

STATE BE£-K£fiP£Rs' ASSOCIATION. 69 



will work, but this authority of prosecution, that is my 

 thought, and as I explained it to Mr. Austin, and if any case 

 of that sort comes up to me I will make these people, and if 

 I am backed by the Association, I will carry it into court 

 and do something under the nuisance act There is a 

 nuisance act, and it will cover every possible case of a 

 nuisance. 



. We have been blamed for not getting what people 

 thought we ought to have gotten, and 1 spent weeks on this 

 question, and felt sensitive that we were blamed for getting 

 half a loaf when we ought to have gotten a whole loaf. We 

 would have gotten nothing. That is the situation, and Mr. 

 France has said if we make a showing before the next legis- 

 lature that we have done well, as good and faithful servants, 

 they will give us any law we ask them. They fired questions 

 at us. Why didn't you get your law last year? It is a point 

 in our favor with the next legislature that we got some kind 

 of a law at the hands of the last legislature. 



Mr. Wheeler — You may think I am overbearing. I am 

 interested in this question, and I would like to hear from the 

 people who have been helped by the state inspector. I don't 

 care to hear from the people who have wax or foundation to 

 sell, and people who are inspectors, but from the men them- 

 selves who are interested and have bees. 



Mr. Smith — I will just state that the men who are here 

 are practical bee-keepers, and they are their own foul brood 

 inspectors. A man that will allow foul brood to come and 

 stay in his apiary is no practical bee-keeper, and I don't be- 

 lieve a man of that kind would belong to an organization. 

 Outside is where the trouble comes. I was within 17 miles 

 of Dr. Miller's, I was near Crystal Lake, as far as Mattoon, 

 and south to East St. Louis, and Danville, and when I was 

 out 20 days I had visited 42 apiaries, and there were over 

 300 colonies that I treated. You see, I only had 20 days to 

 do it in. I would have been out longer only sickness at home 

 brought me back. I was due up at Kankakee, but the season 

 got so late we couldn't do much. We all have to work to- 

 gether, and if there is any bee-keeper who knows of a case of 

 foul brood it is his duty to correspond with the inspector and 

 have it treated. We have men in this State that are selling 

 bees and queens that have foul brood. I want to get after 

 those fellows. They are the ones that are scattering it 

 broadcast. I lost 82 colonies of bees by buying queens. Two 

 of my neighbors near by lost 102, and another lost 42. It 

 wiped their apiaries clear out. They didn't know what was 

 the matter until they were all gone. They brought their 

 queens from the same party. I understand this party has 

 been buying bees promiscuously and shipping them all over 

 the State. He doesn't care anything about it. I understood 

 parties in Cook county bought bees of him, and they were all 

 , diseased, and their apiaries had never had it before. If we 

 can't work as a unit as bee-keepers, we can't do any good, 

 e want to all stand together. If you know a case in your 

 bounty, it is your duty to report it. 



