State Bee-Keepers' Association. 71 



NATIONAL BEE-KEEPERS' UNION. 



OFFICERS FOR 1892. 



President — ^James Hedden. 



Vice Presidents — G. M. Doolittle, Prof. A. J. Cook, G. W. Demaree, 

 A. I. Root, Dr. C. C. Miller. 



Manager, Secretary and Treasurer — Thos. G. Newman . 



Following is an address by the General Manager setting forth the im- 

 portance of the National Bee- Keekers' Union, including the decision of the 

 Supreme Court of Arkansas. Also General Manager's report for 1891. 



"In 1885 a bee-keeper within :oo miles from Chicago was sued for dam- 

 ages amounting to $500, which were alleged to have been done to the sheep 

 of a neighbor. 



' 'Of course ignorance was the cause ot this lawsuit, for bees are of a great 

 advantage to the clovers as well as to other bloom, and without their aid in 

 fructifying the flowers many a plant would cease to bloom — and even to 

 live. They absolutely require the visits of bees or other insects to remove 

 their pollen masses, and thus to fertilize them. Hence, Darwin wisely 

 remarks, when speaking of clover and hearts-ease : 'No bees, no seed; no 

 seed no increase of the flower. The more visits from the bees the more 

 seeds from the flower; the more seeds from the flower, the more flowers 

 from the seeds.' Darwin mentions the following experiments : 'Twenty 

 heads of white clover, visited by bees, produced 2,990 seeds, while twenty 

 heads so protected that bees could not visit them produced ttot one seed.' 



"As soon as this became known among the fraternity the National Bee- 

 Keepers' Union was organized, with headquarters at Chicago. This union 

 was charged with the duty of 'protecting the interests of bee-keepjers,' by 

 defending their rights under the laws of the different States where they 

 reside. 



"Besides giving the moral encouragement to the pursuit of bee-keeping 

 which such a National organization naturally bestows, it has materially 

 assisted in several cases where the law was invoked to crush the interests of 

 our industry. 



"Its first business was to defend the suit of 'sheep vs. bees' before men- 

 tioned, for it was understood that this was to be a 'test case' and if the plain- 

 tiff" succeeded in obtaining a verdict in his favor, either by the ignorance of 

 prejudice of a jury, other bee-keepers would be likely to be sued to reeover 

 damages done to pastures, vineyards and gardens by bees, and any one 

 owning a few square rods of land, devoted to almost any purpose, may try 

 to recover damages from all the owners of bees in the vicinity. 



