18 



THE AMERICAN BEE-KEEPER 



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the lot, and but five or six of 

 them proved to be worth keeping, 

 although they were of the high- 

 priced kind. 



UTTER FOOLISHNESS. 



Much interest has been shown 

 during the past month or two in a 

 law suit which has been in progress 

 ■ in Orange County, N. Y., wherein 

 two brothers by the name of Utter 

 are engaged. One of the Utter 

 brothers is a fruit grower, the 

 other a bee-keeper. The former 

 avers that his brother's bees have 

 been guilty of puncturing and 

 greatly damaging his peach crop. 

 It appears that the bee-keeping 

 brother is a man of limited means, 

 and was therefore unable to pro- 

 cure such counsel in his defense as 

 the National Bee-keepers' Associa- 

 tion would have quickly provided, 

 had Mr. Utter been a member of 

 that organization and promptly re- 

 ferred the matter to General Man- 

 ager Secor. As it was, the justice 

 before whom the case was first 

 heard rendered judgment against 

 the bee-keeper for twenty-five dol- 

 lars and costs. General Manager 

 Secor, of the National Association, 

 heard of the case, and immediately 

 authorized an appeal to the County 

 Court, pledging one hundred dol- 

 lars to fight the case; as bee-keep- 

 ing interests and common justice 

 demand that a reversal of the jus- 

 tice's decision be secured. 



With reference to this case the 

 Leti'iston Journal (Me.) well says: 



A New York judge has dehvered a de- 

 cision that renders the owners of bees 

 Hable for damages for trespass on the 

 property of other peoples This is a case 

 of justice run mad. Should it be sus- 

 tained in the higher courts and extended 

 to other states it would simply kill the 

 bee i'.'dustry. We can control our cat- 

 tle and sheep but we can not control 

 one llight of our bees. It is clearly evi- 

 dent that the fools are not all confined 



to the common classes. When judges 

 get to rendering such decisions as this 

 it is high time for them to step down 

 and out, so as to make room for some 

 one possessed of common sense. 



From Glean! )Hjs in. Bee (Julture 

 we learn that the evidence pre- 

 sented in behalf of the plaintiff's 

 claim was of the most absurd char- 

 acter, a sample of which is that 

 witnesses had seen the bees "stand 

 on their hind legp, puncture or 

 probe the fruit, then fly away." 

 Others, it is said, stated that "bees 

 could bore holes through boards, 

 and would therefore puncture 

 fruit..'" The plaintiff himself said 

 that the bees stung his trees and 

 killed them and they ate up his 

 fruit. 



The edit.n- of the Ritral Ncir 

 Yorl-cr has expressed the hope that 

 bee-keepers would leave no stone 

 unturned to secure a reversal of 

 this absurd decision against the 

 bee-keeper. A contributor to his 

 excellent journal, however, avers 

 that when peaches and plums are 

 ripe enough to eat from the hand bees 

 will puncture them; notwithstand- 

 ing the fact that the most severe 

 and thorough tests, conducted by 

 experimental stations and agricul- 

 tural colleges, have repeatedly dis- 

 proven the statement. Bees have 

 been confined with ripe fruit until 

 they starved to death, time and 

 again; and still certain agricultural 

 editors grasp for the scissors at the 

 sight of the item which states that 

 "Bees Do Rob Fruit," without even 

 hinting at the almost endless chain 

 of evidence to the contrary. There 

 seems to be a singular fascination 

 in these libelous statements against 

 one of the most important requi- 

 sites to . successful fruit growing. 

 Surely the National Bee-keepers' 

 Association has a work to do, and 

 the miserable, half-hearted support 

 which it has met thus far is nothing 



