American liee Journal i 



August, 1908. 



Keeping Bees Near Neighbors 



BY C. V. PAPA XT. 



llow far should I place my bee-hives away 

 from a dwelling-house? There arc several 

 liousLS not far from my bee-yaru. I have 

 abont 85 colonies, and these people are making 

 all kinds of threats, saying they will make - 

 me move my bees away off. Having been in 

 the bee-business a great many years, you would 

 likely be able to inform me about this. 



Wisconsin. 



There is no law, to my knowledge, 

 regulating the numlicr of colonies of 

 liees that any one may keep in one spot ; 

 neitlier is it possible for any city to en- 

 force ordinances concerning the keeping 

 nf bees within the city limits. But if 

 liees annoy people and cause damage or 

 suffering by their stings, they may be 

 treated as nuisances, and rightfully, too. 



There have been numberless law-suits 

 ccincerning bees, and many feuds be- 

 tween neighbors caused by their stings. 

 •Some dissatisfaction has also been caused 

 by the bee-keeper sowing the seeds of 

 honey-plants in waste places. We have 

 nurselves heard numerous complaints 

 because we scattered the seed of sweet 

 clover in waste places. Yet those waste 

 places produced noxious weeds, such 

 as the ragweed, which causes hay-fever, 

 .-ind no one seemed to take notice, 

 liut as 'soon as a useful plant took the 

 lead and eradicated the rag-weed some 

 men were found who complained, even 

 though sweet clover is just as easily 

 destroyed as the rag-weed, and makes 

 good feed for stock, if stock is allowed 

 to graze on it early in the season. 



Dissatisfaction among neighbors, as 

 to the keeping of bees within short dis- 

 tances of homes,' may be justified by 

 conditions. If your bees are within 

 close proximity of the public road, and 

 are likely to sting teams that pass by, 

 or horses hitched to posts at the front 

 ,nale. the neighbors are right in making 

 a complaint and objecting. Or if you 

 Iiandle your bees carelessly, without 

 smoke, because you don't feel- the ne- 

 cessity of it and the bees do not sting 

 you, they may, nevertheless, sting your 

 neighbor or his children 30 or 40 yards 

 away. Let me cite an instance. 



A very good friend of ours, a jeweler, 

 in a neighboring town, kept a few col- 

 onies of bees. He was very close to 

 another house, and the hives were not 

 Dvcr 20 yards from the neighbor's kit- 

 I'licii door. For years all went smooth- 

 ly because he had only pure Italian bees, 

 which were very gentle. After a while 

 his bees became hylirids, and were 

 trosser, and one day his neighbor inter- 

 viewed me to enquire as to what he 

 could do to get rid of those bees, as 

 his daughter had been stung two or 

 three times, and once on the nose, and 

 Ik- said their back yard was becoming 

 .1 dangerous place for them. 



I went o\or to my friend and made 

 cnquirx. He was very much astonished, 

 for he said, they had never complained. 

 They evidently did not like to make a 

 fuss about it. He assured me that the 

 bees never stung him, and that they 

 were very peaceable. We went to the 

 bees together and, to my astonishment, 

 he started to open a hive witliout using 

 smoke. Two or three bees got after 

 me, for I am not bee-proof, but my 

 friend seemed to fear nothing from 

 them. That gave me the explanation. 

 When he examined his bees, they vented 

 their anger on the neighbors. 



I suggested to him that he should use 

 smoke regularly, and avoid handling 

 the bees at times when there was possi- 

 bility of trouble. He not only took my 

 advice, but moved his bees, at the first 

 opportunity, to the other extremity of 

 the yard, and there was no more trouble. 

 Had the neighbor been a vindicitivc 

 man, there would probably have been . 

 some dispute, while by this means the 

 matter was ended before trouble began. 



I have never kept bees in a city, my- 

 self, having always had the good luck 

 of being located on a farm, and always 

 the same one, but I have placed apiaries 

 at different farms, in close proximity 

 to barns, to the public road, and there 

 has never been any complaint. But we 

 have always taken care to warn every- 

 body as to the presence of the hives, 

 and the necessity of avoiding hitching 

 horses in close range, unless trees or 

 shrubs separated the hitching place from 

 the apiary. 



If you must keep bees on a city lot, 

 and your neighbors object, you should 

 first make sure that they are not caus- 

 ing real trouble. Sometimes a neighbor 

 will put up quite a little inconvenience, 

 if he is well treated. I have heard of 

 neighbors not minding a sting or two 

 occasionally, because they were always 

 sure to get a taste of the honey when 

 there was a crop. 



If the bees are causing real incon- 

 venience, do not wait to ascertain your 

 rights, but move them, until you can 

 arrange your yard so as to avoid hard 

 feelings. A high hedge between two 

 lots will often be sufficient to keep the 

 bees entirely away from the undesira- 

 able spot. A high board fence is some- 

 times quite sufiicient. but angry bees 

 may "jump the fence" in a spirit of re- 

 venge, and punisli an innocent party. 

 This is where pure Italian or Caucas- 

 ians are best. Handle your bees always 

 with smoke, and never too early or too 

 late, or during stormy weather, and you 

 may be able to avoid trouble. 



I have kept bees, at a certain farm- 

 house, within 20 feet of a kitchen, and 

 the bees never did any injury in the 

 yard ; but there was a high hedge, very 



tliick, between tlie bee-yard and the 

 kitchen yard. On the otlier hand, I 

 have seen bees, on a high hill, go down 

 into the valley a hundred yards below 

 and sting a team in the field. The way 

 was open and the bees were cross. 



None of us can blame a man for 

 being angr_v, and demanding the removal 

 of our bees, if they sting either his 

 family or his stock. If he can prove 

 damage, he can surely collect damages. 

 There are, however, cases where spite 

 will cause the demand of removal. 

 Such cases are hard to deal with. But 

 I have not yet seen a case where a little 

 Iioney or something else will not mollify 

 the party and smooth the unpleasant- 

 ness. Another thing tliat may work 

 well is the gift of a colony of bees. The 

 man who detested bees sometimes be- 

 comes a lover of the bees himself. 



The National Bee-Keepers' Association 

 protects its members against imposition, 

 but if there is any one thing which the 

 several general managers of this Asso- 

 ciation have disliked, it is protecting a 

 bee-keeper in his rights when there is 

 clear evidence that if he had used a 

 little diplomacy and tact to avoid trouble, 

 be might have saved liimself and the 

 .\ssociation a vast amount of expense 

 and law. But when trouble comes, and 

 the bee-keeper is not at fault, it is right 

 that he should find help, for our bees 

 are not a nuisance; they are useful in- 

 sects, and should be given fair plav. 



Hamilton, 111. 



Did You Ever Stop to Think ? 



nv RALPH BENTOX. 



We have often heard honey spoken 

 of as a luxury along with English jams 

 and the like to be indulged in only on 

 rare occasions. But did you ever stop 

 to think that honey is a real food con- 

 taining several constituents important to 

 the body as foods and so is to be num- 

 bered among the most economical of 

 foods ? 



The carbohydrates or sugars are 

 necessary to the human body, in wit- 

 ness of which fact we have that crav- 

 ing among children for something sweet. 

 You ask a boy or' girl if he wants honey 

 or butter on his bread, and if he can 

 not have both, nine cases out of ten 

 he will say "honey." The same would 

 have been true if you had asked him 

 molasses or butter ; he would have said 

 molassss. But molasses and candies in 

 general are what we call "cane sugars" 

 or double sugars. These double sugars 

 have to be liroken down into "grape" 

 or single sugars before they can be 

 assimilated by the body as foftd. This 

 is largely done by the saliva and unless 

 the sweets eaten are mixed well with 

 saliva and so converted, the Iiody be- 

 comes over burdened with a non-as- 

 similative compound which has then to 

 be removed by the liver and kidneys, 

 overtaxing in many instaijccs these two 

 much workeil organs. TIic result is a 

 child abniirmally craving for sweets, 

 which in the proper form the .system 

 really needs, but which as eaten, only 

 become a burden to the body, having 

 to be thrown out again. 



Now honey, or more properly speak- 

 ing flower nectar, when first gathered 



