1917 



AMERICAN BEE JOURNAL 



93 



needs to the public attention. As a 

 result both European and American 

 foulbrood spread in most of the north- 

 ern States before a serious attempt at 

 control was undertaken. All the laws 

 for the control of bee-diseases with 

 which I am familiar are similar in their 

 general provisions. The sole idea 

 seems to be to give a State officer au- 

 thority to examine all the colonies in 

 localities Where disease is known to be 

 present, and by the use of a rigid rule 

 insist on the treatment or destruction 

 of the diseased colonies. Had prompt 

 and decisive action been taken when 

 the trouble first appeared it might have 

 been stamped out as foot and mouth 

 disease seems to have been. 



The first and greatest difficulty which 

 an inspector meets is to cover thou- 

 sands of square miles of territory in 

 which are located thousands of colo- 

 nies of bees with an appropriation not 

 sufficient to cover 20 percent of the ter- 

 ritory efficiently. 



Next to the lack of funds with which 

 to follow the directions laid down in 

 the law, the next great problem is to 

 get men who are familiar with bee-dis- 

 eases and who have had sufficient ex- 

 perience in dealing with the public to 

 enable them to do efficient work. In 

 most States the work is paid for on a 

 fer diem basis. There is a rush of 

 work for a few weeks during the honey 

 harvest and nothing to do the rest of 

 the year. When a man is competent to 

 do the work of an inspector, he can 

 earn several times as much for the 

 same time spent in an apiary of his 

 own, so it is necessary to be constantly 

 educating young men who are willing 

 to spend their vacations in this work 

 for the experience gained. 



One who has not been responsible 

 for such work, under such conditions, 

 can hardly realize the amount of irrita- 

 tion that is constantly arising because 

 of mistakes of one kind or another. As 

 soon as a man becomes trained to do 

 the work, in an efficient and satisfac- 

 tory manner he is sure to find a more 

 attractive opening elsewhere. 



Much tact is required to deal with 

 men who know little about bees and 

 care less. In the average locality 

 where inspection is new, the inspector 

 will find men who don't believe that 

 bees are subject to such disease as foul- 

 brood; men who defy his authority and 

 dare him to come on the premises ; men 

 who regard the inspector as a grafter, 

 and believe that the office was created 



by the politicians for the purpose of 

 providing him with a job, and last and 

 often rather infrequently, men who 

 want to learn something about bees 

 and who welcome the inspector with 

 open arms. If all were like the last 

 named, inspection would be a real joy, 

 but to convince the others that it is to 

 their interest to take advantage of the 

 services of the inspector, and that they 

 will not suffer because of his presence 

 requires much diplomacy. A man must 

 never be in a hurry, must never be 

 arbitrary, yet must be firm. I have be- 

 come fully convinced that the police 

 powers for the purpose of enforcing 

 the provision of the law should be in 

 the hands of some other officer. The 

 mere fact that the inspector is given 

 such power adds greatly to his difficul- 

 ties. Knowing that if disease is found 

 the inspector is authorized to demand 



Comparative Size of Mating and Regu- 

 lar Hives in the Apiary of B. M. 

 Caraway 



tlie destruction of the diseased colo- 

 nies makes the uninformed dread his 

 coming and place every possible obsta- 

 cle in the way of having the bees ex- 

 amined. 



I might extend this paper to great 

 length by outlining in detail specific 

 instances of such problems as above 

 enumerated, but the facts will be too 

 apparent to require extended discus- 

 sion. The real problem after all is to 

 find a remedy that will meet the trying 

 conditions. There seems to be little 

 permanent value in the work of the 

 inspectors aside from the education 

 that comes to the individual beekeep- 

 ers as a result of the personal contact. 

 Even though sufficient appropriations 

 of funds and sufficient trained men 

 could be secured to stamp out fouL 



AN APIARY DF MATING HIVES-B. M. Caraway 



brood from any single State, the 

 chances are that it would not remain 

 free from the contagion for a single 

 year. The fact that it is present in all 

 the northern States, and most of the 

 southern ones as well, makes it improb- 

 able that the disease can ever be perm- 

 anently eradicated. It very frequently 

 happens that an inspector will be con- 

 gratulating himself upon the fact that 

 by thorough work in a given locality 

 he has cleaned up the disease, when lo ! 

 it suddenly appears again with a ship- 

 ment of honey or bees from some out- 

 side location. 



Since all are agreed that the problem 

 IS one of education, why not make it 

 an educational problem instead of a 

 quarantine regulation ? When an in- 

 spector goes into a locality and is re- 

 quired to examine all the bees there, 

 entirely too much time and money is 

 required, considering the limited re- 

 sources available for the purpose. Api- 

 ary demonstrations, such as are now 

 held in Ontario under Prof. Morley 

 Pettit, would seem to be much more 

 efficient. If the beekeepers of the sur- 

 rounding country are invited to spend 

 a day in an apiary where disease is 

 present, much more can be accom- 

 plished toward the control of foul- 

 brood. All who take sufficient inter- 

 est to atttend the demonstration can 

 be shown disease in its various stages, 

 and also how to treat each colony as 

 its condition demands. Thus, in one 

 day 10 to 50 persons can be given act- 

 ual instruction in recognizing and 

 treating disease, instead of spending 

 the same amount of time in examining 

 the colonies in one large apiary. Un- 

 der present conditions the inspector 

 does not have time to give each man 

 visited sufficient instruction to enable 

 him to care for the diseased colonies 

 properly, and it often happens that the 

 inefficient owner will not understand 

 directions correctly and will spread the 

 disease instead of checking it. 



In my annual report which has re- 

 cently been filed with the governor, I 

 recommended that the present office of 

 State Inspector of bees be abolished 

 altogether. In its place I have sug- 

 gested that a man be employed on full 

 time in the extension department of 

 the College of Agriculture for the pur- 

 pose of holding apiary demonstrations 

 as above mentioned, during the sum- 

 mer months, and lecturing on market- 

 ing, production and other subjects of 

 vital interest during the remainder of 

 the year. It would not repeal the laws 

 requiring proper attention to diseased 

 colonies, and our proposed bill pro- 

 vides that the State apiarist can be 

 called on petition of the beekeepers in 

 any locality to examine bees which 

 are supposed to be diseased. If he 

 finds disease to be present he is re- 

 quired to give the owner written in- 

 structions for the proper treatment or 

 destruction, which instructions the 

 owner is required to comply with 

 within the time specified. However, 

 the enforcement of this law is left in 

 the hands of others, and he is not handi- 

 capped by being required to see that 

 his own instructions are followed. 



According to this plan it is hoped 

 that, by paying a salary for full time, a 

 competent man can be secured for the 

 work. By making his work purely 

 educational in character, it is hoped 

 that he will be able to reach many 

 more people, and to avoid the prejudice 



