OCTOBER 15, 1915 



853 



honey this year in the ]\Iississippi Valley. 

 He recorameiuled that e\ery beekeeper be 

 familiar with the plants in his own locality 

 that furnish honey. He called attention to 

 the very intimate relation between bees and 

 plant-life, and slated that every fruit-grow- 

 er should keep some bees as a side line. 



Dr. I'ammel is doing some special work at 

 the Agricultural College in classifying and 

 identifying the principal honey-plants of 

 the United States. If the result of this 

 work comes out in bulletin form we are 

 sure it will be of great value. 



In the afternoon Dr. Phillips gave an 

 address on general bee-inspection work. 

 When he firet came into the government 

 work, only twelve states had bee-inspection 

 laws. Now there are thirty states out of 

 forty-eight that have some form of bee- 

 inspection work. Most of the southern 

 states have no laws, largely because bee 

 diseases have not made any progi'ess in the 

 South. This is not because foul brood can 

 not make rapid headwa}' there, but rather 

 because there are but few or no interstate 

 shipments of bees from infected territory in 

 the southern states. But the time will come 

 when these states will need protection. 



What is needed in the South, he said, is 

 some one to teach modern methods of keep- 

 ing bees. In this connection he claimed 

 that it is the duty of a bee-insiDector not 

 only to treat bee-diseases but to give in- 

 struction concerning them. This part of 

 the work is very important. Where bee- 

 inspection laws have been properly en- 

 forced, there has been a marked decrease in 

 the amount of bee-disease. 



A bee-inspector should teach the impor- 

 tance of two things — first, plenty of bees in 

 time for the harvest, and that means good 

 wintering and good springing; second, 

 keeping the bees together, and that means 

 not to let them waste their substance in 

 riclous living — or, more exactly, swarming. 

 There is great need of general extension 

 work in the southeastern states where there 

 are more bees per scjuare mile than any- 

 where else in the United States. 



A paper from Mr. J. E. Crane, of Mid- 

 dlebury, Vl.. who w-as absent, was read. 

 He explained that the work of an inspector 

 is not always pleasant. On the other hand 

 he makes many i)leasant acquaintances. 

 Not knowing what Dr. Phillips had said, he 

 went on to state that the inspector should 

 instruct as well as inspect. He spoke of 

 the difliculties of looking through hives 

 when tile frames were all glued together, or, 

 worse, when the combs are built on no 

 frames at all. He thought the states should 



compel the use of modern movable-frame 

 hives. He spoke of tlie difference between 

 American and European foul brood; of the 

 difference in treatment. The European type 

 seems to move in the air. The American 

 disease works slowly, but the European 

 spreads with great rapidity. Robbei's car- 

 rying diseased honey is not the only way 

 that foul brood may be carried. Bees in 

 their ordinary flights often make mistakes 

 and get into other hives. In other words, 

 drifting is a very common means of spread- 

 ing disease. The ravages of European foul 

 brood can be greatly mitigated by intro- 

 ducing a good strain of Italians, and keep- 

 ing all colonies strons:. 



Staghorn sumac. RInix li/i>liina L. Photographed 

 July 28, 1915. at Waldoboro, Maine, by John H. 

 Lovell. Staminate flower-cluster. 



