Winter Meeting. 323 



who is a large bee-keeper, also grower of grapes, found, after gath- 

 ering his grapes under cover, the bees having been working on 

 them before gathering. He placed some where they could get at 

 them and pricked one. The bees soon covered the grapes, but very 

 soon left, and it was found that the one pricked was the only 

 grape the bees had damaged any at all. 



In a case that came up some years ago between two men, one 

 of which was a fruit man, the other a bee man; the fruit man 

 having peaches that had become over-ripe, the bees attacked them. 

 He claimed dam.ages of the bee man and a lawsuit resulted. By 

 expert testimony from different parts of the United States it was 

 shown that bees never attacked sound fruit; so the fruit man lost 

 his suit. 



Some years ago a bee-keeper at Texarkana had bees in the city 

 limits, and some thought that the bees, by working on the bloom, 

 were detrimental, and wanted the bees removed. The bee-keeper 

 was arrested and a fine imposed for every day the bees were left in 

 the city. The bees were finally removed under protest and suit 

 brought by the bee-keeper. He lost in the lower court, but ap- 

 pealed to a higher court, where he won his case, and the bees w^ere 

 brought back and damages obtained by him. 



Many years ago a Mr. Bassford in California had a large 

 cherry orchard, but obtained little fruit. He secured bees to work 

 on the bloom, and so secured good crops of fruit ; while others, liv- 

 ing away from the visits of the bees, had no better results than he 

 until they also obtained bees. 



There used to be much trouble between fruit men and bee- 

 keepers in California, but as we do not hear of any more, we pre- 

 sume that fruit men have learned the benefit bees are to fruit grow- 

 ing, and so put up with any damage bees may do to unsound fruit. 



We wish to refer to the National Bee-keepers' Association, 

 which are doing a good work in many lines, one of which is in keep- 

 ing its members out of lawsuits as far as possible and in defend- 

 ing their members where unjustly persecuted or prosecuted, but 

 since coming to this meeting, in walking around some, we came 

 across some bees kept right near a sidewalk. If this party were 

 tc get into trouble, which he is most sure to do sooner or later if 

 he does not remove the bees farther away from the public walk, if 

 he were a member of the National he would get no help from them, 

 but get the advice to move his bees. No one has a right to thus 

 keep bees w^here they are so very apt to become a nuisance, but 



