296 LAWS TfiAT CONCERN THE BEE-BEEPER 



Such laws are very important but it is difficult to enforce them 

 fully as the inspector has no means of knowing when and where 

 bees are to be moved. Disease is frequently brought into locali- 

 ties that have been previously free from it, by shipment of bees 

 in emigrant cars along with other personal effects. Kailroads 

 and express companies issue instructions to their agents fre- 

 quently and every agent is notified of a provision of law of the 

 kind adopted in Iowa, with the result that some shipments at 

 least will be checked until properly inspected. 



Shipment of Queens. — By far the largest interstate business 

 in bees is the shipment of queens. Thousands of queens are 

 shipped through the mail and by express. Disease has often 

 been carried with the cages in which the queens are sent through 

 the mails. Usually cases of this kind are traceable to the use 

 of honey from diseased colonies for making the candy on which 

 the queens feed enroute. Postal regulations now require that 

 queens shall be accompanied by a certificate of health from some 

 duly authorized inspector or by an affidavit that the candy on 

 which they are fed was boiled for thirty minutes. 



The safest plan is for the bee-keeper to place the queen in a 

 new cage without candy, or with candy which is known to be 

 free from disease germs, before introducing into the apiary. 



KELATIXG TO THE ADULTERATIOX AND SALE OF HONEY 



The pure food laws are a great boon to the honey producer. 

 For many years all kinds of adulterations of honey were in the 

 market. The bee-keeper found it very hard to compete with 

 these adulterations which could be sold at a very low price. 

 Adulteration was so common that the public came to believe that 

 all liquid honey was adulterated and extracted honey fell in 

 price to such a point that it was no longer profitable to produce it. 



Fortunately it has never been found possible to imitate the 

 natural product in the comb and the comb honey prodiicer never 

 suffered as seriously. 



Stories to the effect that comb honev was manufactured at 



