rebruary. "15] GATES: Massachusetts apicultural service 



123 



Some may object to this system on account of the possible danger 

 •of error in transcribing the data from the inspector's report to the per- 

 manent record cards. I beheve that this is not a vahd objection. Of 

 course it means more work in the office, but the records are in so much 

 better condition than they could possibly be if made out in the field 

 that I believe that the extra labor is warranted. 



Our chief mistakes usually occur in the names and addresses on the 

 inspector's reports and we write to the inspector at once and the 

 correction is made. Thus the copying record system really serves as 

 a check on the reports of the inspector. 



INSPECTION AS A UNIT IN THE MASSACHUSETTS 

 APICULTURAL SERVICE 



By BuETOX X. Gates, Amherst, Mass. 



The apicultural work of Massachusetts, although it is new, is some- 

 what peculiar in that its several phases are centralized in one office. 

 These are administered, however, under separate appropriations and 

 by separate boards, or directors. The work of the State Board 

 of Agriculture is specified by law as apiary inspection, and under 

 this heading I will explain its several features. The Agricultural 

 College work is divided into several parts. There is the apicultural 

 work for regularly enrolled college students; investigational work for 

 the Experiment Station; and several types of apicultural extension 

 authorized and directed by the Extension Ser\dce. Besides these 

 several groups, there is a considerable amount of both state and national 

 associational detail which passes through the ofiice. Schedules and 

 programs for meetings and field days, the preparation of propaganda 

 and news items may be mentioned by way of illustration. 



Since the \\Titer is frequenth^ called upon to explain the organization 

 of the beekeeping work as a whole, it may be well to mention first its 

 scope under the heading of the College. 



College. — To the regularly enrolled students, there are offered 

 at present two courses. The first, intended primarily for juniors, is a 

 general course, attempting to ground the student in the fundamentals 

 of the subject. The second is primarily a senior course, and is intended 

 to take up more special phases of the subject. It gives also an inkling 

 of some of the larger problems confronting students of beekeeping, 

 which require experimentation and affords some opportunity to acquire 

 familiarity with experimental method. 



Museum. — In connection with the teaching, there is maintained a 

 beekeeping museum where already there have accumulated hundreds 



