January, 1920 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CUT- TURK 



13 



rt'coiiimendod that Phillijis send him to Cali- 

 fornia last winter to clear up the confusion 

 in the matter of bee diseases. This Phillips 

 did. The beekeepers of California, almost 

 to a man, will acknowledge that he did 

 them a splendid service. I recommended 

 that he be sent again and now I am inform- 

 ed that he will attend the extension schools 

 to be held this fall in California and other 

 Western States to present to those in at- 

 tendance the latest and best information on 

 the important subject of bee diseases. 



Mr. Watson is chiefly engaged at present 

 on correspondence. It is the policy of the 

 office to put the newest man on this work 

 in order to get him trained in giving infor- 

 mation accurately and fully, and to familiar- 

 ize him with the problems of the office. It 

 is no reflection on Mr. Watson to say that 

 when he first went to the office a considera- 

 ble number of his letters did not get by the 

 scrutiny of the older men in the work. This 

 happens to every new man. Mr. Watson has 

 been a beekeeper for years and has had ex- 

 perience in teaching the subject. He is 

 starting in on some investigations which 

 will prove of much interest. 



I shall not embarrass the clerical force by 

 discussing them separately, but will put 

 them all together by saying that if at any 

 time there is occasion to find anything in the 

 files or in any of the other numerous records 

 of the office, the clerks can find it at once. 



Suppose we follow a letter written to the 

 Department of Agriculture on some phase of 

 beekeeping. It is sent out to Somerset as 

 soon as it reaches the Department. The mail 

 is all opened and stamped with the time of 

 receipt by one of the men. He also sorts 

 the letters out to the different men who take 

 part in the correspondence work. Matters 

 pertaining to extension work usually go to 

 Mr. Cale; general beekeeping questions go 

 to Mr. Watson; letters involving some 

 search as to the more specialized beekeeping 

 methods will probably go to Mr. Demuth; 

 while all administrative matters, some of the 

 extension letters, and all matters involving 

 scientific questions go to Dr. Phillips. 



Frequently before an important letter is 

 answered it is discussed by two, sometimes 

 three, of the men. Something especially in- 

 teresting or puzzling may be laid aside un 

 til the noon hour when all the men have 

 lunch together and the question is talked 

 over to decide on the best course of action 

 or the best way to give the fullest and most 

 accurate information. I have had the pleas- 

 ure of being present at some of those con- 

 ferences. The letter, after discussion, is 

 then dictated to a machine and is transcrib- 

 ed by one of the clerks. When ready for 

 signing it goes to Dr. Phillips, who rfads 

 all the mail before it goes out to be sure 

 that everything is as it should be. When 

 you get a letter from Dr. Phillips, perhaps 

 he never saw the letter until it came to him 

 for signature, but you can always tell who 

 dictated the letter and who trnn«sci:bed it 

 by looking at the initials in the lower >ft 



hand corner. By reviewing all the letters as 

 they go out. Dr. Phillips (or some one else 

 in his absence) is able to know what is go- 

 ing on in the office and is kept in touch with 

 what is going on outside the office in the 

 beekeeping world. 



If the letter accompanies a sample of 

 brood, it and all previous correspondence 

 from the sender go with the sample to Mr. 

 Sturtevant who makes the necessary ex- 

 amination, records it on a card for the pur- 

 pose, and then turns the letter and his re- 

 port over to one of the men to report the 

 result. Of course, a careful record is kept 

 of all samples sent in. 



Every man connected with the office, 

 whether on the field force or the Washing- 

 ton staff, is asked to send in reports of the 

 beekeeping conditions in every county visit- 

 ed. They record the soil, character of the 

 agriculture, main and minor honey plants, 

 present development of the beekeeping in- 

 dustry, and all other information which may 

 at some time be useful in answering in- 

 quiries from that county. 



All letters received at the office are filed 

 with a copy of the reply, these being ar- 

 ranged under the correspondent's name. 



Tliis is tlie National Bee Culture's new home at 

 Somerset, Md. 



There is also in the office a card index of 

 beekeepers, which contains at least 150,000 

 names. With the limited supply of bulle- 

 tins published, it is impossible for a copy of 

 each bulletin to be sent to each name on 

 this list, and the office does not maintain a 

 mailing list for the bulletins. These lists 

 were extremely useful during the war in 

 sending our circulars to beekeepers and are 

 used from time to time in announcing ex- 

 tension short courses in beekeeping con- 

 ducted by the office in co-operation with the 

 various extension divisions. Each card con- 

 tains a record of the circulars and bulletins 

 that have been sent out to each beekeeper, 

 and when a letter is written from the office 

 it is possible to tell what bulletins the cor- 

 respondent already has--if not lost. 



One of the lines of work undertaken early 

 l>y the office was the investigation of the 

 luood diseases of bees. Dr. G. F. White 

 was engaged for this work soon after Dr. 



