April, 1913. 



American Vee Journal 



was introduced from another part of 

 our State, repealing our present law 

 for its severity, and a new bill intro- 

 duced, allowing the inspector to 

 make but one inspection, and that 

 only before the first of June. This 

 because the inspector had been too 

 severe. It was necessary to appear be- 

 fore the agricultural committee and see 

 that neither bill was reported favor- 

 ably. We have a very good law as it 

 is, and if bee-keepers will co-operate 

 with an intelligent inspector, our State 

 may in time be made comparatively 

 free from disease. 



What is the most practical method 

 of disinfecting hives or tools with 

 which we have opened diseased hives ? 

 I have heard that some thought it 

 necessary to boil tools in water for 

 half an hour before going to another 

 apiary. Yet it would seem that disin- 

 fection of tools was often quite as 

 necessary in going from one hive to 

 another. The boiling method, no 

 doubt, is sure, but requires so much 

 time it is doubtful if it is often follow- 

 ed, or even practical. 



Is it ever safe to put one colony into 

 a hive where there has been disease 

 without first disinfecting it? 



How much dependence can be placed 

 on Italian bees to control or subdue 

 European foul brood ? 



Is it safe to change comb honey 

 supers from a diseased hive to a healthy 

 one ? 



Are queens ever of any value that 

 have been reared in a foul-broody 

 colony ? 



Where shaking is resorted to, is it 

 necessary to shake on frames of start- 

 ers as most inspectors advise? Why 

 not just as well shake into an empty 

 box and save time and bother ? 



Does European foul brood spread in 

 any other way than through the dis- 

 eased honey, and if so how ? We know 

 it moves more rapidly than American 

 foul brood, but why ? Can any one 

 tell us? These and other questions 

 come to me as I think the subject over. 

 Each individual inspector has experi- 

 ences that will often throw light on 

 something of which another can get 

 no clue. 



The Agricultural Department at 

 Washington has given us a great 

 amount of technical knowledge of 

 brood diseases, and the question how 

 to put into practical work the knowl- 

 edge we now have is of great impor- 

 tance. 



Middlebury, Vt. 



[The foregoing article has struck us 

 as so timely and judicious that we use 

 it to open a department hereafter to 

 be known as "Diseases of Bees." Mr. 

 Crane is one of our oldest and most 

 practical apiarists. We find his name 

 in the American Bee Journal as far 

 back as 1879, when he was president of 

 the Addison County (Vt.) Bee-Keepers' 

 Association. He could already give 

 good advice, and was probably then 

 an up-to-date bee-keeper. We urge 

 apiary inspectors from everywhere to 

 bring their experiences to this depart- 

 ment. We want short, pithy state- 

 ments, so the reader may get at the 



facts without loss of time. The dis- 

 ease question is a serious one. — Editor ] 



Illinois State Inspection 



BY .\. L. KILDOW, CHIEF INSPECTOR. 



On entering on my work as State in- 

 spector, I found that the inspector who 

 served before me kept no records, and 

 I had to make a new start. 



First, I sent letters to different sec- 

 tions of the State, enquiring if disease 

 was known in those parts. With the 

 replies and information from other 

 sources I started out. As conditions 

 became known, and the work broad- 

 ened, I hired deputies as needed, until 

 last season I had 10 deputies doing 

 more or less work. There is need of 

 more, but our funds will not permit. 

 Thus we are handicapped to a great 

 extent. In appointing deputies in dif- 

 ferent parts of the State, I aim to cut 

 down expenses, and consequently they 

 are not expected to go far from home. 



The work of the inspector is mainly 

 educational. It is his duty to teach the 

 bee-keeper how to detect the various 

 bee-diseases, how to treat them, and to 

 so instruct him that he may know the 

 first symptoms of disease should it 

 appear in his apiary. 



The amateur is the most needy, as 

 his eyes are not trained to detect 

 symptoms that would cause a colony to 

 become worthless. There are many 

 little points that the inspector can give 

 to the amateur that otherwise would 

 take him years to learn, and the sooner 

 he can be educated the better. The in- 

 spection work has also been handi- 

 capped because we had to act the de- 

 tective, and hunt up the bee-keepers. 

 As a rule, they have not co-operated 

 with us. Many appear to be afraid of 

 the inspector, and would rather not 

 have their bees examined, for fear dis- 

 ease might be found, and they would 

 have to clean up, and the thought of 

 having to clean up is a " bugaboo." 



This only applies to the small bee- 

 keeper and the farmer, who thinks he 

 has all he can do without (as he says) 

 fooling with the bees. As a rule, we 

 have no trouble with the man who 

 tries to make something out of his 

 bees. He is willing to learn. The 



specialist knows that he must keep his 

 colonies in good condition or he is 

 the loser. If he has never had disease 

 in his apiary, he is posted as to what it 

 is, and it is not likely to make head- 

 way before he discovers it, and he 

 makes short work of it. 



On July 24, I visited the home of a 

 man who had opposed our foul brood 

 law, and who is one of Chicago's large 

 bee-keepers. I had heard that he 

 would serve an injunction on me if I 

 came on his place; but for all that I 

 made the visit. When I arrived at the 

 house I found him in the midst of ex- 

 tracting, and very busy. Instead of 

 serving an injunction, he treated me 

 with as much respectas I have received 

 at the hands of any bee-keeper. His 

 plan in the treatment of foul brood is : 

 In the spring he goes through all his 

 colonies (in May), and every colony 

 that showseven a single cell diseased is 

 marked, and if it is in the out-yard it is 

 brought to the home yard, and there 

 looked after. Every colony is shaken, 

 and the honey extracted and the combs 

 melted. While he may never get en- 

 tirely rid of foul brood, he will so keep 

 it under control that it will not ma- 

 terially injure him. Before I left, he 

 told me that if I could come back the 

 last of the week he would have more 

 leisure, and would take me around. 

 The bees in his home yard are a good 

 grade of Italians. 



Bee-keepers in general should keep 

 better bees. With disease all around 

 them they must be up to date in every- 

 thing pertaining to bee-keeping, if they 

 wish to realize anything from their 

 bees. Very few places are overstocked 

 with bees. My own locality comes the 

 nearest to it of any that I know; per- 

 haps this is because I am better ac- 

 quainted with my own neighborhood. 

 I do not believe I am over-stating 

 when I say that ten times as many col- 

 onies could be kept in Illinois at the 

 present time, and kept to advantage. 

 Besides keeping more bees and better 

 bees, we are advised to keep our bees 

 better. 



This need was plainly demonstrated 

 to me by finding bees kept in every 

 conceivable way, some in plain boxes, 

 others in bo.xes with slats nailed in 

 top and bottom, some in good frame 

 hives with no foundation, and the 



Where Sage, Sumac. Wild Buckwheat and Orange Bloom, and Cooling Ocean 



Breezes Blow Through Mountain Passes Wild. 

 Nature blessed this land of ours with sunshine, rain, fruit and flowers.— L. L. Andrews. 



