Sometime prior to August, 1953, at Merced, California, defendant, Scarborough Implement Company, a copartnership (sued herein as a corporation), sold, under a conditional sales contract, six tractors, equipped as complete unit cotton pickers, with gasoline carburetion equipment, to one William Goforth. These tractors, so equipped, were taken to Kern County by Goforth. Thereafter, in August, 1953, while the tractors were in Goforth’s possession, plaintiff sold to Goforth, under a title retaining contract, six butane tanks with butane carburetion equipment, and removed the gasoline tanks and equipment from the tractors and installed the bu tane tanks and carburetion equipment on them. In July, 1954, defendant repossessed said tractors because of the failure of Goforth to make the payments under the contract. Plaintiff learned that the tractors had been repossessed, and about six weeks after such repossession, and after the tractors with the butane equipment thereon had been sold by defendant, telephoned to defendant at Merced demanding that defendant return to them the butane tanks and carburetion equipment that plaintiff had installed thereon. The defendant refused to return the butane equipment or pay plaintiff therefor, and plaintiff commenced an action in claim and delivery against defendant to recover said butane equipment or the value thereof. Defendant filed an answer denying plaintiff’s right to recover, and alleging that plaintiff, without defendant’s consent, removed the gasoline carburetion equipment from said tractors and replaced same with butane carburetion equipment and that thereupon said butane carburetion equipment became an integral part of said cotton picking machines so as to be incapable of severance without injury to the whole of said machines.

The trial court found the facts substantially as hereinbefore set forth, and found specifically:

The court concluded that the defendant was the legal owner of said equipment at the time plaintiff installed the butane equipment; that the carburetion equipment was an integral part of the cotton picking machines so as to be incapable of severance without injury to the whole of said machines; that plaintiff was negligent in ascertaining the true title to the machines, and that defendant was entitled to judgment. Plaintiff has appealed from the judgment.

Appellant’s first contention is that an agreement for a conditional sale, reserving title in the vendor, is good against third parties as well as against parties to the transaction and that the butane tanks and carburetion equipment having been sold by it under a conditional sales contract, it was entitled to recover them from respondent. Appellant argues that respondent cannot justify the taking of appellant’s said equipment by virtue of the doctrine of accession, which doctrine is set out in section 1025 of the Civil Code as follows:

Appellant quotes from 68 American Law Reports, page 1243, as follows:

Appellant cites the ease of A. Meister & Sons Co. v. Harri son, 56 Cal.App. 679 [ 206 P. 106 ]. In that ease there were also two conditional sellers involved. The defendant sold motor trucks to buyer and plaintiff sold or leased passenger bus bodies to be attached to the trucks. The defendant repossessed the trucks from the buyer and plaintiff gave notice to the defendant that he wanted the passenger hus bodies. The defendant ignored plaintiff and sold the trucks with the passenger bus bodies. Plaintiff then filed suit and was awarded judgment for the reasonable value of the passenger bus bodies. In affirming the judgment the court said at page 682:

Respondent argues that appellant was not justified in removing from the machines the gasoline carburetion equipment and replacing it with butane carburetion equipment, and that to permit appellant to recover its carburetion equipment and leave the machines without any carburetion equipment would be neither equitable nor in accordance with the authorities. As pointed out by respondent, the Meister case is clearly distinguishable from the instant case. For it is to be noted that in the Meister case the bus bodies were added to the trucks and when they were removed from the trucks the trucks were the same as when they were purchased under contract from defendant. As stated by the court, the bus bodies could be removed without damage to the trucks. However, in the instant case, appellant removed the gasoline carburetion equipment from the machines and installed the butane carburetion equipment in its place. The removal of the butane carburetion equipment from the machines would leave the machines without any carburetion equipment, and, as found by the trial court, “the carburetion equipment was an integral part of the cotton picking machines so as to be incapable of severance without injury to the whole of said machines.” Respondent cites Dersch v. Thomas, 138 Cal.App.Supp. 785 , in which the court said at page 789 [ 30 P.2d 630 ] :

The case of D. Q. Service Corp. v. Securities Loan, & Discount Co., 210 Cal. 327 [ 292 P. 497 ], is cited by appellant in his reply brief. Appellant states that in that case the conditional vendor of truck tires who added tires on a truck had knowledge that the lessee of the truck did not have title to said truck and the court found that the conditional vendor of the truck tires was entitled to have his tires back. Appellant quotes from page 329 as follows:

However, in that case the court also said, at page 330:

It is therefore apparent that the foregoing case is clearly distinguishable from the instant case for in the instant case respondent would suffer substantial injury by the removal of the butane carburetion equipment.

Appellant seeks to justify its removal of the gasoline carburetion equipment from the machines upon the ground that it was ignorant of the conditional sale by respondent of the machines in question. However, it should be noted that appellant’s asserted lack of knowledge of the conditional sale of the machines is based upon only the testimony of one of the appellant’s officers which the court was under no duty to believe and apparently did not believe, because it found: ‘ ‘ That plaintiff knew that the machines were encumbered at that time [when installing the butane equipment] but did not make sufficient inquiry to learn as to who actually held title to the machines.” This finding is supported by the record and we are satisfied that the court was justified in concluding, as it did conclude, that if appellant did not actually know of the conditional sale of the machines, appellant should have known and appellant was possessed of sufficient knowledge to put it on inquiry. Appellant’s witness Wallace testified that he knew the machines were encumbered although he stated that he was informed that the San Joaquin Cotton Oil Company was financing Mr. Goforth. This should have put him upon inquiry to learn the truth.

Appellant’s final contention is that if the doctrine of accession is applicable, the court erred in not awarding appellant the value of the butane carburetion equipment in accordance with section 1025 of the Civil Code which provides that the owner of the principal part under the doctrine of accession “must, however, reimburse the value of the residue to the other owner, or surrender the whole to him.”

We think that the most reasonable construction of the term “value of the residue” is that it is intended to mean the value that has been added to the principal part, in the instant case the whole machine, by the accession. The implied finding of the trial court is that the machines were not enhanced in value by the addition of the butane equipment, and the testimony of one of the respondents, Mr. Scarborough, that “I would rather have the gas. We don’t use butane,” is sufficient to support a finding that when appellant removed the gasoline carburetion equipment and substituted the butane equipment nothing of value was added to the machines. Testimony by the president of appellant corporation as to the value of the butane carburetion equipment merely created a conflict in the evidence. We are therefore unable to agree with appellant’s contention that the court erred in not reimbursing appellant for the value of the butane carburetion equipment.

No other points require discussion.

The judgment is affirmed.

Van Dyke, P. J., and Warne, J. pro tem., concurred.

Assigned by Chairman of Judicial Council.