ILLINOIS STATE BEE-KEBPEORiS' ASSOCIATION 



199 



broader subject than might be at first 

 thought. The subject might be put 

 under three topics, and I want to ven- 

 ture one other hazardous remark — it 

 might be considered' by some imperti- 

 nent — and yet I can't help but think 

 that the reports of the National Bee- 

 Keepers' Association, to be of perma- 

 nent value, should be reference books 

 for every bee-keeper, and in that 

 connection I would suggest and urge 

 that the reports and publications, no 

 matter what form they take, should be 

 put in permanent form, put on good 

 paper, have good printing, be well 

 edited/ and put in permanent, readable 

 form so that they might be preserved. 

 As it is today, I doubt if there are 

 three or four librairies in the coun- 

 try where you could obtain a complete 

 set of the reports of this organiza- 

 tion for reference. I may be entirely 

 wrong there, but* I have made an at- 

 tempt, two or three times, to get items 

 published by this society, and was un- 

 able to obtain! them. fThat point 

 seems to me perhaps worthy of con- 

 sideration. 



Then, another topic for this educa- 

 tional phase of the convention of the 

 National might .be sitated, the rela- 

 tion, of the National to the Federal 

 Government, or to the State Govern- 

 ment, or the Department of Agricul- 

 ture. That might, at first, not appeal 

 to you as an educational matter, yet 

 the Bureau of Entomology, or the 

 Agricultural Department of that bu- 

 reau, and' the various agricultural 

 commissions or departments of the 

 State, are strictly educational institu- 

 tions, and^it is the relation of the 

 National to these institutibns that I 

 have in mind to call to your atten- 

 tion. For instance, just to itemize 

 one or two things which are done to 

 promote apiculture by the Federal 

 Government; and I might say in con- 

 nection, too, thiat I am possibly at lib- 

 erty to speak freely on this subject' 

 because I am not connected with the 

 Department of Agriculture at "Wash- 

 ington any more, otherwise I should 

 hesitate about making these remarks, 

 yet you all recognize the freeness 

 with which samples of brood, which 

 are considered tO' be diseased, are 

 examined down there; it is an expen- 

 sive procedure, yet anybody is at lib- 

 erty to send in a sample which he 

 thinks is diseased, ITo show you how 

 they are spreading their information. 



I believe something like 100,000 pub- 

 lications were gotten out from there 

 this year, first-class publications, ad- 

 vanced ideas. The Bureau, or Depart- 

 ment of Apiculture, is a source of gen- 

 eral information. Its other function, 

 too, is the research bureau, taking up 

 problems which are too great, and 

 entail too much expense. The money 

 now expended) is something like $10,- 

 000 a year, that must pay for thei en- 

 tire equipment and maintenance and 

 salaries of those connected with the 

 work. At present the work, as you 

 know, is largely a matter of investi- 

 gation of the diseases of bees. There 

 are other diseases of bees, probably 

 so-calledi paralyMs, and) so-called 

 pickled brood, which should be looked 

 into and studied, but which at present 

 cannot have attention because of the 

 necessity of the focusing of the at- 

 tention on the two brood-diseases, 

 European and American Foul Brood. 

 Those are some items of what is being 

 done there. 



My point was not to refer to that 

 particularly, but to bring out the re- 

 lation which the National should bear 

 to that work. It seems to me if the 

 National were functioned to its full 

 capacity, it would be highly within 

 their power; they would have every 

 right to shape the nature of the work 

 which is to be done at Washington. 

 For instance, if the National finds 

 out that the disease studied is not giv- 

 ing them satisfaction, if they find out 

 they would rather have some other 

 problem considered — for instance, the 

 control of swarming — it should be 

 within their power to control or shape 

 the policy at Washington, and if they 

 made the effort, and m.ade it in the 

 right way, they could. If they con- 

 sider the disease investigation is 

 necessary, but to spend only $10,000 

 a year on examining or studying bee- 

 diseases alone is not sufficient, and 

 fifteen or twenty thousand dollars 

 should be spent, so that a fuller study 

 should be made, including the other 

 diseases; it would be within the Na- 

 tional's power to obtain that money, 

 or to obtain money for other research 

 problems. Tou see my point. It is 

 merely to shape the policy at W^ash- 

 ington, or in any of the other Agri- 

 cultural State Commissions or Depart- 

 ments. What applies to Washington, 

 applies equally well to the State Com- 

 missions and Departments. I will take 



