EIGHTH ANNUAL EEPORT OF THE STATE INSPECTOR 



OF APIARIES. 



To the Honorable State Board of Agriculture. 



This year apicultural conditions in Massachusetts have ma- 

 terially changed. As a result, the inspection methods and 

 duties were necessarily promptly modified. The service to be 

 rendered the beekeepers during current unsettled conditions 

 could not be the same as heretofore. On May 1 the writer 

 offered his services to the United States Department of Agri- 

 culture, and was appointed collaborator in beekeeping for the 

 Bureau of Entomology. This placed directly at the disposal 

 of Massachusetts beekeepers the facilities of the United States 

 Department of Agriculture. Notice was at once sent out to 

 the beekeepers of Massachusetts, outlining the assistance which 

 could be afforded them. This announcement was followed by 

 successive circular letters, bulletins and report forms. Finally, 

 in September a letter on the preparation and wintering of bees 

 was issued. Lists of government publications, and a similar 

 list of standard books on beekeeping, known as ''The Bee- 

 keepers' Book-shelf," were issued. Thus each known beekeeper 

 in Massachusetts was repeatedly advised of current conditions. 

 This circularization greatly increased the correspondence. In- 

 quiries were received from those not before heard from. It 

 also afforded opportunity to place at the disposal of the bee- 

 keepers, upon their request, hundreds of publications. It seems, 

 therefore, that an immense amount of instructional work has 

 thus been accomplished. The program will be continued under 

 the same co-operative arrangement. 



Federal Emergency Meeting in Washington. 

 Prior to receiving the collaboratorship, the writer responded 

 to a call by the government apiarist to meet in Washington 

 on April 23 with prominent beekeepers from various parts of 



