MORE HONEY NEEDED. q 
culty. Unless the beekeeper realizes the necessity of having colonies 
strong in time for the nectar and of keeping up this strength by every 
means at his command, his beekeeping endeavors will fail to yield the 
greatest profit—a condition which is particularly undesirable at this 
time. 
While these essentials are simple and easily understood, each locality 
presents to the beekeeper certain peculiarities, making it necessary 
that close attention be given to nectar sources and especially making 
a study of bee behavior a prime essential. Too many beekeepers work 
by rule of thumb, but the successful beekeeper is a student of bees, 
able to adapt his practice to the changing seasons. 
A difficulty in beekeeping which has prevented its adequate expan- 
sion in many localities is the presence of a brood disease. There are 
two infectious diseases of the brood, American foulbrood and Euro- 
pean foulbrood, which annually cause considerable loss by the death 
of colonies. An effort has been made to overcome these through apiary 
inspection which has been instituted in various States, and this has 
proved of much value. The most serious aspect of the disease situa- 
tion is not so much the actual losses incurred but rather the fact that 
the less well-informed beekeepers become discouraged and lose faith 
in beekeeping before they learn to combat these diseases. The informed 
commercial beekeeper can continue to produce crops of honey with 
profit, but the diseases make the work of new beekeepers more exact- 
‘ing and they are especially discouraging to the beginner in his efforts 
to become a commercial producer. 
Beekeeping is applied bee behavior, and to a degree rarely seen in 
other industries success depends on a study of natural activities. 
Bees are wild, and man can only handle them in ways to permit their 
natural activities to yield him the best return. 
These essentials to the greatest success are discussed in numerous 
text books and bulletins published by the agricultural colleges and 
the United States Department of Agriculture, but differing as they do 
from directions for other lines of agriculture this method of presen- 
tation has not proved fully adequate. While thousands of beekeepers 
in all parts of the country are making a good profit from their bees, 
many of those who are considered successful are not getting the great- 
est possible return, and those less well informed often regard bee- 
keeping as unprofitable. 
TO EXPAND THE INDUSTRY. 
To build up beekeeping to take its proper place in American agri- 
culture, education of beekeepers in the essentials of beekeeping is of 
first importance. Since printed instructions are not fully satisfactory, 
extension work is needed. The peculiar character of the information 
