696 



AMERICAN BEE JOURNAL. 



Another Xriumpli for the Union 

 has just been achieved in California. In 

 Tulare county, Mr. F. M. Hart and 

 others kept some bees. A grape-raiser 

 circulated a petition to the Board of 

 Supervisors, to have the bees removed, 

 because they were charged with ruining 

 the grape crop — that damage was done 

 by rain, however. Mr. Hart wrote the 

 facts to the Manager of the Union, who, 

 last February, instructed him how to 

 proceed, and sent copies of the Arkansas 

 Supreme Court Decision, to be placed 

 in the hands of the Board, and head off 

 the petitioners. The result may be seen 

 by the following from the proceedings 

 of the Board of Supervisors, as published 

 in the Visalia Delta of last week : 



The Bee-Men Win.— At the last ses- 

 sion of the Board a delegation of Lu- 

 cerne county people appeared before the 

 Supervisors for the purpose of having 

 an ordinance passed, making bee-keep- 

 ing a nuisance. A delegation of bee- 

 men were also present, for the purpose 

 of remonstrating against any such 

 action. The matter was laid over until 

 the May session of the Board. On Sat- 

 urday the matter was taken up for con- 

 sideration. ' District Attorney Power 

 filed the following written opinion re- 

 garding the matter : 



In replj' to your question, " Can the Board 

 of Supervisors prohibit by ordinance the 

 keeping- of bee-farms ?" I would say that bees 

 are property, and that being- such you cannot 

 destroy the right of the owner therein. If 

 these farm,? are so -kept that thej^ are an inter- 

 ference with the enjoyment of the lives or 

 property of others, they are nuisances under 

 fcsec. 3479, Civil Code, under which the injured 

 parties may cause them to he abated. One 

 cannot conduct a lawful business in such a 

 manner as to interfere with another's rights 

 (Tuebner vs. Cal. St. R. R. Co., 66 Cal., 171) ; 

 and the question of the existence of the nui- 

 sance is one of fact (1 Cal., 386 ; 1 Cal., 467 : 

 3 Cal., 238 ; 29 Cal., 156 ; 30 Cal., 379 ; 45 

 Cal., 55). 



Any attempt of the Board to prohibit these 

 farms on the ground that they are a menace 

 to fruit farms would be a usurpation, by it, 

 of the functions of covirts and juries, a denial 

 to the citizen of his propertj^-rig-hts, and prac- 

 tically a confiscation of his property without 

 due process of law. You may impose a license 

 on bee-farmers for the purpose of regulation 

 and revenue (Co. Gov. act.. Sec. 25, subd. 27). 

 Maurice E. Power, District Attorney. 



After the reading of the above opin- 

 ion, it was ordered that the petition 

 declaring bee-keeping a nuisance be 

 denied, on the ground that the Board 

 has no jurisdiction in such matters. 

 This ends the matter for the time being. 



however unsatisfactory it may be to the 

 fruit men of Lucerne valley. 



Mr. Hart wrote as follows on May 16, 

 1891: 



Mr. Newman : — Since you instructed 

 me how to proceed, I have felt quite 

 easy about the fruit-growers' petition, 

 but most of the bee-men have been in 

 hot water all the time. Quite a number 

 of them have sold out at a great loss, 

 while others have moved from 50 to 80 

 miles to the mountains on the west of 

 the valley. A few remained with me to 

 "weather the storm." There were 

 about 135 signatures to the petition, 

 but we have won a substantial victory ! 

 F. M. Hart. 



Traver, Tulare Co., Calif. 



The Union is to be congratulated upon 

 another victory without cost, except its 

 moral backing and some correspondence 

 and energetic work. While Mr. Hart's 

 action was directed by the Union, he 

 remained in perfect quietude, and his 

 rights have been sustained. His neigh- 

 bors became frightened at the "cry of 

 the wolf," fled to the mountains, and 

 sacrificed their property. How much 

 cheaper and more comfortable it would 

 have been to have held a membership 

 ticket in the Union, and had its backing, 

 moral support, and defense ! 



A IVice sample of six-banded Ital- 

 ian bees are received from the Rev. W. 

 P. Faylor. They are bright yellow, and 

 some of them show a little spot of dark 

 on the back, giving them a beautiful 

 appearance. 



Extra Tliin Foundation is 



received from W. H. Norton, of Skowhe- 

 gan, Maine, which is very transparent, 

 and shows beautiful workmanship. It 

 takes 34 sheets, 4x16^ inches, to make 

 a pound, being about 15 K square feet 

 to the pound. ' This is, we believe, 

 thinner than any manufactured, so far, 

 with the natural base for cells. In fact, 

 it looks much like the Van Deusen flat- 

 bottomed foundation, justly admired for 

 its thinness and beauty. 



