No. 4.] INSPECTOR OF APIARIES. 203 



culture are largely focused on the study of the nature, dis- 

 semination, remedial measures and distribution of Amer- 

 ican foul brood and Euroi)ean foul brood. Between 70 

 per cent and 80 per cent of their appropriation for api- 

 cultural investigations is sjient in this study, regarding it 

 fundamental to progress, or even success, in the industry. 

 Significant, also, of the scope and importance of this phase 

 of beekee})ing is the literature, which numbers hundreds 

 and doubtless thousands of titles in all languages, meaning 

 a world-wide movement. 



Influence on the Conditions of the Industry. — Bees 

 thrive and may be profitable in any part of Massachusetts, 

 though some localities are the superior of any in the north- 

 eastern United States. Bee diseases have had an incalcu- 

 lable effect on the Avay that bees are kept, on the number 

 which are kept, on commercial enterprise and the expansion 

 of beekeeping and indii-ectly on agriculture itself. The 

 conditions and returns fi'om the industry may be truly 

 measured in terms of the relative distribution of American 

 foul brood and European foul brood. Tn some localities it 

 is regarded as impossible to raise bees at all ; not, it has 

 been found, owing to the lack of forage or other unfavorable 

 conditions, but rather to the subtle and repeated inroads of 

 brood diseases. 



Usefulness of Bees to the Agriculturist. 



By far the greatest service of bees is to agriculture in 

 its broad sense, in particular to practical and commercial 

 horticulture. 



The Orchardist. — If the aims and ideals of the orchardist 

 are to be realized, bees are a primary essential ; but colonies 

 of bees which can be depended upon must be available. 

 The writer has had numerous inquiries for bees to be used 

 in the orchard, in order to obtain, as one man put it, a 

 little better set or an off-year set, thus getting advantage 

 of the grower who depends upon the fluctuations of his 

 neighbors' boes. It is in the unfavorable year that prices 

 run high, and experience shows that healthy bees should be 

 at hand to work the blossoms under such conditions. 



