy the bees, and that she laid herself 

 liable to fine or imprisonment by her refusal, yet I preferred 

 to haye her consent. At last she said that I could "do as 

 I thought best." I asked her if she would come home and 

 see the work done. She came, but talked very bitterly all 

 the while it was being done. 



The next bee-keeper, a neighbor of the woman just 

 mentioned, had said, so it was reported, that "no inspector 

 could burn any of his bees. He would set the dog on him." 

 By the way, he and I had had some pretty stormy arguments 

 upon my previous visit, but I had learned that a man can cool 

 down quite a bit in two weeks. I went into his yard, found 

 him at home, talked with him quietly, showed him how 

 much better it would be to destroy the diseased colonies and 

 thus be rid of the disease ; and that I was going to clean it 

 all up in that neighborhood. Finally, without 'waiting for his 

 answer, I said. "You go and get a spade and dig a trench, 

 and I'll light up the smoker and get it going and put in some 

 sulphur, and by the time you get the trench dug, /'// have 

 the bees dead." I looked him right square in the eye, and it 

 seemed to me as though it was my will against his, and that 

 he must yield. He started after the spade, very slowly — but 

 he zvcnt. The strain upon my nerves, however, was a little 

 severe. 



Perhaps the most obstinate case I ever found was a 

 man with only one colony. I did not think there was any 

 foul brood there, and" stopped while going by on my way to 

 the train. The combs were fairly rotten with foul brood. 

 The owner stood back about a rod away in the cornfield 

 while I opened the hive. When I showed him the 

 rotten brood he declared there was just such looking 

 brood in every hive in the country. He offered to bet any 

 amount of money. He would show this brood to "Doc Smith." 

 I told him he was at liberty to show it to all the bee-keepers 

 he could find, but it would make no difference in the end, as 

 the inspector was the one to decide. He declared he would 

 not destroy his bees, nor allow them to be destroyed. I called 

 his attention to the law. how he was laying himself liable. 

 "He didn't care for the law." My time was limited. I had 

 no time to argue, so I drove on. When reaching home I 

 wrote him a long letter, sent him a copy of the law,, and a 

 notice either to destroy his bees or have them treated inside 

 of three weeks. I told him I should call again in three weeks, 

 and would shake them off or destroy them, just as he said, 

 if he had not done it. When I called he was away, but he 

 had left word that I might shake off the bees. I shook them 

 and burned the combs. His wife asked if they would not need 

 feeding. I told her thev certainly would, and gave her full 

 instructions how to do it. Of course, I know that the bees 

 will not pass the winter alive, but I got rid of the foul brood. 

 I think this should be the motto of every inspector, "Get 

 rid of the foul brood." Every case may call for a different kind 

 of treatment, but. whatever the treatment, let it end with 

 getting rid of foul brood. 



Perhaps some of you may think that each man should be 

 treated alike — if you destroy one man's bees you ought to an- 

 other's. Not so. Here is a man with 100 colonies of bees. 

 There may be a few diseased colonies — slightly diseased. He 

 thoroughly understands the disease and its treatment, and is 

 doing all in his power to rid his apiary of the disease. As 

 fast as he finds a diseased colony he treats it. He has a neigh- 

 bor half a mile away who has four colonies in box-hives, or 

 in frame hives with the combs built crosswise; the hives are 

 old and rotten, the combs are rotten with foul brood, the bees 

 few in number, and the colonies will all be dead by spring, 

 when the bees from the lOO-colony apiary will come over and 

 carry home its diseased honey. The owner may promise to 

 destroy the bees but he does not perform. Can you treat 



