38 FOURTH ANNUAL REPORT 



Mr. York then read a paper from Mr. Herman F. Moore, 

 on 



STATE-INSPECTION OF APIARIES IN ILLINOIS. 



No more interesting occupation can be imagined than that 

 of an inspector of apiaries. Early in the summer of 1904 the 

 writer got his commission from Hon. J. Q. Smith, Inspector 

 of Apiaries for Illinois. Soon after he started on his rounds 

 among the Cook County bee-keepers. 



Quite a number were visited who kept bees in box-hives, 

 and never saw the interior of a brood-nest from one year's 

 end to another. Some of these said their bees had nearly all 

 died out, that they had not done well, etc. Of course in 

 such cases it might be necessary to break up a colony or two 

 of the weakest live ones, to make a thorough examination, 

 transferring the bees and combs to another hive. In the 

 cases that I have in mind the parties were somewhat ignor- 

 ant of our language and customs, and were entirely unwilling 

 to have the hives touched, almost refusing to let me go into 

 the back yard to have a look at the outside of the hives. Of 

 course the colonies might be diseased, and the losses might 

 have been caused by disease, but under the law as it stands, 

 an inspector has no power to touch a hive for any purpose, 

 without the consent of the owner, and the disease continues 

 to spread in all directions from an infected apiary. By all 

 means should ^the legislature be asked to give a drastic law, 

 similar to the Wisconsin act. Otherwise it seems like wast- 

 ing the money. 



In my work of inspection I pass the home and apiary of a 

 near neighbor and friend. He is an old-timer, having kept 

 from 100 colonies up and down for 20 years or so. I never 

 supposed his bees had the disease until one day I made him 

 a formal call, asking him how his bees were. His answer, 

 "They have got it," expressed the situation. We spent some 

 time that day, and another day I returned and we examined 

 nearly the whole apiary, and found 4 out of 5 colonies had 

 foul brood. His loss will be over $100.00 this season, by the 

 disease. I questioned him as to where they could have gotten 

 the infection. He named a party a mile away as the likely 

 one. He said further that he had allowed the bees to clean 

 out a honey-barrel that had been shipped in from Wisconsin. 

 I visited the party named and found only the lady of the 

 house at home. I told my errand. We went out to the col- 

 onies, and found 3 dead and only 1 alive. The live one I opened 

 without smoke, and found a few bees on three frames and 

 brood on two frames. They were in the last stage of foul 

 brood. Now, I should have had the power to burn up the 

 whole outfit, except the hives, on the spot. I urgently re- 

 quested the lady of the house to have them burned up at 

 once, and she promised to have it done. My time was too 

 short, and the ground too large to get over it the second 

 time, so I don't know whether it was done or not. 



Now here is the condition that confronts us: The big 

 State of ' Illinois has 102 counties, with about 350 apiaries 



