56 MEETING OF INSPECTORS OF APIARIES. 



bis entire time to bis own business; yet I bonor this American spirit 

 you possess in that, having once started out to accomplish results, 



you refuse to turn back until the end is attained. 



I hardly feel like posing as an instructor to this gathering of in- 

 spectors, hut will call your attention to a few important points. A 

 questiou often asked is, " How does the disease spread so rapidly?" I 



would answer, " By means of infected honey." No field bee from an 

 infected colony goes out with its honey sack so empty of honey that 

 it contains no germs, and on their return many bees mistake their 

 hive and carry disease to their near neighbors in the same apiary, so 

 that it is a common thing to find a badly infected colony and those 

 in the same row infected in proportion to their distance from the 

 source of contagion. 



How the disease spread from yard to yard when no robbing took 

 plaee was for a long time a puzzling question, until I found an 

 apiary of black bees 3 miles from an apiary of golden Italian- that 

 were infected. In many colonies of the yard of blacks cotdd be found 

 a sprinkling of the golden Italians and in nearly every case these 

 colonies showed traces of disease. Evidently bees are often driven 

 by stress of weather or some other cause to seek shelter far from 

 home, and thus disease may be spread. 



We have found no bees immune from disease, yet some vigorous 

 strains of Italians are nearby so. For years we have recommended 

 the introduction of young Italian queens, but have warned the owner 

 of an infected apiary not to depend on that alone, as it would prove 

 disastrous in localities where the disease has just made its appearance 

 and the bees are mostly black. This method will often prove very 

 successful where European foul brood has existed for some time and 

 lost much of its virulence, but, like the use of drugs, it i- not a safe 

 method for the inspector to advocate, while the shaking method has 

 never failed us if done in a thorough manner. Colonies that are 

 found to be diseased late in the season may be cured by taking away 

 all their combs after brood rearing has ceased and giving them clean 

 combs from a healthy colony, as any disease germs that are contained 

 in the honey sack will have been eliminated long before brood rearing 

 commences in the spring. 



In conclusion I would say that to be successful as an inspector a 

 man should not only be well versed in the management of bees and 

 bee diseases, but he must be broad minded, even tempered, possess a 

 libera] amount of tact and diplomacy, and be a shrewd judge of 

 human nature. Yes, and even more, he should be able to win the con- 

 fidence of other- and share their burdens, and when the time draw- 

 nigh when the working tool- of Life -hall drop from his nerveless 

 cla-p he may look" back with satisfaction to a life well spent in the 

 service of others. 



