384 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE 



A\ 



C 



THE BEST FROM OTHERS 



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argument 

 t w e e n 

 Charles 

 Blaker and 

 Frank Pellett 

 concerning in- 

 spection appears 

 in the American 

 Bee Journal 

 (May). In reply 



to the statement of Pellett, in the February 

 issue, that the office of inspector should be 

 purely educational, Blaker dissents, saying 

 education is important but not sufficient; 

 nor does he agree that, as in the case of hog 

 cholera, as mentioned by Pellett, the own- 

 er's financial interest in the welfare of his 

 property will be sufficient incentive to keep 

 his colonies free of disease. In the Febru- 

 ary issue Pellett objected to the inspector 

 being judge, jury, and executioner in cases 

 of diseased colonies. Blaker wishes to know 

 why this would not be as fair as in the 

 case of glanders in horses or tuberculosis in 

 cattle. Mr. Blaker objects to comparing the 

 inspector to a policeman who "is called only 

 when you have committed a crime or are 

 suspected of malicious intent." He says 

 that during his four years as an inspector he 

 has met with, serious objection from less 

 than one-half of one per cent of the owners 

 whose apiaries he inspected, and only one 

 considered him a "policeman," and that 

 one was mentally deranged. 



Thruout this discussion Blaker apparently 

 feels (1) that there should be proper law 

 in regard to diseased colonies, and proper 

 enforcement of the law; (2) also that this 

 enforcement of the law as well as educa- 

 tional duties should be in the hands of the 

 inspector. To the first point Pellett quite 

 agrees, showing in his reply that he has 

 never proposed doing away with such law. 

 To the second point he objects, asserting 

 that the enforcement should be in the hands 

 of the officers whose business is the enforce- 

 ment of law. He does not think that satis- 

 factory results can be obtained with the 

 present law, and feels it has been tried out 

 long enough to prove this; and he thinks 

 that, with the same expenditure, much more 

 could be accomplished if the inspector were 

 given educational duties only. Further, he 

 explains how much harm has often been 

 done by incompetent inspectors. The rem- 

 edy for unsatisfactory results and incompe- 

 tent inspectors, Blaker believes, is to change 

 the inspectors and not the law. [Frank Pel- 

 lett is surely right in emphasizing the value 

 of the educational duties of the inspector; 

 but how it would work out to place enforce- 

 ment in the hands of local authorities, we 

 are not certain. This point is discussed 

 neither by Pellett nor Blaker. We accord- 

 ingly quote one view of the question from 

 a recent letter bearing on the subject. The 

 letter is from E. C. Cotton, Chief of the 

 Bureau of Horticulture, Columbus, O., and is 

 as follows: 



' ' I believe that no one recognizes more 



1 



lona Fowls 



LJ 



.Tune, 1919 



thoroly than I 

 do that the foul- 

 brood problem is 

 very largely an 

 educational one, 

 and that more 

 can be accom- 

 plished with a 

 comprehensive 

 campaign of one 

 year than can be accomplished in a decade 

 of pure police work. However, it is neces- 

 sary that there should be police power to 

 handle those that refuse to listen to educa- 

 tion. The provisions of the Iowa law prace 

 this enforcement in the hands of local au- 

 thorities, which I believe to be entirely 

 wrong, and one that the experiences of this 

 State have demonstrated as out of the ques- 

 tion. It is necessary to have a disinterested 

 police power — one that is not beholden for 

 their votes to the people whom it is likely to 

 be required to deal with in enforcement of a 



SIGOKSTIONS COXCERNING ISLE OF WIGHT. 



In the search for a strain of bees immune 

 to Isle of Wight disease, the Egyptian has 

 been suggested. A. Z. Abushady, in the 

 British Bee Journal for April 10, believes 

 the apparent immunity is probably due to 

 the difference in climate, and thinks that if 

 Egyptian weather could be substituted for 

 English weather the marked fatality of 

 Wight disease would cease. He 

 metabolic poisoning from wrong 

 together with prolonged confine- 

 ment, is more important as an injurious in- 

 strument than infection itself. He suggests 

 the possibility that the rectal glands of 

 Chun, which JDr. Brunnich believes are con- 

 cerned in the excretion of water from the 

 blood, may, because of irritation or lesion, 

 secrete such an abnormal amount of fluid 

 that the blood pressure is so lowered that 

 flight is impossible. There is a better chance, 

 he believes, to combat the disease with edu- 

 cation than wuth specifics and cures. 



EXCHANGE BUYS GOOD CAXS. 



The cans produced by the California hon- 

 ey-producers, says the Western Honeybee, 

 April, are of 135-pound tin. When tested, a 

 can was filled with honey and dropped from 

 knee height.' Not until the tenth drop did 

 it give way at the corners. Chas. Justice 

 estimates that on the 42,000 cans with cases 

 which the exchange has just purchased, 

 members who usually buy at jobbing prices 

 will be saved over 36 cents on each case of 



two cans. 



* * * 



TO PRODUCE WHITE COMB HONEY. 



To produce comb honey, with nice white 

 cappings, D. Anguish, in the Canadian 

 Horticulturist and Beekeeper (May) gives 

 this method: Place a body filled with full 

 sheets of foundation on top of the brood- 

 chamber, until a few days after the honey 

 flow commences. Then take out the under 



Isle of 

 believes 

 dieting, 



