PUBLISHED EVERY WEEK 



AT $1.00 PER ANNUM. 





37th Year. 



CHICAGO, ILL., JANUARY 21, 1897. 



No. 3. 





Proceedings of the Illinois State Bee-Keepers' 



Couventiou Held in Chicago, Nov. 18 



and 19, 1896. 



Br A SPECIAL BEE JOURNAL REPORTER. 



LContinued from page 23. ] 

 IS SWEET CLOVER A NOXIOUS WEED ? 



Mr. York — I would like to bring up a matter that Mr. 

 Periam is interested in. I received a letter from Mrs. Harri- 

 son, of Peoria, this morniDg, in which she mentions "that 

 noxious weed," and she gives Mr. Periam credit for having 

 clast it as a noxious weed in the laws of Illinois. But bee- 

 keepers think it is a very fine plant. 



Mr. Periam — I am very much obliged to Mrs. Harrison for 

 the good articles she used to write when I was editor of the 

 Prairie Farmer, but in this case I must beg to be excused. It 

 looks as if it was a healthy weed. The law now stands that it 

 is a noxious weed ? I had nothing to do with that, 1 think ; I 

 know I didn't, but I am willing to say this, because I am able 

 to look dispassionately at the question. When I was editing a 

 paper, I woull not always look dispassionately, because there 

 are so many things to be lookt after. There is no trouble with 

 sweet clover whatever in the hands of a man who knows how 

 to handle any kind of a weed, and everything is a weed when 

 it is out of its place. Now sweet clover is no weed when it is 

 in its place, but when the lines and fence-corners of the farm 

 are full it, then it is a weed. I have always held that opinion. 

 Mr. Chairman, if I ever said so in print, or if I ever said so out 

 of print, I must have qualified it, that it was a weed when out 

 of its place, and not a weed when in its place. I can illustrate 

 that no better than to tell a story my good friend Dan Gillem 

 once told. He was talking aboutclover, to the superintendent 

 of the Fair, who said : " You need not talk to me about clo- 

 ver, it is a vile weed ; we can't get clear of it ; we can't keep it 

 from growing :" and Dan said, " You can bless the Lord he 

 has given you a weed which is one of the most wonderful 

 plants the Lord ever made." 



SECOND DAY'. — Afternoon Session. 



QuES. 17 — Is sweet clover a noxious weed ? If not, should 

 bee-keepers abstain from growing sweet clover on their own 

 land, or on leased land, in violation of statutory laws prohibi- 

 ting the same? And in case legal proceedings should be 

 brought against a bee-keeper for so doing, should it be the 

 duty of the Bee-Keeper's Union to assist in defending any 

 member thereof, and thereby, if possible, secure a decision 

 from the proper courts in regard to the constitutionality of 

 such a prohibitory statute? 



Dr. Miller — Shall wo take the first part of that question 

 first? Is sweet clover a noxious weed? Who will tell us what 

 a noxious weed is ? 



Mr. Ellis — A weed that is good for nothing. 



Mr. York — I once heard this definition given: "A weed 

 is a plant for which man has found no use." As soon as a use 

 is found for it, it is no longer a weed. 



Mr. Ellis — I can suggest an addition to that, by saying, 

 that it is one that has no use in the neighborhood in which it 

 grows, and crowds out other plants that have use. "^"TZH 



Mr. Periam — In case of melilotus — sweet clover — it is 

 not bad except it is in someplace where it may be a nuisance. 

 Any plant growing upon a man's land that is unlike the Cana- 

 da thistle, whose seed blows around, is not noxious. Now, the 

 melilotus is not that class of plant, because it does not blow 

 away. It raises its seed and drops them only where they are, 

 but if strewn indiscriminately by one man or another, or by 

 the birds, it may become noxious to another man, or another 

 set of men. 



Dr. Miller — Speaking in general terms, would you call 

 Canada thistle a noxious weed ? Suppose I put the question, 

 and you would not be allowed to say anything but yes or no 

 under penalty of your life ? 



Mr. Periam — I answer it is. 



Dr. Miller — suppose I put the same question on the same 

 terms and ground with melilotus ? 



Mr. Periam— No, sir, I would not. It is not a noxious 

 weed. 



Dr. Miller — The next part of the question is : Should bee- 

 keepers abstain from growing sweet clover on their own land, 

 or on leased land in violation of statutory laws prohibiting the 

 same ? 



Mr. Periam — The Supreme Court will decide against that, 

 The Supreme Court will decide every time that the man has a 

 right to grow upon his own land whatever he sees fit, so long 

 as it does not interfere with other people; so I see no use of 

 asking that question, for the Supreme Court will certainly de- 

 cide that a man can grow anything which does not involve loss 

 to the community at large, and that does not, unless some per- 

 son sows the seed. 



Mr. Kennedy — Does any one present know that there is a 

 statute that prohibits or declares sweet clover to be a noxious 

 weed in Illinois? I have my doubts about it. I have the laws 

 in regard to that, but there is nothing in them that I have seen 

 that says a word about sweet clover. 



Dr. Miller — I lookt up the laws myself, and cannot find 

 anything, but thought there might be something later. 



Mr. Kennedy — I have nothing that touches on it at all, or 

 says that it is a noxious weed. It says that the commissioners 

 shall keep the weeds cut from the highways, but it does not 

 mention sweet clover. 



Mr. Stone — I hardly think that there is such a law, be- 

 cause the commissioners of highways have pretty nearly said 

 hard words in our county about sweet clover. They have 

 accused men of sowing it in the road, and said if they caught 

 them at it it would go hard with them. If there was any 

 law they would have prosecuted them, and one man got very 

 angry at me. because I was a bee-keeper. He was a friend of 

 mine, and throw it at me very spitefully. He said, ''You bee- 

 keepers — [with a blank] — are sowing this sweet clover," and if 

 there had been a law, he would have applied it to the very bit- 

 terest end. If there is such a law, I would like to know it. 



Mr. Baldrldge — I don't think there is a law to that effect 

 in this State, but there Is one iuWisconsin, and of course this 

 question would cover any State. 



Dr. Miller — If there is nothing In the Illinois law, we are 

 fighting a man of straw. 



Mr. Baldrldge — We are just now, but we will not be in a 



