Jan. 26, 1905. 



THE AMERICAN BEE JOURNAL. 



57 



=\ 



Contention 

 Proccebincjs 



J 



THE ST. LO UIS CO NVENTION. 



Report of the 35th Annual Convention, of the 



National Bee-Keepers' Association Held at 



St. Louis, Mo., Sept. 27-30, 1904. 



(Continaed from page 42.J 



WORK IN APICULTURE AT THE UNITED STATES 

 DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE. 



It was in 1SS5 that Dr. Riley secured the establish- 

 ment of an apicultural station at Aurora, 111,, which was in 

 charge of Mr. N. W. McLain. Experiments were con- 

 ducted during that year and the two following years, under 

 the direction of the Entomologist. There was good work 

 done during this period notwithstanding the severe criti- 

 cism of certain jealous writers, and I am disposed to agree 

 in the main with Dr. Riley's statement that "there is prob- 

 ably not one of Mr. McLain's critics who would have done 

 more of real benefit to apiculture during the same period 

 and under the same circumstances." I have but to mention 

 among the recorded experiments those conducted by Mr. 

 .McLain to determine whether bees could injure sound fruit 

 or not. The results have been very widely quoted and 

 pointed to as authoritative, and the report has done a 

 great deal to prevent misapprehension between fruit-grow- 

 ers and bee-keepers. 



For several years following this the Entomologist felt 

 unable to continue the work, but in 1891 a series of experi- 

 ments were conducted at the Michigan State Experiment 

 Station by Prof. A. J. Cook, assisted by Mr. J. H. Lar- 

 rabee, under the general direction of the Entomologist. 

 The arrangement, however, did not prove extremely satis- 

 factory, nor did the work done meet, by reason of origin- 

 ality or decisive results, the special approval of the Ento- 

 mologist. It was shortly thereafter discontinued when the 

 commissions expired. 



Meanwhile it had been Dr. Riley's desire to undertake 

 the securing of the giant bees of India, and he had ad- 

 dressed a letter to me while I was abroad offering me a 

 commission to proceed to India and secure these bees. At 

 that time, however, I had started on my way back to my 

 native land, after an absence of 11 years, and his first com- 

 munication finally reached me while in New York, having 

 followed me up from my last address in Austria. Owing 

 to technicalities, however, Dr. Riley was unable to secure 

 the authorization to send me on this mission, with which 

 it was his intention to couple certain other work, such as 

 the securing of the caprifig insect (Blastophaga psenes) 

 which was so much needed for the pollenization of the 

 Smyrna figs in California. 



Having become intimately acquainted with Dr. Riley's 

 views on all of the subjects, I can positively assert that he 

 was perfectly willing to undertake continuous and pro- 

 gressive experimental work in favor of the apiarian inter- 

 ests of the country, had the funds of the division of Ento- 

 mology permitted this. But having been blocked in the 

 first work which he designed me to undertake, he lost 

 much of his interest in taking hold of the problem which 

 presented itself, of establishing on a permanent footing a 

 section for apicultural experimentation, especially as my 

 services could be utilized for the time being in the general 

 work of the Division of Entomology, while at the same 

 time such correspondence as came to the department rela- 

 tive to apiculture was turned over to me for attention. 



The changes which followed rapidly after this, re- 

 sulting in the placing of Dr. Riley's first assistant in the 

 position of Entomologist, and the sudden and untimely 

 death of Dr. Riley himself, somewhat changed the status 

 of matters, and it has only been rather gradually that the 

 importance of practical experimental work, and the need 

 of scientific and systematic investigations in apiculture 

 have been sufficiently impressed upon the authorities to 

 result in a more liberal policy toward this industry. Mean- 



while, however, records of interest have been accumulat- 

 ing, thousands of letters of inquiry relative to apiculture 

 and apiarian interests in the country have been answered, 

 and many thousand bulletins treating of apiarian manage- 

 ment have been sent to all parts of the country, and even 

 many to foreign countries, in response to requests which 

 come daily for information. It might be said that the 

 department has practically, for a number of years, con- 

 ducted a correspondence school in apiculture, since every 

 inquiry, of whatever nature, received careful attention, and, 

 if it required, a specific answer giving the best information 

 at hand on whatever topic the inquiry covered. Moreover, 

 large numbers of teachers in the normal college of the 

 District of Columbia, and the public schools of the city of 

 Washington, as well as teachers of nature study in other 

 cities, have been furnished with information and specimens 

 of bees for use in their class work, and numerous demon- 

 strations have been made for the benefits of these teach- 

 ers, as well as frequently for large classes under them, in- 

 cluding the class in the normal school who would shortly 

 become teachers in charge of public schools. 



Realizing that it is the constant dropping which wears 

 away the stone, I have, during the 13 years I have been 

 connected with the United States Department of Agri- 

 culture never permitted to pass unutilized an opportunity 

 to create in the mind of those in authority there a favor- 

 able impression concerning the dignity of apiculture as a 

 pursuit, and the needs of the industry in connection with 

 scientific experimentation. With this I have, however, 

 studiously avoided being obtrusive, preferring rather to 

 use patience and perseverance and bide the opportune mo- 

 ment for presenting the claims of our pursuit. All along 

 I have noted a growing interest in the subject at the de- 

 partment, a feeling, in fact, to use the words of many of 

 the scientific gentlemen connected with the experimental 

 work there, that "there is far more in this business of bee 

 culture than we had formerly supposed." They have also 

 remarked that it needed extended scientific investigation as 

 to the zoological, botanical and chemical sides of the sub- 

 ject, as well as from the practical bee-keeper's standpoint. 

 At last I have the intense satisfaction of seeing this matter 

 duly appreciated, and the proper steps taken to insure the 

 investigations which we all so much desire. 



During the years when no special fund could be de- 

 voted to apiculture I still continued to do, largely on my 

 own time and at my own expense, some experimental 

 work, particularly with honey-producing plants, which I 

 tested quite extensively during a series of years, with vari- 

 ous foreign races of bees, and in regard to methods in 

 queen-rearing and methods in the successful wintering of 

 bees in the open air. My own apiaries were largely de- 

 voted to these experiments, without regard to the evident 

 decrease in the honey-yield which must necessarily result. 

 Queens of various foreign races were reared, and certain 

 crosses produced between these races, and sent to 

 certain state experiment stations and to certain 

 portions of the country, where it seemed desirable to test 

 the particular strain in question. Numerous notes and ob- 

 servations for further use in the work when it should be 

 firmly established, were collected from time to time, and 

 plans for experiments and for observations and study of 

 apicultural conditions in all parts of the country were 

 made. During this period the title borne by myself was 

 that of Investigator in the division of Entomolo'^v, and 

 later Assistant Entomologist. Finally, in 1901 these ef- 

 forts resulted in the setting apart of a special appropria- 

 tion for apiculture of $2,000, the first and only special ap- 

 propriation which has been made for this branch. My own 

 title was changed to that of Apicultural Investigator, and 

 my salary, with that of a temporary assistant for a few 

 weeks in the summer, were charged to this fund, which 

 left really but a few hundred dollars for investigations. 

 This small sum was utilized to continue the work already 

 started and to make way for a more permanent organiza- 

 tion. Since, however, it was not sufficient for the estab- 

 lishment of a well-equipped apiary, my own personal 

 apiaries were still placed at the service of the Department. 

 Unfortunately, the disposition on the part of legislators 

 seemed to be to make appropriations in the form of a 

 lump sum, rather than specific, so that instead of reaf- 

 firming this specific sum. it was absorbed into the general 

 fund of the Division of Entomology in subsequent enact- 

 ments. The result of this seemed to make it difficult, as 

 there was no mandatory clause -egarding the amount to 

 be devoted to apiculture, to secure any definite setting 



