April, 1915. 



American Tiee Jonrnal 



are applied to these plants. They are 

 widely distributed, covering practically 

 all of the United States and Canada, as 

 well as much of Europe and Asia. /'. 

 persuuria or lady's thumb, the large 

 flowered kind is most often called 

 heartsease, and is hIso said to be the 

 best honey producer. It is an intro- 

 duced species, coming from Europe, 

 and is still widely scattered through 

 the sale of clover seed, the seed of this 

 plant being common with red clover 

 seed. 



The honey gathered from these plants 

 varies greatly, both in quantity and 

 quality. Some species do not seem to 

 yield at all, or at least not regularly, 

 while others produce large quantities 

 of nectar. The blooming period in the 

 North is from midsummer until frost, 

 and occasionally large yields are re- 

 ported, an average of 200 pounds per 

 colony not being the highest on record, 

 from this source alone. Sometimes 

 honey from these plants is of very good 

 quality while from other species it is 

 very dark and of poor quality. The 

 better grade honey is sometimes desig- 

 nated as heartsease honey, while the 

 poorer grade is called smartweed 

 honey. 



These plants grow in moist fields 

 everywhere, and frequently come up 

 in grain fields late in summer after 

 cultivation has ceased, thus offering 

 plentiful forage for the bees, in fields 

 where otherwise they would find noth- 

 ing. 



Figure 20 shows two of the common 

 kinds. 



Atlantic, Iowa. 

 Copyrieht. laiS. by Frank C. Pellett. 



Bees as a Nuisance 



BY S. D. CUSTIN. 



INCRE.\SING population, greater dis- 

 semination of knowledge, and the 

 development and specialization of 

 industries, pursuits, and occupations 

 combine to add constantly to the eoni- 

 plexity of the relations ot individuals, 

 and to call, from time to time, for the 

 readjustment of the affairs of men to 

 meet changed and changing condi- 

 tions. In no other branch of the law 

 is the ingenuity of the courts more 

 heavily taxed in this manner than in 

 the subject of nuisances, where, from 

 the very nature of the jubject, first 

 principles, rather than specific legis- 

 lative enactment, must always exert a 

 controlling influence. The lawmaking 

 power may, as occasion seems to re- 

 quire, declare that particular objects, 

 actions, omissions, etc., shall be nui- 

 sances, either with or without regard 

 to attending conditions or circum- 

 stances, but the application of such 

 statutes is necessarily so limited that 

 the general law of the subject is not 

 affected. 



It therefore follows that courts still 

 deal with nuisances largely from the 

 principles of the common law, and it 

 is a matter of serious doubt whether, 

 in any instance, specific legislative 

 action can be proven to have any sub- 

 stantial value as an addition to the 

 law of the subject. A nuisance at 

 common law is that class of wrongs 

 that arise from unreasonable, unwar- 

 rantable, or unlawful use by a person 



of his own property, real or personal, 

 or from his own improper, indecent, or 

 unlawful personal conduct, working in 

 obstruction of or injury to a right of 

 another, or of the public and produc- 

 ing such material annoyance, incon- 



FIG. 20,-HEARTSEASE OR SMARTWEED 



Fig. i« — Fig wort or Simpson Honey-Plant 



venience, discomfort, or hurt that the 

 law will presume a consequent dam- 

 age. 



Text writers and legislative enact- 

 ments state many variations of the 

 foregoing comprehensive definition 

 from Mr. Wood's treatise on nuisances, 

 but there is no substantial disagree- 

 ment as to what constitutes a nui- 

 sance. Another definition, stated 

 broadly as a general proposition, is 

 that every enjoyment by one of his 

 own property which violates in an es- 

 sential degree the rights of another is 

 a nuisance; and this substantial vio- 

 lation ot a right is the true test or a 

 nuisance, for it is not every use of 

 his property by one which works In- 

 jury to the property of another that 

 constitutes a nuisance. Injury and 

 damage are essential elements of a 

 nuisance, but they may both exist as a 

 result of an act or thing which is not 

 a nuisance because no right is vio- 

 lated. On the other hand the pecuni- 

 ary injury may be insignificant and 

 the act or thing causing them be such 

 an invasion of the rights ot another, 

 or ot the public, as to constitute a 

 nuisance for which an action for dam- 

 ages or for abatement will lie. 



Nuisances are classified by the law 

 as public and private, and there is 

 authority for a third class called 

 "mixed" nuisances. A nuisance is 

 public where it affects the rights of 

 individuals as a part of the public, or 



