274 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE 



May, 1920 



state marketing commission will receive and 

 list in a weeklj"^ letter, sent out to commis- 

 sion firms, all offerings of honey. This will 

 help every beekeeper who does not have a 

 local market for Ms honey to find a market 

 for his crop. 

 State, University, and Beekeeper Co-operate. 



Fortunately, the University and the State 

 Department of Agriculture have their lines 

 of work definitely outlined and separate, 

 and it has been possible for all parties to 

 work in close co-operation. 



The regulatory work is by law in the 

 State Department of Agriculture, while the 

 educational work is given to the College of 

 Agriculture of the University. By agree- 

 ment the organization work in connection 

 with the State Association has been left to 

 the University, but the State Department 

 will in general not attempt clean-up cam- 

 paigns in any district where an organiza- 

 tion does not exist. This is a very impor- 

 tant consideration because it means that the 

 beekeepers in any locality can very easily 

 get State aid, but they must request as- 

 sistance and agree to give united support in 

 helping to eradicate disease. Furthermore, 

 the burden of success in each campaign is 

 in the hands of the beekeepers themselves. 

 The State Apiary Inspector does not have 

 sufiicient funds, nor it is possible always to 

 get competent inspectors to cover the entire 

 State at once. A system that is satisfactory 

 to all parties concerned, however, has been 

 worked out whereby a local organization 

 may select its own inspector as follows: 

 Three men are elected by the local from its 

 members, and they are compelled to pass an 

 examination conducted by the State In- 



spector under civil service rules. The per- 

 son receiving the highest rating is then ap- 

 pointed a deputy inspector for the county 

 or ilistrict in which he resides. In case of 

 special need an inspector from the State 

 office can always be secured. 



Co-operative work is now carried on to a 

 greater extent thru H. L. McMurry, special 

 field agent, working on a joint project be- 

 tween the College of Agriculture, the Unit- 

 ed States Department of Agriculture, and 

 the State Department of Agriculture. Mr. 

 McMurray acts as State Apiary Inspector 

 from May to October and Special Extension 

 Agent from October to May. 



We are able to keep the beekeepers in- 

 formed of our meetings by a thoroly plan- 

 ned advertising campaign, which extends 

 not only to all parts of our State but reach- 

 es also adjoining States, as demonstrated 

 by the inquiry received from outside the 

 State regarding the three-day bee schools. 

 A complete list of beekeepers, so far as we 

 are able to obtain addresses, is filed in our 

 office, and whenever a meeting is to be 

 held in any locality all beekeepers in that 

 county are notified. 



Three weeks before each meeting, a spe- 

 cial write-up with a program is sent to 

 every newspaper within a given area, and 

 this is followed two weeks later with an- 

 other write-up calling attention to the im- 

 portance of the bee industry in that par- 

 ticular part of the State and the value of a 

 co-operative organization. However, the 

 biggest advertisement is to hold successful 

 meetings and send the attending beekeepers 

 away satisfied. 



Madison, Wis. 



Wisconsin Beekeepers' School ;iih1 ('liaiit.iiii|iiii of 1920 held at Madison. 



