ANGEK OF BEES. 



16 



ANTS. 



ensue. Wlien tlie dampness was all licked 

 up, they soon subsided into their usual con- 

 dition. The effect of feeding honey in the 

 open air is very much worse than that of 

 feeding any kind of syrup, and syrup from 

 white sugar incites robbing in a much great- 

 er degree than that from brown sugar; the 

 latter is so little relished by them that they 

 use it only when little else is to be found. 

 It is by the use of damp brown sugar that 

 we get rid of the greater part of what are 

 usually termed angry bees, or bees that pre- 

 fer to prowl around, robbing and stinging, 

 rather than gather honey " all the day," as 

 the greater part of the population of the 

 apiary does. The sugar should be located 

 several rods away, and should be well pro- 

 tected from the rain, but in such a way as 

 to allow the bees to have free access. When 

 no llowers are in bloom, they will work on it 

 in great numbers; but when honey is to be 

 found, you will see none but the prowling 

 iolil:ers round it. These, you will very soon 

 notice, are mostly common bees and these 

 having a very little Italian blood. We have 

 seen Italians storing honey in boxes while 

 the common bees did nothing but work in 

 the sugar-barrels. Where you work without 

 a veil, it is very convenient to have these 

 annoying bees out of the way, and, even if 

 they belong to our neighbors, we prefer to 

 furnish them with all the cheap sugar they 

 can lick up. 



HOW THE SOURCE FROM WHICH BEES ARE 

 GATHERING AFFECTS THEIR TEMPER. 



It has been found that bees are crosser 

 when working on some blossoms than on 

 others. For example they seem to be more 

 inclined to sting when working on buck- 

 wheat than on clover. This is probably due 

 to the fact that the latter yield nectar all 

 (lay while the former will in most localities 

 yield an hour or two in the morning and 

 again toward night. The stoppage of the 

 tlow seems to affect the bees adversely. 



In the same way they are cross when work- 

 iug on honey-dew from hickory and oaks. 

 This yields heavily in the morning and lets 

 up and stops during the middle hours of the 

 day. The morning dews soften the saccha- 

 rine matter secreted on the leaves of these 

 trees, and when it dries up again the nectar 

 supply is cut off and the bees are cross. 

 During 1909, when there was so much honey- 

 dew from oaks and hickories from all over 

 the coiuitry, bees that year were reported to 

 be exceptionally cross. 



To make bees good-natured, a honey-plant 

 must be a continuous yielder all dny. So 



long as it keeps up its supply, there is 

 quiet. 



In discussing this general subject we have 

 attempted to show some of the causes that 

 make bees cross, in order that beginners 

 may be forewarned and on their guard. 

 Now, it may seem a little strange if, under 

 the head of Outdoor Feeding, under the 

 head of Feeding and How to Stop Bob- 

 bing, under the head of Robbing, we should 

 recommend the very thing that we have 

 warned the beginner not to do — that is, to 

 expose sweets in the open air to which they 

 may help themselves. When the reader has 

 read over s-ome of the chapters in this woik 

 he will be able to stop robbing \)y doing the 

 r( ry ihitty tliat starts it in the first place, on 

 the princij le that '' like cures like." After 

 one has had some experience he can actual- 

 ly stop robbing by putting out a counter- 

 attraction in the shape of feed outdoors; 

 and when the bees are busy with this feed 

 one may open u]) the hives and do any thing 

 he pleases. The different cases of this kind 

 will be discussed under the sub-title of Feed- 

 ing Outdoors under the general head of 

 Feeding and Feeders; of Extractors, 

 and again under the sub-title How to Stop 

 Robbing, under the head of Robbing. 



Where one has only a single hive and no 

 neighbors who keep bees, the case is some- 

 thing like Robinson Crusoe on the island ; 

 no chance for stealing, and consequently 

 nothing to be cross alxuit. Rees are seldom 

 cross, unless through some fault or careless- 

 ness of their owners. See Robbing; also 

 Stings. 



ANTS. Although we have given the 

 matter considerable attention, we can not 

 find that ants are guilty of any thing that 

 should warrant, here in the North, the api- 

 arist in waging any great warfare against 

 them. Some years ago a visitor frightened 

 us by saying that the ants about our apiary 

 would steal every drop of honey as fast as 

 the bees could gather it. Accordingly we 

 prepared ourselves with a tea-kettle of boil- 

 ing water, and not only killed the ants but 

 some grapevines growing near. Afterward 

 there came a spring when the bees, all but 

 about eleven colonies, dwindled away and 

 died, and the hives filled with honey, scat- 

 tered about the apiary unprotected, seemed 

 to be as fair a chance for the ants that had 

 not "dwindled" a particle, as they could 

 well ask for. We watched to see how fast 

 they would carry away the honey, but, to our 

 astonishment, they seemed to care more for 



