THE fE^dERICSH BEE JOURNIS,!,. 



457 



neig)ibors. After jfiving due consid- 

 eration to the detailed facts in each 

 case, they have been advised as to tlie 

 best couise to pursue, and in man}' 

 cases lawsuits have been averted by 

 the conciliatory measures advised bj- 

 the Union. In two cases, where the 

 bees were really an inju7-y to the neigh- 

 bors by being too close to the line 

 where sweaty horses were driven al- 

 rnost constantly, the bees have been 

 removed by advice of your General 

 Manager, and thus all trouble has been 

 averted. In other cases compromises 

 have been advised, and the wisdom of 

 such has been seen in the amicable re- 

 lations now existing, where trouble 

 had been brewing. 



Calirornia Uaisln-Growem, 



The decision reached in the Bohn 

 case not only averted the trouljle which 

 at one time wore a serious aspect, but 

 now a proposition has been made to 

 buj- th(! apiary and remove it — thus 

 saving the apiarist from the loss which 

 ■would have resulted from his being 

 unceremoniously driven out of his 

 honorably-ac(piired and just rights. 



This, however, was quite unnecessary, 

 for the bees not only did no damage, 

 but vastly increased the crop. The 

 California Horticulturist, last fall, ad- 

 mitted that the crop wasgreatly in ex- 

 cess of all cxi)ectations. So the bees 

 are the fruit-growers' very best friends! 

 Thej- increase their crops, and enlarge 

 their l)ank account balances. This'is 

 how the bees have rewarded the mak- 

 ers of the "late war" forced upon 

 them by some ignorant and selfish 

 raisin-growers. 



It was proven at the trial that the 

 bees could not bite into the skin of a 

 grape. A San Diego bee-keeper, says 

 the San Francisco Chronicle, settled the 

 question in this way : 



He took a perfect bunch of grapes, every berry of 

 which wa" sound an^ in good order, aii-l suspended 

 It in theraidilleof a liiveof bees for an indetln te 

 time. It remained there several weelis. and at the 

 expiration of tlie period was removed in as perteot 

 a condition as wlien first putln the hive. Thousands 

 of bees had leen iTawling all over the fruit during 

 that time, only tuo eager to attack the juice thereof, 

 but had been unable to do bo. 



History repeats itself. Sometime 

 ago, in a certain town in Nimv Eng. 

 land, so strong was the belief that bees 

 injured the fruit, that an ordinance 

 was passed obliging the bee-keepers to 

 remove their bees to another locality. 

 After a year or two, the fruit-growers 

 decided to have the bees brought back, 

 because so little fruit matured upon 

 the trees. 



Had the raisin-gi-owers been succes.S; 

 ful in California, and had driven the 

 bees away, it would only have been a 

 short time before they would have 

 been just as anxious for their return 

 as they then were to drive them out of 

 their borders ! It was the work of 

 ignorance and prejudice to demand 



the removal of the bees, but as soon as 

 light and knowledge was allowed a 

 place, better judgment prevailed. 



Tbe "RIoli" Lawsuit. 



As mentioned in our last report, Mr. 

 S. W. Rich, of Hobart, N. Y., was sued 

 by a jealous and disagreeable neigh- 

 bor for ^1,200 damages, and also to 

 compel him to mo\-e his home-apiary 

 outside the city limits. Bee-keepers 

 from several States attended the trial, 

 which was held last October before 

 Judge Boardman, at the Delaware 

 county court. About 40 witnesses 

 were called. 



The' plaintiff asked for ^1,200 dam- 

 ages for injuries inflicted by the bees 

 upon his person and property, but the 

 jurj-, from which every person having 

 bees was excluded, gave him but six 

 cents to cover wounded feelings and 

 damaged property ! ! 



This virtually declared that the bees 

 were not a nuisance. The result is an 

 overwhelming defeat for the enemies 

 of the pursuit of bee-keeping, and 

 another victory for the National Bee- 

 Keepers' Union. 



But as the award of even 6 cents as 

 damages carried with it costs amount- 

 ing to .*4G8.04, the case has been ap- 

 pealed to the Superior Court, which 

 will cost about sfSOO more. Judge 

 Boardman ruled against the bees every 

 time, and in charging the jury com- 

 pared the bees to a pig-sty and a 

 slaughter-house. This was the first 

 case with one exception ever tried in 

 the State, and the Judge having no 

 law or precedent to go by, ruled just 

 as he thought right, with the above 

 result. 



It will not do to let bee-keeping be 

 likened to a pig-sty or a slaughter- 

 pen ! It is an honest and honorable 

 pursuit and its rights must be pre- 

 served. This appeal will be heard 

 this fall, the Union having engaged 

 lawyers, and guaranteed the expenses 

 of the new trial. Had the Judge been 

 inclined to be as Jnir as the jury, this 

 would have been unnecessary. 



>* ^ **j««>* j » f t^>«>» »*^ »^*^A^ 



An insolent Virginian 

 the latest defender of that lie. The 

 Union took up the case and demanded 

 the proof. In short, this modern Goliah 

 was frustrated— beaten at every turn— 

 and his vaunting trailed in the dirt be- 

 fore his verv eyes ! 



Such offensive braggarts must be 

 taught to make sure of their proofs 

 before parading them in the face of 

 the intelligent public. The National 

 Bee-Keepers' Union exists to fearlessly 

 teach the impudent, that Truth shall 

 triumph, even though such a "Goliah" 

 may defiantly and tauntingly say : 

 " Come on, saints and sinners, ' Barkis 

 is willin'," " I can prove it," etc. 

 Audacity cannot win, especially when 

 the Union lifts up the standard, and 

 defends the pursuit. 



In this connection, the Union has 

 forced Prof. Wiley to make this as- 

 tonishing confession : 



At the time. I repeated this statement more in the 



light of a pleasantry than as a commercial reality. 



for Ifiid tint behrve that tt was POSSIBLE commer- 



ciuUy to imitate the cnmb. 



Therefore, he " knowingly, wilfully, 

 and maliciously " lied, out of whole 

 cloth, just to cause a sensation, and to 

 injure an honest pursuit. It is aston- 

 ishing that any man could make such 

 a bare-faced confession without blush- 

 ing for the infamy it exhibited ! 



Lawjers, doctors and ministers have 

 been caught repeating the diabolical 

 lie, and even this Virginian ventures to 

 repeat it ! But all have come to grief 

 before the Union's triumphant banner 

 of truth ! 



Pofdonlng tbe Bees. 



Boguiv Comb Honey. 



The Wiley /('(' about hone^r-comb 

 being manufactured, filled with orii,. 

 cose and sealed over by machinery has 

 received considerable attention from 

 the Union during the past year. 



In oi-der to counteract the baneful 

 influence of that and similar false- 

 hoods, one of our Vice-Presidents, Mr. 

 A. I. Root, has issued a " card," otter- 

 ing ^1,000 for the proof of the exis- 

 tence of such a fraudulent article on 

 the market, but as it does not exist, 

 the offer is not taken ! When pressed 

 for proof, the ])eddlcrs of the lie have 

 to admit that the evidence they relr 

 on is mere hear-say. and at the critical 

 moment vanishes out of sight ! 



A paper in Atlantic, Iowa, published 

 a malicious article against bee-keeping, 

 and advised the grape-growers to 

 poison the bees in their localities, 

 making wild and untruthful assertions 

 about the "grape-raising industry 

 having been almost entirely killed out 

 in Ohio, by this nuisance.'" The Union 

 proved this to be a malicious false- 

 hood, and the author of it was shown 

 to be either ludicrously ignorant, or a 

 vile slanderer ! 



Mr. W. M. Bombarger, of Harlan, 

 Iowa, a member of the Iowa Horticul- 

 tural Societj-, and a fruit-grower, in a 

 letter to the Bee-Keepers' Union, states 

 trhat the article in the Messenger should 

 " receive the condemnation of the in- 

 telligent grape and fruit grower of the 

 State which it 7«;'»--repre.sents," and 

 adds : 



That the grape-raising industry In Ohio has been 

 killed out by lioney-bees or apiarists following their 

 harmless pursuit. 1 assert Is false, whether the as- 

 sertion be made maliciously or ignorantlv, and is 

 proven so by the report of the commissinner of agrl- 

 culture for ik«k, page 116, where, commenting on 

 "The shrinkage of yield in Ohio." he reports as fol- 

 lows : "The shrinkage of grapes in ISHI.lH-iS and 

 1885 was due principally to tiiree facts which can- 

 not be separated -rot. mitdew.and the etTect of the 

 previous severe winter." 



