GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE 



Jan. 1 



they are introduced into a nucleus or colony, 

 and tested to determine their grade. 



This detention in the yard of a queen- 

 breeder would afford all the quarantine that 

 would be needed to insure safety before 

 sending out to the general trade. 



The time will come when we should unit- 

 edly ask for a Federal law to control not only 

 the importation of bees into this country, but 

 interstate and territorial shipments of them. 

 The time is not opportune for asking any 

 thing of this kind just yet, but it will come 

 later. 



ARE ROBBER-TRAPS A NEEDLESS APPLIANCE 

 IN A WELL-REGULATED APIARY? 



Mr. Holtermann, in his department, page 

 5, thinks the user of robber-traps ought to 

 be "trapped," or, in other words, he prob- 

 ably means that in a well-conducted apiary 

 there should be no robbing, and therefore 

 no occasion for a device of this kind. Our 

 correspondent is a honey-producer, and pos- 

 sibly and probably is not familiar with the 

 conditions surrounding queen-rearing yards. 

 We have at our home apiary, as we believe, 

 one of the most careful men we ever had; 

 but every now and then his helper will be a 

 little careless, and allow robbing to get start- 

 ed. If a bee once gets a taste of stolen 

 sweets it will be almost sure to begin the 

 business of following up or hanging around 

 baby nuclei, and the sooner it is caught in a 

 trap, the better for those babies. We ven- 

 ture to say that Mr. Holtermann probably 

 has as much difficulty in getting help that 

 will heed instructions about robbing as we 

 do. If he can get a new man who will let 

 no robbing get started he is doing better 

 than we can. While a few robbers in a yard 

 where honey is produced, and colonies are 

 strong, cause no trouble, they are a perpet- 

 ual nuisance and expense in a queen-rearing 

 yard. 



Again, there are other times in an extract- 

 ing or comb-honey yard where it will be well 

 to put a robber-trap in operation. This is 

 especially true where the bees are locat- 

 ed next to a highway. We have demon- 

 strated to our satisfaction that robbers 

 generally come from only one or two colo- 

 nies. The old fellows in these hives teach 

 the younger ones their bad tricks. Trap 

 them once, and the power of a bad example 

 is eliminated, and one can work among nis 

 bees with some degree of comfort. 



FOUL-BROOD LEGISLATION FOR KENTUCKY. 



The bee-keepers of Kentucky are making 

 a strenuous effort to secure some form of 

 foul-brood legislation. Those who know the 

 situation best think it would be impractic- 

 able to secure a State-wide foul-brood law, 

 because the legislature would not appropri- 

 ate the funds sufficient to pay a State-wide 

 inspector, including his necessary expenses. 

 They have, therefore, drawn up a bill that 

 is based somewhat on the county law in Ohio. 



This bill, in brief, provides that, when a 

 petition is presented to the county judge in 



any county in the State of Kentucky, signed 

 by three or more bee-keepers, stating that 

 certain apiaries within the county are affect- 

 ed with disease, said county judge shall ap- 

 point a bee-inspector. Said inspector shall 

 mspect all colonies of bees, hives, and im- 

 plements, and shall notify the owner if dis- 

 ease is found, and how to cure the same; 

 that if the owner fails or refuses to apply 

 the treatment, the inspector may order tneir 

 destruction as a nuisance. There are other 

 provisions that usually go with the ordinary 

 loul-brood bill. 



The funds for this measure are to be pro- 

 vided by a special tax of five cents for each 

 colony owned in the State. The amount so 

 collected shall constitute a special fund to be 

 disposed of in the payment of the salary and 

 actual expenses of the bee-inspector. It is 

 also provided that said fund can be used in 

 no other way. 



This is, in substance, the form of the Ohio 

 law, with two exceptions — 1. Our statute im- 

 poses only a one-cent tax; and, second, if the 

 funds so collected are not called for within 

 three years they are to revert to the general 

 fund. These two provisions make our Ohio 

 law a practical dead letter. In the first place, 

 the one-cent tax does not provide sufficient 

 funds to pay an inspector, in the average 

 county, for time and expenses to do his work 

 in a satisfactory manner. In the second 

 place, what little moneys do accumulate are 

 very apt, by the three-year provision, to go 

 into the general fund. About the time that 

 foul brood is discovered, there are no funds 

 available unless the disease breaks out be- 

 fore the expiration of the three-year limit; 

 and even tnen, as we have explained, the 

 funds are insufficient. 



The bill that our Kentucky friends have 

 drawn seeks to eliminate these two bad fea- 

 tures. Drs. E. E. Corliss, of Brooksville, 

 Ky., and M. A. Aulick, of Johnsville, Ky., 

 would like to get in touch with all those who 

 would co-operate in getting this bill enacted 

 into law. Our Kentucky subscribers are re- 

 quested to communicate with them at once. 



THE WORK OF THE BUREAU OF ENTOMOLOGY 

 ON BEE DISEASFS FOR 1909. 



It may be of interest for us to present to 

 our readers a brief account of the work of 

 the Bureau of Entomology of the United 

 States Department of Agriculture on bee 

 diseases for the year 1909. This work was 

 begun by Dr. E. F. Phillips as soon as he 

 took charge of the bee-keeping work for the 

 Bureau. He was fortunate in securing the 

 services of Dr. G. F. White as bacteriologist. 

 Dr. White is doubtless the best-trained and 

 most experienced man at work on this im- 

 portant line of investigation, and he has al- 

 ready obtained results which have baffled 

 bacteriologists for many years. The year 

 just closed has been by far the heaviest in 

 the history of this work. 



In 1908 Dr. White established the cause of 

 American foul brood to be Bacillus larvce, 

 and since that time he has been engaged in 



