1897. 



THE AMERICAN BEE JOURNAL. 



197 



Mr. Adams — There is not a particle of danger. The honey 

 ought to be thinned. 



Vice-Pres. Porter — I always feed it back. I add no acid. 

 It should be thinned, boiled until it foams, and the foam 

 skimmed off. There is no possibility that a germ can live in 

 boiling water. 



Col. Whipple— I believe the sun's rays are enough to kill 

 the germs, but I always boiled the honey. 



Mr. Adams— The sun's rays will kill dry foul brood, but 

 not foul brood in honey. 



Mr. Booth — Is foul brood animal or vegetable ? 



Mr. Adams — It has the power of locomotion, but is a 

 vegetable. 



FOUL BROOD LEGISLATION. 



The report of the legislative committee was resumed. It 

 vras stated that as one member, Mr. Adams, lived away from 

 Denver, and as there had been some delay in correspondence, 

 Mr. Adams was not responsible for most of the changes pro- 

 posed in the preseut law relating to bee-diseases. The first 

 change was to add to the first section, which relates to the 

 appointment of inspectors by County Judges, at the request 

 of the President or Secretary of the Association, or of five 

 actual bee-keepers of the couuty, a clause providing that such 

 persons appointed should have previously past an examination 

 before a committee appointed by the Secretary of the State 

 Association, and authorized by the State Agricultural College. 

 Mr. Booth — The inspector should hold a certificate from 

 the college, as the horticultural inspectors do. But perhaps 

 we had better not meddle with the law. We may lose it en- 

 tirely by so doing, as there is a disposition to oppose it in 

 some quarters. 



Secretary Rauchfuss here read a letter from the inspector 

 of Montezuma county, Mrs. A. J. Barber, in which she said 

 that for several years that county had been without an in- 

 spector, though one was needed, because the County Judge 

 had refused to appoint one, alleging the unconstitutionality 

 of the law. Last year a new County Judge came in, and an 

 inspector was appointed. 



Mr. Brock — The Association should pass upon the man, 

 not the college. 



Mr. Rhodes — The Judge is not the man to decide on the 

 constitutionality of the law. I am not in favor of amending 

 the law at present. 



Mr. Adams — Is the law constitutional until declared un- 

 constitutional ? 



H. Rauchfuss — If the law is not amended, it will be 

 repealed, there is so much opposition. We had better have no 

 law than the present one. "The bee-keepers are at the mercy 

 of the inspector. It is very easy to tind five bee-keepers who 

 don't know much. How many of our inspectors are selected 

 by i^ompetent bee-keepers ? 



Mr. Adams — The inspector is also at the mercy of the 

 law. I would much rather have our present law than none at 

 all. None but an expert could have kept bees without it. 



Mrs. Booth — My trouble was to get an inspector to come. 

 I have no fault to find with the bee-inspector. 



Vice-Pres. Porter— There is a penalty for the inspector. 

 He can be removed from office. 



Mr. Booth — No inspector inspects in the winter. 

 H. Rauchfuss — But there is nothing to prevent him 

 from doing so. An inspector may be incompetent. I know 

 that a certain lot of bees was moved on the certificate of the 

 inspector that they were free from foul brood. I found the 

 disease among those bees before and after the certificate was 

 given. 



Vice-Pres. Porter — Five bee-keepers in one's own county 

 are better than a certificate from Ft. Collins. As a whole, 

 there has been very little complaint under the law. The work 

 has been well done. 



Mr. Rhodes — We want all the defects of the law brought 

 out, provided the law is not broken down. 



Mr. Sylvester — It is claimed that foul brood may be an 

 advantage to those who are posted — it keeps other people's 

 bees from multiplying ! There is too much authority given to 

 the inspector, but I have not known of an inspector who took 

 advantage of it. The only trouble is that taxes may be in- 

 creast by some one who wants to make money. My opinion is 

 that the law should remain as it is, unless you want it re- 

 pealed. I think formic acid and lysol are far preferable to 

 carbolic acid. It is reported from Hamburg that foul brood 

 germs are almost everywhere. Nature has provided formic 

 acid in the honey to destroy the germs, provided they are not 

 too excessive. Foul brood sometimes disappears In a good 

 flow of honey. I should use lysol and pine tar. 



Vice-Pres. Porter — It takes some time to find the right 

 proportions of these new disinfectants. The contiauous odor 



from carbolic acid and pine tar strikes me as likely to be 

 effective. 



The rest of the proposed amendments were then read, and 

 the first section read again. 



Mr. Tracy — A committee of practical bee-keepers Is better 

 authority than the college. 



On motion, action on the amendment was deferred until 

 the second day. 



Mr. Booth then read Mrs. Booth's paper on " Early Diys 

 of Bee- Keeping in Colorado," which was not handed in to the 

 Secretary. 



The inspectors' reports were then read. As the Secretary 

 contemplates a classification of these, and a comparison with 

 former years, they will not be given at present. 



Mrs. Booth — Supposing the weather turned too cold to 

 inspect, after the inspector had arrived at an apiary. He 

 ought to have his pay for the time expended. 



Mr. Tracy — The inspectors should be paid traveling ex- 

 penses for a personal visit to the Association meeting, when 

 they make their reports. 



Vice-Pres. Porter — Mr. Adams, how many years have 

 you been inspecting? 



Mr. Adams — Six or seven. 



Vice-Pres. Porter — How does this report compare with 

 those of former years ? 



Mr. Adams — Of late it has been increasing, coming over 

 from Weld county. My first year's report, as nearly as I can 

 remember, showed 11 per cent, diseased out of two or three 

 thousand colonies inspected; the next year, 7 or S per cent.; 

 and next year, very little. The law saved our district. 



Mr. Booth — I was appointed a committee by the Horticul- 

 turists to confer with a committee appointed by this Associa- 

 tion on changing the law so as to allow of printing the Bee- 

 Keepers' Association reports with those of the Board of Horti- 

 culture, in accordance with a resolution I introduced in their 

 meeting. It was stated in their Legislative committee that 

 bee-inspectors had more authority than fruit-inspectors. To 

 show the importance of our business, I will state that consid- 

 ering the time spent, my wife made a greater proportion of 

 money from her bees than I did from my fruit and farm. 



SECOND DAY. 



The reading of the proposed amendments to the law re- 

 lating to bee-diseases was repeated. 



On motion, the amendment to Sec. 1, providing that an 

 inspector should pass an examination before being appointed, 

 was rejected. 



A clause added to Sec. 2, providing that the inspector 

 should give S500 bonds, was adopted. 



Clauses in various sections, alluding to " any' source of 

 infection," and designed to cover cases in which what were 

 formerly apiaries, but could no longer be called so, yet were 

 sources of infection, were approved. 



A provision added to Sec. -4, creating a Board of Arbitra- 

 tion to settle disputes between inspectors and owners, was 

 rejected, after being thus discust : 



Mr. Booth — Anybody may be found fault with. Let the 

 owner suffer. I pity him, and for that reason don't want to 

 give him any chance to get in a lawsuit. I remember a case 

 in which the inspector proved to be right, and a man well 

 acquainted with bees was wrong. Don't give any chance for 

 controversy. 



A clause added to Sec. 4, requiring the inspector to make 

 a second visit in five days, was rejected after the following 

 discussion : 



F. Rauchfuss — Suppose the inspector says he can't come 

 because he is not paid for second visits? 'The inspector of 

 Arapahoe county is given orders not to make second visits. 



Mr. Adams — The inspector is free to act regardless of the 

 orders of county commissioners. In 6 out of 10 cases It is 

 not necessary to make a second visit ; but this clause compels 

 him to add expenses to the couuty. Yet something should be 

 added to protect the inspector. But he should not be com- 

 pelled to make the second visit. 



Mr. Booth— We generally have pretty good men for 

 county commissioners. If three or four bee-keepers talk to 

 them they will graut anything reasonable. 



H. Porter — My commissioners refuse to pay for second 

 visits, so I just let the matter stand. Would the inspector be 

 allowed to go, providing he was sent for? I have been sent 

 for the second time. 



Vice-Pres. Porter — Make it an original ease each time. If 

 an inspector is notified, he has to go. We want to protect 

 both the county and the inspector. 



To Sec. 5 the committee had proposed to add the follow- 

 ing: " And should said inspector neglect to disinfect himself 

 and assistants, or fail in the performaoce of any of bis duties 



