. ^. - 1 »;;:. jj-f-r'j''>}-7i^^)?.'r:^/:%^'^'^1?J--^^^^ W^/ 



40 



NINTH ANNUAL, REPORT OF THE 



there is invested in the bee-business 

 in the State of Illinois, and how de- 

 structive foul brood is. if not con- 

 trolled, and that the industry now is 

 threatened with destruction — ^^will be, 

 just as sure as fate, completely de- 

 stroyed if you don't get legislative 

 control; otherwise there will be no 

 help for it. 



Mr. Becker — In going about in- 

 specting bees, I find' there are so many 

 men that are indifferent, and if there 

 is any indifference at all, they rarely 

 know anything about bees, and that, 

 all the work the inspectors can do, it 

 is simply a matter of education; if 

 they don't want to be educated, it is 

 simply money thrown away. Many are 

 too indifferent, and they will hide the 

 fact that they ihave foul brood in their 

 apiaries, if possible. I know one case, 

 particularly, where a man's bees had 

 foul brood two years ago. I went 

 there this fall to see 'his bees; he told 

 me about it a year ago, and I exam- 

 ined the bees, and I am satisfied that 

 he had foul brood still last spring, 

 from the way he talked and from the 

 indifference that he manifested in re- 

 gard to the bees. He didn't care about 

 bothering them; he had a little honey, 

 and he didn't care; and there were 

 apiaries with numbers of colonies of 

 bees right around there. 



I know of another case, where they 

 wanted to examine a man's bees; he 

 had foul brood all around him, yet he 

 didn't want his apiaries examined. He 

 said: "You can go and look at them, 

 but I wish you would not disturb 

 them." 



I find this is true: There is more 

 foul brood t'han there was a year ago. 

 At Bloomington, a bee-keeper said the 

 first time, to his knowledge, foul brood 

 was in their neighborhood, it was 

 within two miles of him. "Why," he 

 said, "I suppose I will have it among 

 my bees the next thing you know." 

 If you have it in your neighborhood, 

 you are very- apt to get it sooner or 

 later, and we have to have a law that 

 will give a man power to act — power 

 to go in a man's apiary and examine 

 and inspect his bees, regardless of 

 consent or no consent. It is up-hill 

 work. 



Another thing, we people that are 

 assembled here from various parts of 

 the State, why, we are taking an in- 

 terest in it. We don't want foul brood. 



and nobody really wants it, but how is 

 it with parties living in our neighbor- 

 hood, that have from two to twenty- 

 five colonies? Can you get them to 

 take an interest in this work? 



There are seven or eight bee-keepers 

 in my neig'hborhood; some have twen. 

 ty-five colonies, others only two col- 

 onies, and I have tried to get them to 

 take hold of this work and join our 

 organization. They want to know all 

 about foul brood, and they come to me 

 if anything gets wrong with their 

 bees, and that is the end of it; and I 

 suppose that is .true in all other lo- 

 calities. If they have a big honey 

 crop, they make their brags about how 

 much honey they have, and when they 

 haven't any, they want to know what 

 is the matter, and that is all they care 

 about it. 



One great trouble with our legisla- 

 tive laws, there is so much about it 

 that is simply a matter of politics, 

 and they don't care for any business, 

 and the business that really was before 

 the Legislature last time was trans- 

 acted in one week's time; the balance 

 of it was simply politics. Each party 

 wanted to try to get the best of the 

 other, and they didn't care what they 

 were doing until the last week, and 

 then there was not time. 



All winter we should have this busi- 

 ness in mind; let the committee have 

 it up with their Senators, and with 

 members of both Houses; discuss the 

 matter; visit with them. When the 

 committee did get to it, it went before 

 a committee we didn't expect it 

 would at all, and they had no time for 

 us. 



Mr. Pyle — ^I don't know whether it 

 would look very good for a man f 

 my age to attempt any discussion be- 

 fore so many more experienced men, 

 but there are some few things I have 

 found out myself, with reference to 

 foul brood — perhaps not found out new, 

 but things that I have come to the 

 conclusion of. One is, that in the suc- 

 cessful treatment of foul brood, there 

 is just one thing to do, and that is, to 

 get rid of the germ; and there is only 

 one way to do that, and that is, to get 

 the bees entirely away from it. If 

 you will take your hives and shake 

 the bees, either on full sheets of foun- 

 dation or starters, or any way, so you 

 get the bees off the honey, the saime 

 old hive will do; carry your bees into 



