208 



AMERICAN BEE JOURNAL. 



throughout the country, naming the 

 amount of the appropriation desired, 

 and the changes called for, together 

 with a few of the reasons why we de- 

 mand help at this critical juncture. 

 Respectfully submitted, 



P. H. Elwood, ) ^ 



J. E. Hetherin&ton, ) 



Following this came an essay by Dr. 

 C. V. Riley, Government Entomologist, 

 on 



What the Department of Agriculture 



Has Done, and Can Do, for 



Apiculture. 



The wisdom of establishing as a part 

 of our Government machinery a Depart- 

 ment of Agriculture charged with doing 

 all it can to foster and encourage agri- 

 culture in all its branches, will not be 

 questioned by any one who has made 

 himself acquainted with the work of the 

 Department since its organization, first 

 as a bureau in the Department of the 

 Interior, later as a separate Department, 

 and finally as a co-ordinate Department 

 with representation in the cabinet. 

 There are those who would abolish it, 

 and who believe that the moneys appro- 

 priated for it are thrown away, but such 

 are Ignorant of the needs of agricul- 

 ture in a great and new country like 

 ours. That, as in all Government 

 bureaus, there is some waste of means, 

 and that some unnecessary or parasitic 

 growths have attached to it which might 

 well be removed or reformed, is also in- 

 cidental to the development of any Gov- 

 ernment organization ; but so far as my 

 experience goes , there are fewer of these 

 abnormalities in the Department which 

 ministers to the wants of the farmers, 

 than in almost any other of the Depart- 

 ments of the Government. In almost 

 every case, also, they have resulted from 

 political interference, and indeed the 

 greatest danger to the Department as at 

 present organized is the increase of 

 political and bureaucratic Influences, 

 which is almost inevitable. 



Some of the most beneficent and far- 

 reaching work of the Department was 

 done during its earlier history, when Its 

 means were limited, but when the field 

 was fresh, and the opportunities rela- 

 tively greater ; and it is a notable fact 

 that when the appropriation for the in- 

 troduction of seeds and cuttings did not 

 reach $10,000, where now it reaches 

 over ten times $10,000. The introduc- 

 tion of new and improved varieties of 

 grains and fruits gave results that were 

 more beneficial and far-reaching than 

 now, because the fund originally Intend- 



ed for such purposes has, through Con- 

 gressional action, been so largely per- 

 verted to the miscellaneous distribution 

 of ordinary seeds, as to be looked upon 

 by many as a serious abuse. 



It has been the desire of almost every 

 one who has been at the head of the 

 Department to pursue a broad and lib- 

 eral policy, to the end that all the 

 branches of rural economy might receive 

 their due share of attention. The head 

 of the Department is, however, helpless 

 without Congressional aid and sympa- 

 thy, and it has too often happened that 

 investigations which promised valuable 

 results have had to be abandoned be- 

 cause of the failure of Congress to make 

 the needed appropriations. 



I venture these introductory remarks 

 in part explanation of the record of the 

 Department in apiculture, which it is 

 my privilege to present to you. 



The annual products of the apiary 

 have been variously estimated at from 

 fifteen to twenty millions of dollars, 

 while I need not insist to the members 

 of this Society that the work of insects, 

 and chiefly of our bees, in the fertiliza- 

 tion of our seed and fruit-producing 

 plants far exceeds in value all the honey 

 and wax product, so that it is quite im- 

 possible to estimate the combined value 

 of these direct and indirect benefits from 

 the bees. 



Fifteen years ago, when I first ac- 

 cepted a position in the Department, 

 there was provision only for an ento- 

 mologist without assistants or means 

 for any experimental or field work. Dur- 

 ing the next four or five years I suc- 

 ceeded in impressing the Commissioner 

 of Agriculture and Congress with a sense 

 of the importance of the work to be done 

 in efforts to counteract the ravages of in- 

 jurious insects, and the appropriations 

 for both ofifice assistants and field work 

 increased. But the self-evident advan- 

 tage of endeavors to protect the farmer 

 from some part of the immense losses 

 occasioned by insects, had to fight its 

 way into recognition. It was not until 

 1885 that the more important work 

 done in counteracting the ravages of in- 

 jurious species had suf3Bciently advanced 

 to justify my giving some attention to 

 apiculture, and the fact that nothing 

 more resulted from the work then begun 

 may, to some extent, be laid to the lack 

 of effort on the part of the bee-keepers 

 themselves, i. e., to their failure to take 

 united action, such as would bring home 

 to the head of the Department, and to 

 those in charge of the general appro- 

 priations, the needs and just demands of 

 the industry. 



