SEVENTH ANNUAL REPORT OF THE STATE INSPECTOR 



OF APIARIES. 



To the Honorable State Board of Agriculture. 



The demands for the services of the apiary inspector and his 

 deputies have been as great or greater than in previous years. 

 Unfortunately, service must be proportioned to an insufficient 

 appropriation, as this Board I bfeheve well realizes. Yet an 

 analysis of the work done is favorable in proportion to the 

 funds used. The question arises, however, would it not be 

 good policy for the State to provide for more extensive. State- 

 wide assistance to the beekeepers? 



There are two ways of furnishing, inspection service, as prac- 

 ticed in different States of the country. One is to hit merely 

 the high spots, that is, to visit the larger apiaries, assuming 

 that the lesser apiaries need no inspection service. This policy, 

 for Massachusetts at least, is fundamentally wrong, as often 

 the large apiarist is quite as able to cope with infectious bee 

 diseases as the small apiarist. It is argued, however, that the 

 large apiary is of more economic importance than the small. 

 This may not be entirely true, as the apiary of a few colonies 

 may become in time a commercial yard of greater economic 

 importance. In the inspection work of Massachusetts a more 

 conservative policy has been adhered to, namely, systematic 

 inspection over given areas, governed by the intensity of the 

 infection and the success with which the beekeepers are meet- 

 ing it. However, this policy, which was early agreed to, is 

 somewhat more costly than if the inspectors were to visit ex- 

 clusively large apiaries. Nevertheless, the policy has in a great 

 measure met the demands for Massachusetts, and at the same 

 time overcomes the frequent objection elsewhere to "skipping 

 apiaries." The large beekeeper and the small beekeeper, the 



