Sept. 20, 1900. 



AMERICAN BEE JOURNA". 



597 



the workings of the honey-bee, and other matters of inter- 

 est in the line of apiculture. 



The country beekeeper, unless he has a reliable agent 

 or commission-house to handle his product, is more or less 

 compelled to dispose of his honey by peddling it. 



From personal experience and observation, I am of the 

 opinion that the country bee keeper is at an advantage over 

 the city bee-keeper as to the quantity of the honey crop 

 harvested. The continual dust, vapor and smoUe in a large 

 city settle more or less for miles around down upon all 

 honey-secreting plants, and thus check the development 

 of the nectar. The heavy and close atmosphere mingled 

 with dense smoke is greatly detrimental to the development 

 of plants and conseijuently their secretion of honey. Thus 

 the city bee-keeper, under above-mentioned atmospheric 

 conditions, but with otherwise exactly the same quantity 

 and nature of honey-producing flora, is, in comparison with 

 the country bee-keeper, at a disadvantage of about 20 per- 

 cent in the quantity of honey gathered. 



In conclusion let me add, that in order to round up the 

 experiences in the pursuit of keeping bees in a city, another 

 feature sprung up which to relate may be of interest to the 



L. Kfcutzinger. 



bee-keepers. On Aug. 3d the writer hereof was served with 

 a warrant for " unlawfully keeping and owning a great 

 number of bees in such willful, wrongful manner that the 

 aforesaid bees became, were, and are, a nuisance in viola- 

 tion of Section 1028 of an ordinance of the City of Chicago." 

 The warrant was sworn out by a neighbor of one of the 

 writer's out-apiaries. The first hearing took place before a 

 justice of the peace in a suburb of Chicago the following 

 day. Upon motion of the writer's attorney, the case was 

 continued for several days. At the second the witnesses 

 present testified to the vicious character of the bees, being 

 a regular nuisance, having stung passers-by, a couple of 

 horses, a dog, went into neighboring yards for water and 

 grass to feed on, and did some other mischievous work ! 

 Upon hearing the testimony, the presiding judge, finding 

 no fine provided for in the above cited section, dismissed 

 the case. 



However, soon after another warrant was sworn to b3' 

 the same complainant, this time for " keeping on the 8th 

 day of August, 1900, and still continues to use certain prem- 

 ises known as No. 1791 Ainslie Ave., in said County of Cook, 

 for the exercise of the honey-trade and maintaining 80 hives 

 of bees which are offensive and dangerous to the health and 

 public." 



Thru the efforts of the writer's able attorneys, the judge 

 pointed out the unusual and extraordinary character of the 

 case, and askt, before rendering his decision, a week's time 



in order to look up matters and authorities, as the case re- 

 quired careful consideration. On the day set for the de- 

 cision (Aug. 23d) the judge, first enumerating several 

 decisions pro and con, rendered in similar cases, concluded 

 his sentence with the following words ; " The defendant is 

 therefore discharged." L,. Kreutzingek. 



Mr. York was askt to read the final decision of the jus- 

 tice in Mr. Kreutzinger's case, which is as follows : 



STATEMENT FROM TUB yHSTICE OF THE PEACE. 



The counsel for defendant contends that the defendant 

 should be discharged for three reasons, viz : 



1st. That it is not a public but a private nuisance, and 

 therefore a civil matter. 



2d. That the complaint is insufficient. 



3d. That the .section under which the complaint is 

 drawn does not apply to this case. 



In regard to the first question raised by the counsel, 

 there are a number of decisions upon the question, as to 

 how many people a particular nuisance must affect before 

 it becomes a public nuisance. In Hackney vs. the State, 

 8th Indiana, page 494, Judge Stuart laid down the law that 

 is followed by all the text-books. He said. Every nuisance 

 that is annoying to only a few of the citizens of the partic- 

 ular place, is a public nuisance, they being the public of 

 that locality. It is a public nuisance if it annoys such part 

 of the public as necessarily comes in contact vrith it. 



In Illinois, Judge Shope said : It can make no differ- 

 ence that the number actually injured by the nuisance is 

 comparatively small. 



In regard to the second contention, I will say that the 

 complaint as drawn follows the statute closely, and that is 

 all that is required by the statutes. 



The third contention, however, is a more difficult one. 

 After careful study I do not feel justified in coming to the 

 conclusion that the keeping of bees is covered by Paragraph 

 8, Section 221, under " Trades ;" and the authorities make 

 no mention of any agricultural pursuit, and the keeping of 

 bees, in my opinion, ought to be so clast. Then, again, the 

 heading of the paragraph in Starr and Curtis, and in Origi- 

 nal Statutes, is "Offensive Faclories;" and in "construing 

 statutes," I take it that the heading governs where the 

 meaning of the words are doubtful. And again. Paragraph 

 9 of the same section gives the municipal authorities full 

 control of all nuisances not specified by statute. The in- 

 tention of the legislature was to leave such matters to the 

 municipalities. 



The defendant is therefore discharged. 



Thomas Edgar, J. P. 



Pres. Root — The question is now open for discussion. 

 Does any one wish to take it up ? 



N. E. France — We have a paper similar to that, " Bee- 

 Keepers' Rights and their Protection by Law," on Wednes- 

 day afternoon. Might it not be deferred to that time and 

 take it all up then ? 



Pres. Root — Do you wish to discuss any other phase of 

 the question of bee-keeping in the city ? Is there any one 

 here who has knowledge whether flowers of any kind in the 

 city are affected by smoke ? This question was brought up 

 six months ago in a convention which I attended, and much 

 interesting discussion was brought out. 



Dr. Mason — Don't in Toledo ; we burn up our smoke. 



G. E. Purple — I have more to do with the city 

 smoke and dirt than any other one, I think ; and as far as I 

 can see, it does not affect the honey or the flowers, but it is 

 a fact that after you have a drouth from a week to two 

 weeks, the flowers get covered with dirt enough so that it 

 stains any honey that may be left in the hive, enough so 

 the entrance and the fiames below will get quite black ; but 

 as far as the honey goes, that is as clear as any honey I ever 

 saw from the country. 



Mr. Acklin — Those two bottles of white clover honey on 

 the table were gathered from flowers in the city. 



Mr. Purple — I have kept bees in the country as well as 

 city, and my present source of honey is sweet clover ; after 

 the sweet clover goes out of bloom, and after burdock com- 

 mences to bloom, the latter seems to give the honey a sort 

 of dark green look. That is where our discussion should 

 come in the convention, whether white sweet clover gives 

 a green or white honey. I noticed that particularly this 

 year, that after burdock comes, then my honey begins to 

 get green, and quite green, and then after that it is as white 

 as any honey I ever saw. 



Mr. Aikin — I would like to ask Mr. Purple a little more 

 about that. Do I understand him to say that the honey 

 gathered from sweet clover is a greenish color ? 



