Pebruary, '15] GATES: MASSACHUSETTS APICULTURAL SERVICE 



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Experiment Station. — The work for the Experiment Station need 

 not be dwelt upon. Naturally it falls into the well-defined policies of 

 such an institution. At present one of the problems concerns beeswax, 

 an effort being made to determine the amount of wax in combs of dif- 

 ferent types, to the end of improving extraction processes. A number 

 of other experimental problems are also in hand.' 



Extension Service. — For the extension service, the work may be 

 grouped under short courses, conventions, fairs, itinerant schools and 

 correspondence course. The extension work in beekeeping is so 

 essentially new that efforts thus far are in nature experimental. The 

 value and importance of extension schools is now proven. The itin- 

 erant school, however, has not yet been tried. The first will doubtless 

 be held early in the spring of 1915. For several years, however, short 

 courses have been given. These started with a special two-weeks 

 beekeepers' school. This was essentially a cram course, the students' 

 entire time being devoted to the one subject. The work consisted of 

 lectures, demonstrations, laboratory work and excursions. At the 

 end of two weeks, a convention for one or two days at which prominent 

 apiarists and lecturers were in attendance, was held. This kind of a 

 course, however, has its limitations, and in som_e ways the ten-weeks 

 winter school in beekeeping has proven more desirable. It is given in 

 conjunction with other subjects, as, for instance, poultry keeping, 

 horticulture, or pomology, and is directly correlated with the trend of 

 the student's work. This course is terminated by Farmers' Week, 

 during which there is a Beekeepers' Day. It is one of the convention 

 days in beekeeping for the State. 



For the first time, in the fall of 1914, the Extension Service offered a 

 beekeeping exhibit for fairs. A ton or more of material has been cased 

 and prepared for this exhibition purpose; it has been found to meet 

 with decided approval among the people of the State. Besides a 

 static exhibit of hives and implements, natural history specimens and 

 the like, there is a dynamic feature, namely, the display of bees and 

 queens, together with demonstrations of the handling of bees. It is 

 needless to say that such a feature is more or less sensational, yet it 

 has a definite educational value. Aside from the demonstrational 

 work at fairs, there have been held special demonstrations to meet 

 local conditions, which might be termed emergency field days or 

 conventions. This phase of apicultural extension is of decided worth 

 and is capable of considerable expansion. It takes the College directly 

 to the beekeeper. 



The State Board of Agriculture : Apiary Inspection. — Apiary 

 inspection is by no means the least important of the State's duties to 

 the beekeepers. As might be inferred in Massachusetts, it forms an 



