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36 



NINTH ANNUAL. REPORT OF THE 



everything to the bee-keepers of the 

 country in helping them carry on their 

 industry. 



I went for a man in Kansas, who was 

 selling a few bee-supplies, who got 

 foul brood in his apiary. He said to 

 me: "You are injuring me and my 

 business very greatly; if you don't 

 stop it, and retract what you have 

 said, I intend to prosecute you." I 

 said to him: "I wish you would, and 

 if you don't do it I will prosecute you, 

 and I am going to send the bee in- 

 spector on your premises, and if you 

 don't get rid of that foul brood we are 

 going to destroy every bee you have 

 got." He came down off his perch in 

 a minute. 



You want to have your bee inspec- 

 tors clothed with authority to enter 

 upon a man's premises like a gentle- 

 man; don't try to insult him; show 

 him what the law is, and that the in- 

 spector has come for his protection. 



We were having an election for road 

 overseer in Kansas, and I made the 

 remark that if I was appointed road 

 overseer I would plow up the streets 

 of this town; I would have them 

 graded at any cost. The next morning 

 I found I was appointed road overseer. 

 Inside of two hours I ordered the 

 wood-piles off the streets, and things 

 cleaned up. Many of them said they 

 would not do it, and would like' to see 

 me undertake to make them do it. 

 But I said: "Your wood- pile has got 

 to go; don't forget that." And it was 

 not many hours 'before every wood- 

 pile was ofC of the street. They talked 

 about licking me if I would make 

 them do it. Then I discovered a 

 gravel bank, and I got every man in 

 the road district, and gravel was put 

 over the principal streets a foot deep. 

 It was a hard matter to keep them 

 from electing me after that, every 

 year, for road overseer. 



That is the way these things are. 

 You may go to some man's house, and 

 he will say: "When I want my bees 

 inspected I will send for you." Read 

 the law to such a man. He will prob- 

 ably say: "Blast your law; I don't 

 care for such a law." But you can say 

 to him, as I said to the men who had 

 wood-piles in the street: "That wood- 

 pile has got to go; it will cost you 

 $5.00 for every day that you let that 

 wood-pile stay there." Whenever you 

 get your law in that shape, and clothe 



your officer with proper authority, you 

 will find people will submit to it, as 

 with other laws. 



I believe the road is plain, ladies and 

 gentlemen, if you will adopt that 

 plan. It may cost you a little money 

 to keep two or three men about the 

 Legislature here, and have them go 

 and see able men in both the House 

 and Senate, to get them to support 

 your measure; if you don't, you may 

 suffer a loss. If you adopt that plan, 

 I believe you will meet with success. 



The bee-keepers are going from Illi- 

 nois to Kansas, and building up an 

 industry, and foul brood is coming 

 into the State rapidly. I fought foul 

 brood in my apiary last year, dast 

 summer; my apiary was cut down to 

 34 colonies. (I don't keep bees for 

 money, but for a pastime, and what I 

 may be able to teach other people, and 

 what I may be able to learn.) I don't 

 know all about bee-keeping and all 

 about foul brood, but I do know some 

 things that some other people have 

 not learned. I believe it is our duty 

 to exchange ideas and opinions, and to 

 get valuable ideas from each other. 



Now, in the matter of treatment: 

 One of the most powerful colonies I 

 had, or ever did have, was in the 

 Jumbo ten-frame hive. The bees had 

 filled one super about full, and were 

 capping it. After I raised it up, and 

 put another one under, they quit 

 work. I opened it immediately to in- 

 spect it, and I discovered foul brood. 

 There is an odor about it; if you once 

 get the scent of it you will never for- 

 get it; that is, American foul brood. 

 I went to work to treat it immediately. 

 There was the honey-flow going on! 

 I didn't want to take it away from the 

 apiary; that would have been the 

 most satisfactory method, if it could 

 be adopted, but I could not do it at 

 that time. There was a colony within 

 about five or six feet on each side of 

 it. I began to take these bees and 

 put them on comb-foundation; I took 

 all that honey and comb away from 

 them. 



I set the new hive on the old stand, 

 lifted the combs out one by one, and 

 brushed the 'bees ofC. I did not shake 

 them; I would not risk that, because 

 more or less honey would fly out and 

 be scattered and the disease be 

 spread; I didn't want to do that; that 

 was, with me, an original idea. In 



