790 



AMERICAN BEE JOURJNlAi-. 



dues and vote, last January. He wrote 

 thus : 



" The fruit raisers of this locality have 

 been very peaceful since the Union gave 

 them such a dose of medicine two years 

 ago, by the distribution of the decision of 

 the Supreme Court of Arkansas determining 

 that the keeping of bees was a legitimate 

 pursuit, and cannot by law be considered a 

 nuisance. 



"The Union has been a grand success in 

 Central California, assisting bee-keepers to 

 maintain their rights, as well as in showing 

 the fruit raisers that the bees are their best 

 friends instead of their enemies. I hope it 

 will be as successful everywhere else. 



" I know that my 175 colonies of bees do 

 not injure my fruit, and I have some 20 

 varieties of fruit on my 20 acres of land. 

 It would take considerable to induce me to 

 entirely move away my bees from my fruit 

 farm, for I do not believe that my fruit 

 would be any way near as productive." 



BEES AND FLOWERS. 



Being fully cognizant of the fact that 

 much ignorance exists in the minds of 

 horticulturists and others concerning the 

 proper relation of bees to fruit of all 

 kinds, I have issued a 4-page pamphlet 

 on the subject, the main portion of which 

 is an interesting essay, prepared by one 

 of our members, Mr. C. P. Dadant, and 

 read before the Farmers' Institute, at 

 Hamilton, 111., last February. Copies of 

 this small pamphlet have already done 

 excellent service where trouble was 

 apparently brewing between apiarists 

 and fruit-growers. The generous dis- 

 tribution of these educators in such 

 localities, generally produces a sudden 

 change of opinion relative to bees and 

 their supposed injury to fruit. A copy 

 of this is sent out with this Report, and 

 will repay a careful examination. 



ADVICE SOUGHT. 



Many letters have been received asking 

 for assistance and advice, in cases where 

 trouble was threatened. These have 

 been carefully considered and answered, 

 giving advice and instructions how to 

 proceed, if the documents which invari- 

 ably accompany my replies did not allay 

 the trouble. 



CANADIAN MEMBERS. 



Inquiries from Canada have come to 

 hand, asking whether the Union would 

 defend its members in that Dominion, 

 the same as if they resided in the United 

 States. Some of these also requested 

 that the reply be Incorporated in my 

 next Annual Report. It is, therefore, 

 given a place here. The answer is plain 

 and explicit — the National Bee-Keepers' 

 Union knows no dividing lines of States, 

 Provinces or Territories — 



"No pent up Utlca contracts our powers, 

 The whole unbounded Continent Is ours." 



The Union defends its members from 

 the assaults of the enemies of the pursuit 

 —no matter where they may happen to 

 reside — if, upon investigation, their law- 

 ful rights and privileges are found to be 

 unjustly assailed. 



QUARRELSOME NEIGHBORS. 



Mr. George M. Deer, Riga, Mich., was 

 threatenedbya jealous old-fogy neighbor, 

 who insisted upon unnecessarily working 

 his horses at noon close to his neighbor's 

 bee-yard, and hitching his horses to the 

 fence in order to cause them to be stung, 

 and thus to incite the surrounding 

 neighbors to demand the removal of the 

 bees. As this involved important points, 

 I wrote the facts to President" R. L. 

 Taylor, who is a good lawyer, requesting 

 him to give his opinion concerning the 

 points involved. His reply was as 

 follows : 



Here, as in most if not all the other 

 States, the law on the point is unsettled 

 by statute or direct decision of the Courts; 

 so we must fall back upon the principles of 

 the common law, in order to form a judg- 

 ment. My opinion is, that in such a case, 

 the bee-keeper would be required to use 

 such care in providing against injury to 

 others, as a- judicious person would use in 

 conducting bis affairs; that he would be 

 responsible for the results of his own 

 carelessness, but not of another person's 

 carelessness. I would like to see a good, 

 fair case of this kind tried, so that we 

 might have something to guide us. 



I think Mr. Deer would do well to put up, 

 if possible, a high, tight fence or other 



