1901 



GLEANINGS IN BEK CULTURE. 



687 



mal, nothing of the kind was done in this case ; but 

 if courts are to take judicial notice of the nature of 

 things so familiar to man as bees, which I suppose 

 they would be justified in doing, then I would observe 

 that, however it may have beeu anciently, in modern 

 days the bee has become slmost as completely do- 

 mesticated as the ox or the cow. Its habits and its 

 instincts have been studied, and, through the knowl- 

 edge thus acquired, it can be coutrolled and managed 

 with nearly as much certainty as any of the domestic 

 animals ; and although it may be proper still to class 

 it among thosejerrr naluicc, it must nevertheless be 

 regarded as coming very near the dividing line ; and 

 in regard to its propensity to mischief I apprehend 

 that such a thing as a serious injury to persons or 

 property from its attacks is very rare, not occurring 

 in a ratio more frequent, certainly, than injuries aris- 

 ing from the kick of a horse or the bite of a dog. 



There is one rule to be extracted from the authori- 

 ties to which I have referred, not yet noticed ; and 

 that is, that the law looks with more favor upon the 

 keeping of animals that are useful to man than such 

 as are purely noxious and useless. And the keeping 

 of the one, although in some rare instances they may 

 do injury, will be tolerated and encouraged, while 

 there is nothing to excuse the keeping of the other. 

 In the case of l^roomau 7>. Lawyer (13 John. Rep. 339], 

 the court says, " If damage be done by any domestic 

 animal kept for j<i^ or coMZ'^«/>«C(r, the owner is not 

 liable to an action, without notice." The utility of 

 the bees no one will question, and hence there is noth- 

 ing to call for the application of a very stringent rule 

 to the case. Upon the whole, therefore, I am clearly 

 of the opinion that the owner of bees is not liable at 

 all events for any accidental injury they may do. The 

 question is still left, whether the keeping of these 

 bees so near the highway subjects the defendant to a 

 responsibility which would not otherwise rest upon 

 him. I consider this question as substantially dispos- 

 ed of by the evidence in the case. It appears that bees 

 had been kept in the same situation for some eight or 

 nine years, and no proof was offered of the slightest 

 injury ever having been done by them. On the con- 

 trary, some of the witnesses testify that they had 

 lived in the neighborhood, and had been in the habit 

 of passing and repassing frequently with teams and 

 otherwise, without ever having been molested. This 

 rebuts the idea of any notice to the defendant, either 

 from the nature of the bees or otherwise, that it 

 would be dangerous to keep them in that situation ; 

 and, of course, upon the principles already settled, 

 he could not be held liable. 



The judgment of the county court m-ist be affirmed. 



And it came to pasis the same day, that Isaac's ser- 

 vants came, and told him concerning the well which 

 they had digged, and said unto him, We have found 

 water.— Gen 26:32. 



He maketh me to lie down in green pastures ; he 

 leadeth me beside the still waters. — Psalm 23:2. 



Mrs. Root did not go with me to my ranch 

 in the woods during July. There were several 

 reasons why she begged to be excused. First, 

 the bargain was she was to go and take care 

 of me because my health is poor ; but during 

 the past July there was not a thing the matter 

 with me. In fact, one day when I alighted 

 from mv wheel up town an old friend of mine 

 said, " Why, look here, Mr. Root, you get off 

 from that wheel as if you were a boy. Are 

 you not forgetting that you are an old man, 

 and gray-headed ? " 



Well, I do not know but it is true that I do 

 act like a boy, and, in- fact, I do not Vjelieve I 

 ever felt much spryer when I was a boy in my 

 teens than I do just now. May the Lord be 

 praised for health and strength. 



In the second place, we were going to take 

 Mrs. Root up to the Traverse region to escape 

 the hot July weather of Ohio ; but our daily 

 papers — yes, our daily papers do sometimes 

 tell the truth — said they had had a higher 

 temperature in Traverse City than in Cleve- 

 land. 



Third, Mrs. Root worried about the water 

 supply near our new home. She has all her 

 life been in the habit of having pure soft wa- 

 ter in unlimited quantities, especially in hot 

 weather. I was obliged to tell her there was 

 no real nice cold spring water within less than 

 a quarter of a mile of our ranch. Of course, 

 the spring that runs 300 barrels a day was on 

 higher ground than the ranch, but it would 

 have to be carried in pipes a quarter of a mile. 

 These pipes would cost a good many dollars, 

 and she said the water would be warm by the 

 time it reached the house. It is true there 

 was a little spring within 500 feet of the house. 

 The cows had been in the habit, however, for 

 years, of wading into this spring to get a 

 drink. They had stamped it full of leaves 

 and filth, and it was any thing but an inviting 

 place. She did not believe such a spring could 

 ever be made wholesome. 



Fourth, when she began to inquire about 

 green grass around the new house I had to 

 admit there was not a blade of grass anywhere 

 much nearer than the spring. Who would ex- 

 pect to find grass right out in the dense 

 woods ? 



Well, Mrs. Root did not go in July, but I 

 have faith to believe she will go a little later 

 on when it is cooler and more pleasant to trav- 

 el. I captured her more than forty years ago 

 when she was a girl in her teens. I came 

 pretty near using the word "captivated," but 

 I guess that is not what I mean. I captured 

 her over forty years ago, as I have just said, 

 and induced her to take up with me and my 

 home for better or worse ; and I rather think 

 I can capture her again ; and during my July 

 trip I had this purpose in view. 



The garden in the cleared-off spot in the 

 wilderness was doing finely. After I had fix- 

 ed it up according to my notion a little more, 

 it was really a thing of beauty — to me at least. 

 Our very first work was to tackle the spring. 

 I secured the services of a stout German near 

 by, named Burdo, who sqid he had dug wells 

 and fixed up springs, and he knew he could 

 fix mine all right. In the first place, he dug 

 up carefully and scraped out ever}' bit of filth 

 and mud — yes, and even the dark-colored 

 satidy soil around the spring was cleaned away 

 till we came to the c'ean white sand or clean 

 yellow clay in the botlom ; and we found the 

 water oozed out all around where the sandy 

 and gravelly top. soil rested on a stratum of im- 

 pervious clay. We made a dish-shaped exca- 

 vation down into the clay, but I told the man 

 not to go down through it, for I feared we 

 should strike sand again, and that would let 

 all of the nice clear water escape ; so we just 

 made a bowl-shaped cavity, perhaps 20 or 24 

 inches deep, below where the water came in. 

 Then I timed it by my watch, and found that, 

 even in this dry July, with its tremendous 

 heat, the water ran in half a barrel an hour, 



