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I06 THIRD ANNUAL REPORT 



liable to fine or imprisonment by her refusal, yet I preferred 

 to have her consent. At last she said that I could "do as 

 I thought best." I asked her if she would come home and 

 see the work done. She came, but talked very bitterly all 

 the while it was being done. 



The next bee-keeper, a neighbor of the woman just 

 mentioned, had said, so it was reported, that "no inspector 

 could burn any of his bees. He would set the dog on him." 

 By the way, he and I had had some pretty stormy arguments . 

 upon my previous visit, but I had learned that a man can cool 

 down quite a bit in two weeks. I went into his yard, found 

 him at home, talked with him quietly, showed him how 

 much better it would be to destroy the diseased colonies and 

 thus be rid of the disease ; and that I was going to clean it 

 all up in that neighborhood. Finally, without waiting for his 

 answer, I said, "You go and get a spade and dig a trench, 

 and I'll light up the smoker and sret it going and put in some 

 sulphur, and by the time you get the trench dug, I'll have 

 the bees dead." I looked him right square in the eye, and it 

 seemed to me as though it was my will against his, and that 

 he must yield. He started after the spade, very slowly — but 

 he went. The strain upon my nerves, however, was a little 

 severe. 



Perhaps the most obstinate case I ever found was a 

 man with only one colony. I did not think there was any 

 foul brood there, and stopped while going by on my way to 

 the train. The combs were fairly rotten with foul brood. 

 The owner stood back about a rod away in the cornfield 

 while I opened the hive. When I showed him the 

 rotten brood he declared there was just such looking 

 brood in every hive in the country. He offered to bet any 

 amount of money. He would show this brood to "Doc Smith." 

 I told him he was at liberty to show it to all the bee-keepers 

 he could find, but it would make no difference in the end, as 

 the inspector was the one to decide. He declared he would 

 not destroy his bees, nor allow them to be destroyed. I called 

 his attention to the law, how he was laying himself liable. 

 "He didn't care for the law." My time was limited. J had 

 no time to argue, so I drove on. When reaching home I 

 wrote him a long letter, sent him a copy of the law,, and a 

 notice either to destroy his bees or have them treated inside 

 of three weeks. I told him I should call again in three weeks, 

 and would shake them off or destroy them, just as he said, 

 if he had not done it. When I called he was away, but he 

 had left word that I might shake off the bees. I shook them 

 and burned the combs. His wife asked if they would not need 

 feeding. I told her they certainly would, and gave her full 

 instructions how to do it. Of course, I know that the bees 

 will not pass the winter alive, but I got rid of the foul brood. 



I think this should be the motto of every inspector, "Get 

 rid of the foul brood." Every case may call for a different kind 

 of treatment, but, whatever the treatment, let it end with 

 getting rid of foul brood. 



Perhaps some of you may think that each man should be 

 treated alike — if you destroy one man's bees you ought to an- 



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