516 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE 



State Foul-brood Inspector MoitIs. It is 

 not suri^rising that there should be plenty 

 of bees in and around Medina ; and natural- 

 ly enough the A. I. Root Co. are anxious 

 that there be no disease within reach of our 

 own bees. We have been going out with 

 the inspector several miles in all directions 

 from our home and outyards, and it is sur- 

 prising to note the number of small bee- 

 keepers that we have been able to locate. 



Mr, Morris' experience has been about the 

 same as that of most foul-brood inspectors. 

 Occasionally he strikes a beekeeper who 

 looks at the State foul-brood law as an un- 

 mitigated nuisance. Such persons feel that 

 the State has no right to interfere with their 

 work or property. When they are ap- 

 proached by the urbane inspector he may 

 give expression to a few cuss words, and 

 talk as if he had a shot-gun right handy. 

 But Mr. Morris' good-natured twinkle and 

 banter are equal to the occasion. He wiU 

 josh away at the fellow until he gets him 

 to laughing, and then all is smooth sailing. 

 He had an experience of this kind with one 

 man who did not propose to be inspected, 

 but who was, just the same; and Mr. Mor- 

 ris had his good will and friendly co-opera- 

 tion. 



Quite different was the reception we re- 

 ceived yesterday, July 16, east of Medina. 

 As is his custom, Mr. Morris steps out of 

 the machine, knocks at the door, and asks 

 if the man or woman of the house is pres- 

 ent. Then he explains his mission. This is 

 quite an important procedure; and the vian- 

 ner of doing it is no less important, said 

 Mr. Morris. It strokes the hair the wrong 

 way to go into a man's yard without asking 

 his permission. 



Mr. Morris made a great hit among sever- 

 al beekeepers yesterday. They said they 

 wei'e glad to see him, hoping that he would 

 •come their w^ay again. On one occasion the 

 owner called to his wife, who was out in the 

 hay-field helping, because he said she was 

 the beeman. Her greeting, as she apologiz- 

 ed for being out in the field, was no less 

 cordial than that of her husband. She had a 

 nice little apiai-y, and she was up to date in 

 her methods, for she was familiar with the 

 Alexander' plan of increase and producing 

 comb honey. She and her husband asked 

 many questions, and at the close of the in- 

 spection work they both expressed their 

 pleasure at having been honored by a visit 

 from a State official. They were delighted, 

 also, to learn that their bees were nice stock, 

 and that they were able to present a clean 

 bill of health. 



They I'eadily gave us the names of other 

 beekeepers, and jumped into the machine 

 and helped us to inspect. " My ! " said Mr. 



Morris, after finishing up his afternoon's 

 work, " that was a great snap. If a fellow 

 could always strike an enthusiastic beekeep- 

 er and get him or her to go around and 

 introduce us to the rest of them, every thing 

 would be lovely." 



Mr. Morris left a pleasant impression. 

 He is a great story-teller and a joker; and 

 while he is telling a story he thi-ows in prac- 

 tical suggestions that make a beekeeper feel 

 that the State, so far from interfering with 

 his property and business, is giving him a 

 real help. 



Chief Inspector Shaw has a corps of men 

 that are doing splendid work, notwithstand- 

 ing the powers that be have cut down their 

 appropriation to an amount much smaller 

 than last year. Prof. Shaw, however, is 

 economizing in every way possible; and if 

 our men who are higher up in authority 

 could only know the good these little appro- 

 Ijriations are doing to the farmers and bee- 

 keepers at large, they would sjDend their 

 money more judiciously. Well, to return : 



When ]Mr. Morris and ourself started out 

 on the afternoon of the 15th we had to feel 

 our way. We did not know how many bee- 

 keepers there were, nor where they were 

 located. Once we stopped near a lot of 

 rank sweet clover. It was fairly covered 

 with bees. We remarked that there must be 

 a lot of bees somewhere near. Apparently 

 they came from one of our outyards two 

 miles and a half away, but yet that did not 

 seem probable. We then began lining up, 

 which was somewhat difficult, owing to the 

 position of the sun. We were of the opin- 

 ion that there must be a lot of bees near at 

 hand. A drive of a quarter of a mile down 

 the road soon brought us in contact with 

 some thirty odd colonies within about an 

 eighth of a mile of each other. This partic- 

 ular location has never had any bee disease, 

 and apparently never will have. 



HOW THE ROAD SUPERVISORS CUT DOWN 



SWEET CLOVER, AND LET THE REAL 



WEEDS GROW, 



Every now and then we could see where 

 the road supervisors had cut down sweet 

 clover, a genuine forage plant, and had left 

 the noxious weeds of the very worst kind 

 along the ditches and on the banks. Sweet 

 clover follows the road, and can be veiy 

 easily reached hy a mowing-machine, so the 

 road supervisor reaches out as far as he can, 

 and, of, course, destroj's the sweet clover 

 and only that. 



Professor Shaw was very anxious to get 

 an amendment to our law, eliminating sweet 

 clover from the list of noxious weeds; but 

 our Ohio legislature was jammed full of 

 other bills, and many needed laws were side- 

 tracked. 



