No. 4.] REPORT OF SECRETARY. xix 



Apiary Inspection. 

 The office of State Inspector of Apiaries was created in 1910, 

 with a trial appropriation, and the office and work made perma- 

 nent by the Legislature of 1911, with an annual appropriation 

 of $2,000. The work has been carried on faithfully and earn- 

 estly during the year, with excellent results. The importance 

 of this question to the horticulturist and vine grower is just 

 beginning to be recognized, and many more people now under- 

 stand the importance of bees and the necessity for their preserva- 

 tion in the community than was the case a few years ago. The 

 work this year has been pushed in the centers of bee keeping 

 and the surrounding territory and has been most successful. 

 It is hoped to cover the State before the close of another year, 

 and in any event the territory left uninspected at the close of 

 1912 will be of comparatively little importance from the bee- 

 keeping standpoint. 



Nursery Inspection. 

 The work of nursery inspection has reached a jjoint where 

 something definite and permanent must be done if this great 

 industry, with an annual turnover of $2,000,000, is to be saved 

 to the Commonwealth. The Legislature of 1911 recognized this 

 to a certain degree by appropriating $10,000 additional for the 

 work by a special resolve, increasing the powers of the State 

 Nursery Inspector. This sum, with the regular appropriation 

 of $2,000, was just sufficient to get through the work of the 

 year, and with the work on an annual basis would be inadequate. 

 Further, the additional powers conferred upon the Nursery 

 Inspector in this resolve should be made permanent if the work 

 is to be carried on satisfactorily. The spread and prevalence 

 of the gypsy and brown-tail moths makes it necessary to make 

 an examination in the fall as well as in the spring, when the 

 stock is inspected for the San Jose scale, and requires a large 

 force of trained men. These are secured from the gypsy-moth 

 force of the United States Department of Agriculture. Any 

 failure to make this inspection as thorough as possible would 

 result in the exclusion of our nursery products from the States 

 that are now our most valuable customers. I recommend that 



