140 FOURTH ANNUAL REPORT 



under Thy care. We pray that Thy blessing may be upon us 

 as bee-keepers, and we learn something to-day. May we go 

 from here better men and women; better fitted to do the 

 work that our Heavenly Father has for us to do here upon 

 the earth. Bless the President and the other officers. May 

 the President have just the wisdom he ought to have to 

 direct aright the proceedings of this convention. We pray 

 that Thou wilt bless all the members. Lead us in all we do. 

 Lead us, we pray Thee, through life; lead us up to the time 

 when we shall leave all the things of this world, and may 

 we unitedly come up to enjoy the life beyond through all 

 eternity. We ask it in Christ's name. Amen. 



REPORT OF THE INSPECTOR OF APIARIES. 



We will call upon Mr. Smith, the State Inspector of Illi- 

 nois, to open this subject, and tell us about his work. 



Mr. Smith — Really, I do not believe that I can add to 

 what has already been so often told the bee-keepers by Mr. 

 France, and by Mr. Moore here in his remarks yesterday. 

 However, I will give an outline of what I have done the past 

 year. The way I do my work is by going to places from 

 which I get invitations to come. I don't go out and hunt 

 up foul brood, only in the neighborhood where I find foul 

 brood; we as a rule go around to the adjoining neighbors 

 that have bees and inspect them. During the last season I 

 visited thirty-two counties in this State, just about one-third 

 of the counties, probably — it would be a good one-third with 

 Mr. Moore's work in Cook County. I find that the bee- 

 keepers are very anxious to know all about foul brood, and 

 how to treat it, and they are very apt to learn also. They are 

 very anxious to inform other bee-keepers how to treat it. 

 Of course there is only one way that I treat foul brood and 

 that is to destroy the comb. I don't try formaldehyde or any 

 otha'r disinfectant; T remove the bees and destroy the 

 comb — that is, the brood-combs. I cleanse the hives 

 out and re-hive the j bees again on foundation or empty 

 frames. I thirik^hat the work is in fair progress, 

 and another year or two will show that the work 

 that has been commenced will bear good fruit. The diseased 

 locations are found mostly in the north part of the State 

 and along the Mississippi River in the north and south parts 

 of the State, also along the Indiana line. I found foul brood 

 in only one county in the central part of the State. Of 

 course there may be foul brood in every county in the State 

 so far as I know, but I think the bee-keepers, as a rule, are 

 reading up, and that is one way we ought to work — through 

 the press, and the mail, and educate the bee-keepers so that 

 they can take care of their own bees. The bee-keepers as a 

 rule, are very anxious to have the Inspector come, and they 

 are very pleasant people to be with. In fact, I believe that 

 the bee-keepers are intelligent and progressive, and are very 

 friendly. There doesn't seem to be any jealousy existing 

 among them, that one is afraid that his neighbor will produce 



