564 IOWA DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE 



It is a cardinal rule of the courts that all ordinances must be reason- 

 able, and that while a city may define, classify, and enact what things 

 or classes of things shall be nuisances, and under what conditions and 

 circumstances such things shall be deemed nuisances, this power is 

 subject to the limitation that it is for the courts to determine whether, 

 in a given case, the thing so defined and denounced is a nuisance in 

 fact, and that if the court shall resolve this point in the negative the 

 ordinance is invalid. Under this rule, in an Arlvansas case, it was held 

 that the municipal corporation could not prohibit the keeping and rear- 

 ing of bees within its limits as a nuisance regardless of whether they 

 were so in fact or not. And this case seems to have been received as 

 announcing the correct rule in recent text works, though the point has 

 not been raised elsewhere in controversy. 



Under the rule just stated, the power of summary abatement would 

 not exist, even thought the presence of bees in a particular part of the 

 city should be declared objectionable, but the point would rest, as has 

 been heretofore observed, in the proof adduced, the burden brings upon 

 the party declaring the affirmative of the issue. 



BASSWOOD PLANTING. 

 Prof. G. B. MacDonald, Ames. 



Beekeepers well know the value of basswood trees for the production 

 of honey. It should be possible for farmers interested in bee culture to 

 make the basswood trees serve a double purpose. Trees of this species 

 might well be utilized for windbreak purposes as well as for the pro- 

 duction of honey. 



Under good conditions the basswood sometimes attain a height of 70 

 to 80 feet. The crown of the tree is quite compact and forms a very 

 dense shade. It is a tree best suited to deep, rich, river-bottom soil and 

 to cool situations. Very often the basswood will be found on the cooler 

 slopes along with a variety of other trees. This species is quite hardy 

 and although it will survive, in many instances, on up-land soil, yet as 

 a general rule it is not advisable to plant this species in dry situations. 

 The basswood can readily be reproduced by seed and by sprouts. The 

 seeds ripen in September or early October. As soon as the seeds are 

 collected they should be freed of the wings and planted at once. The 

 freezing and thawing dring the winter aids in rotting and loosening the 

 seed coat and, thereby, make possible an early germination. Although 

 fall planting is generally recommended, it is possible to keep the seed 

 over winter in a cool, dry place by storing in sand. 



The young basswood trees should be grown in nursery rows and the 

 young trees transplanted to their permanent location at the age of one 

 year. The trees should be set out as soon as the frost is out of the 

 ground in the spring and should be given protection from cattle and 

 fire. Cattle, especially, do considerable damage to young trees by eat- 

 ing the small branches and foilage. 



