Tmm JEMERicKK mmwt joumnRi^, 



665 



bers of tho societies at greatlj' reduced 

 rates, and probably carry goods for 

 exhibition free, etc. 



I have gone into the foregoing de- 

 tails in order to show tliat in Germany 

 there is at least as much energy dis- 

 played b}' the bee-keepers, and as 

 much assistance afforded by the Gov- 

 ernment for the promotion of apicul- 

 ture, as will be found in any other 

 country. Still, among the general 

 public there is as much of the same 

 kind of ignorance and prejudice to be 

 encountered, wliich, in the United 

 States, have forced the bee-keepers to 

 form a league for mutual defense in 

 legal prosecutions, and which have 

 alread}' shown themselves in a minor 

 degree in this colony, that it has been 

 found necessary to apply for legisla- 

 tive protection against the wilful de- 

 struction of the bees, and against 

 frivolous or malicious attacks upon 

 the property and interests of the bee- 

 keepers. 



Ciernian Bee-I>e$;isIalioii. 



On the 3rd of April last, a Bill was 

 introduced into the Pru.ssian House of 

 Representatives, entitled the " Bee- 

 Protection Act." The member who 

 moved the first i-eading of the Bill, 

 Herr Letocha, promised a speech of 

 considerable length, bj' observing that 

 he was not acting upon his own mere 

 motion, but in the name and on behalf 

 of the Central Association for Bee-Cul- 

 ture, and of the 20,000 bee-keepers 

 who were members of the Association. 



He then entered into a full explana- 

 tion of the importance of apiculture in 

 a national point of view, not onl}' on 

 account of the commercial value of the 

 bees' products, but also with regard to 

 the use of these products in medicine, 

 and in many branches of industry — 

 some of which, such as copperplate en- 

 graving, lithography, and zincography 

 •oould not supi)ly their want bj' any 

 artificial surrogates ; and, above all, 

 on account of the services of the bees 

 " in their relation to the bloom and 

 splendor of our native flora, as well as 

 the plenty of our fruits, and also the 

 profitable yield of our harvests, gen- 

 erally speaking." In concluding this 

 portion of his subject, Herr Letocha 

 said : 



I have felt it my duty to go into those de- 

 tails, because, unfortunately, people are still 

 found, eveu amoiif? the agriculturists, who 

 have not the slightest idea of the relation be- 

 tween bees and Mowers. Only yesterday I was 

 told by one ol our large landed proprietors 

 that the bees caused him great injury, es- 

 pecially in his buckwheat and rape crops, in- 

 asmuch as they visited the fields so constantly 

 during the period of the bloom, and sucked the 

 strength out of the plants, so that they could 

 only make a poor growth. 



Now. gentlemen, it is a fact, clearly estab- 

 lished by experieu<'0, that the buckwheat, for 

 instunce. on the Jinnehurg moors, notwith- 

 standing the poor soil of t.hat district, is much 

 richer in corn. or. as the farmer expresses it. 

 drives a better jield. tlian on good soil in other 



{jarts of the country ; and this is solely attri- 

 )utablo to the fact that the farmers of that 



district are also bee-keepers who place their 

 bee-hives during the period of bloom, near the 

 buckwheat. 



It is also fully established that fields of rape, 

 white clover and sera<lella, to which bees are 

 brought during the time they are in bloom, 

 afford a mucli richer iiarvest than those fields 

 which arc not visited by bees ; and finally, ex- 

 periments made by covering small areas of 

 rape, when in bloom, with fine netting so as 

 to exclude the bees, have had the result that 

 the plants so covered yielded but little seed, 

 while the fields immediately adjoining, where 

 the bees liiid free access to the flowers, yielded 

 a most excellent harvest. 



The speaker next proceeded to quote 

 some interesting historical facts to 

 show that the protection of apiculture 

 had been, from the early times, con- 

 sidered worthy of legislative attention. 

 After alluding to the ancient Roman 

 law, which provides that any one who 

 wilfully destroyed his neighbor's bees 

 should pay him compensation for the 

 damage so done, he added : 



In Germany bee-culture was In a flourishing 

 condition in the middle ages, and the bee-keep- 

 ers were held in high estimation. Those who 

 bred and kept bees were then named " Zeid- 

 Icrs," and possessed many and great privileges. 

 They were, for instance, e.xempt from tolls in 

 the imperial cities ; they had also, under the 

 Golden Bull of i;i.">0. a separate Jurisdiction of 

 their own, under their "Zeidel-masters." from 

 which only the most serious crimes were ex- 

 cepted. 



In Prussia, specially, bee-culture enjoyed a 

 wise and large degree of legal protection. 

 Thus, for instance, the paragraph 29 of the 

 Offlc.iiil Oazctle for the police districts in Prus- 

 sia for the year 1642, ordered, amongst other 

 things, the following ; 



"And because the moors and forests are be- 

 coming few, the villages, however, God he 

 praised, always more numerous, therefore shall 

 the people be called upon to establish bee- 

 gardens, and to pay paiticular attention to 

 them, so that the wild honey, which would 

 otherwise go to waste on the open fields, may 

 be brought into the gai-dens. 



" Again, in the village regulations of 1702, 

 the peasant farmers and cottiers are specially 

 bound to keep a fixed number of bee-hives. 

 Frederick the Great issued, underdate of June 

 27, 1778. a regulation, tn be read yearly fnnn 

 the pulpits (if the vlntrchfs, according to which 

 those who should lay down poisonous matter 

 mi.xed with honey, and thereby cause bees be- 

 longing to other "people to be poisoned, should 

 be [junished. without respect of persons, with 

 imprisonment, with or without hard labor, up 

 to six years." (!) 



This last instance shows that there 

 must have been, at that time, a sort of 

 crusade carried on by the misguided 

 enemies of the bees, which called forth 

 such vigorous action on the part of the 

 great Frederick. Or can it be that 

 the Prussians had then a " small bird 

 nui.?ance " of their own, and that " the 

 poisonous matter mixed with honey " 

 was laid down for the same purpose as 

 the poisoned wheat of our time, which, 

 by the way, requires to be well sweet- 

 ened to be eft'ective, and which, in the 

 case mentioned at the last meeting of 

 the Otago Bee-Keepers' Association, 

 caused the loss of whole colonies of 

 bees last winter ? 



What wouUl tho farmers of Otago 

 s.iy if the Government were to follow 

 the example of Frederick the Great ? 

 In any case it must be admitted that 

 the punishment awarded was out of 

 proportion to the crime, even if we as- 

 sume that tlie poison was intended for 

 the bees only. 



Herr Letocha then pointed out in 

 what respect the legislation of the 

 present day is defective, and requires 

 revisal in order to protect the property 

 of the bee-keepei'. and to forward the 

 interests of apiculture. Amongst the 

 arguments adduced bj- him in this re- 

 spect are the following : 



Most of the townspeople, and even many of 

 our great landed iiniiuictors, know nothing of 

 bee-culture hut the name ; but they look upon 

 the bee as a sort of savage reptile, because it 

 cau sting ; and because it occasionally finds its 

 way into sugar-factories and confectioners' 

 shops, they believe they have a right to ex- 

 teriniimte it by means or Are. poison, or with 

 steam and water. The common land-law, in- 

 deed, expressly acknowledges the property 

 of the hee-owiicr in his hives, and also in the 

 swarms which issue from them. These pro- 

 visions of the law, however, are only too often 

 paralyzed by one-sided regulations which the 

 police authorities, ignoring the essential na- 

 ture of the bee, liclieve themselves called upon 

 to issue in the interests of the public, and in 

 consideration of a stinging mania in the bees. 



Here follow instances of such local 

 regulations issued by the police au- 

 thorities. For example, in Cologne, 

 in December, 1858, a police order 

 whereby it was decreed, under penal- 

 ties, that " within the city of Cologne 

 not more than 5 colonies of bees should 

 be kept in one house, and the grounds 

 belonging thereto, and then so that they 

 cannot fly upon strange property. (From 

 this wise regulation it would almost 

 seem as if the learned authorities 

 thought that bees were kept in cages, 

 like canary birds !) 



Then, in Worms, in July, 1879, a 

 local regulation prohibits the keeping 

 of bees or erections of bee-hives "in 

 the southern and southwestern portion 

 of the zemarkung Worms ;" and in 

 Bremen, a singular regulation forbids 

 the keeping of bees "nj a portion of the 

 city and the adjoining zemarkung." 

 But this is not all. Herr Letocha very 

 justly remarks as follows : 



But under the existing laws, even in places 

 where such sjiecial regulations have not been 

 issued, the keeping of bees is more or less de- 

 pendent upon the good-will of one's neighbors. 

 There are. however, such things as malicious 

 neighbors, ami under some circumstances 

 even good neighbors will quarrel, so that 

 mutual chicane is brought into play. 



Now, should a neighbor, out of chicane or 

 malice, complain that he is troubled hy his 

 neighbor's bees, the local authorities, as a rule, 

 order under penalities, the removal of the 

 apiary, even in cases where, owing to the local 

 circumstances, auy real damage to the neigh- 

 bor is clearly out of the question ? 



The speaker then quoted cases of 

 this sort, of great hardship to the bee- 

 keepers. For instance, a school-teacher 

 who kept a single hive in his garden 

 was ordered to do away with it, be- 

 cause his neighbor complained that tite 

 bees ffew upon his crocus flowers (.') ; 

 and another i)erson, a professional api- 

 arist in Brunswick, who had made his 

 living thereby " for decades of years," 

 was, after lengthened legal proceed- 

 ings and appeal to the highest court, 

 compelled to give up his business, and 

 to sacrifice his property, because his 

 neighborssucceeded in proving in court 



