220 BOARD OF AGRICULTURE. [Pul). Doc. 



MlSCELL.\NEOUS WORK. 



Correspondence. — The service tlirough correspondence has 

 materially increased. Inquiries have not been confined to 

 INIassachusetts nor to New England, but have come from all 

 parts of the United States, Canada, and the island possessions. 

 This feature of the work proves to be a considerable tax upon 

 the time and resources of the service. An attempt is being made 

 to better the facilities. 



Records. — Efficiency has been materially increased by the 

 use of a card system of records, whereby it is possible at any 

 time to gain at a moment's glance a relatively comprehensive 

 idea of the work done in different parts of the State. The system 

 also insures accuracy, uniformity and simplicity in the field work. 



Publications. — Tw^o bulletins of the "apiary inspection" 

 series have been issued.^ 



The large edition of the first publication, " Brood Diseases of 

 Bees, their Treatment, and the Law for their Suppression in 

 Massachusetts", is out of print. Constant inquiries for this 

 paper indicate the necessity for publishing a revised edition. 



Appointmenis. — The appointments of deputies are as fol- 

 lows: John L. Byard, Marlborough; Irving W. Davis, Lowell; 

 and William H. Thatcher, North Adams. 



Attendance at Meetings. — Besides having lectured before 

 granges and other societies upon bee problems, especially those 

 connected with disease, the inspector or deputies have attended 

 the important meetings and field days throughout the State, 

 as well as the convention of the National Beekeepers' Association 

 at Minneapolis, and the meeting of the Cape Cod Cranberry 

 Growers' Association, at which two latter meetings problems in 

 relation to bee diseases were discussed. At the national conven- 

 tion it was significant to observe the interest which delegates 

 had in the method and progress of apiculture in IMassachusetts. 



Convention of Inspectors of Apiaries in Northeastern 



United States. 



Formerly apiary inspection had little organization or system. 



In some States it had been optional with the beekeeper; in 



others, fluctuating, local or voluntary without the authority of 



» Bulletin No. 2, Annual Report of the State Inspector of Apiaries for the year 1910. 

 Bulletin No. 3, Warning to Beekeepers and Users of Bees in Greenhouses. 



