THE BEE-KEEPERS' REVIEW. 



231 



nie, and I was always dreading and ex- 

 pecting a desperate case of it to com- 

 mence, and when fmalh- two or three 

 weak, and what I now know to have been 

 qneenless colonies, were cleaned out by 

 robbers, I thonght I had at last discovered 

 the cause that might prevent me acquir- 

 ing great wealth with bees, and that it 

 must be this same cause which had pre- 

 vented old, experienced bee-keepers from 

 becoming rich, for, in those paliTiy days 

 of youth, it seemed to me that, barring 

 some great uuforseen calamities of this 

 kind, it would be an easy matter to make 

 a great amount of money with bees, be- 

 sides fully enjoying all those things 

 which we would not sell for mone}' if we 

 coidd. But if whole colonies were to be 

 wiped out by robbers in such a short time 

 that I hardly knew anything about it un- 

 til the whole affair was over, it changed 

 the appearance of the prospects. 



No\>', I do not suppose there are any at 

 present who hold such exaggerated views 

 in regard to our pursuit, or who dread 

 robbing as I did in those days, but pos- 

 sibly some who have not Deen long en- 

 gaged in our fascinating, if not wealth- 

 acquiring, pursuit may be interested in 

 what I shall say on the subject of robbing, 

 for I remember how eagerly I then read 

 everything I could find regarding it. 

 This was considerable, but it seemed to 

 me the writers treated the matter in an 

 awed, scared way, giving warnings not to 

 do anything to incite it, vaguely hinting 

 at the great danger a bad case entailed. 

 Brief accounts of how bands of frenzied 

 robber-bees had attacked and killed 

 almost all kinds of domestic animals, and 

 in one or two cases thev had sacrificed 

 human life itself to their blind, unreason- 

 ing rage: and what dismayed me the 

 mo-t, was what was said about the colon- 

 ies in large yards robbing and fighting 

 until the greater ])3rt were destroyed. 

 The subject was not an assuring one as 

 then treated, most particular caution be- 

 ing given not to throw a drop of honev 

 or anything sweet where the bees would 

 have access to it during a time of scarcity, 

 or when no honey was coming in. 



Two years ago last fall, at a time when 

 not a drop of honey was to be had in the 

 fieUls. and as the j^eneral expression 

 would V)e, "bees were just crazy to rob," 

 while shoveling honey out of the cellar 

 one day. I smiled grindy as I thoueht of 

 this warninir. for there were nearly 200 

 colonies within a few rods. "Shoveling 

 hotiey out of the cellar" causes a gasp of 

 amazement to a young lady leaning over 

 my shoulder, then follows such a volley 

 of questions that I retreat across the way 



to my bachelor den, where I am safe 

 from interruptions of this kind. But 

 perhaps I should explain that this honey 

 was stored in a room over the cellar; it 

 was in a large alcohol barrel, about 500 

 pounds of fine mixed clover and bass- 

 wood. The barrel got to leaking, and be- 

 fore I knew it the honey was all in the 

 cellar which had a dirt floor. I shoveled 

 out three or four wagon loads of honey 

 mixed, wdiich the bees industriously 

 worked over, and no trouble with robbing 

 occurred; in fact, if I have any broken 

 comb, sticky frames, or anything else 

 that I want cleaned up, bees are allowed 

 to do the work whether honey is coming 

 in or not, and with me full colonies worth 

 saving protect themselves from all robbers 

 that ever mass together and attack them, 

 and with no precaution taken except in 

 some cases to contract the entrances; 

 that is, after they have had their first 

 clean.sing flight in the spring. The only 

 actual tiouble and loss I have had on ac- 

 count of robbing has occurred when the 

 hives were first set out in the spring, 

 when the number of colonies wintered in 

 cellar is so large they can not be, or if 

 for any other reason they are not, all put 

 out the same day, there is danger, under 

 some conditions, of those set out first 

 robbing the ones put out later. 



Bees usually will not make much effort 

 to defend their hive from attack until 

 after they have had their first flight in 

 the spring, and by the time this is over 

 the robbers may be at work in some hives 

 in such force that there is apparently but 

 very little effort made afterwards to repel 

 them. 



An old idea, and one largely believed, 

 is that after bees have concentrated in 

 large numbers to secure any sweet that 

 may have been exposed, or when a queen- 

 less colony has been overcome and 

 cleaned out, the whole mass then, if noth- 

 itig better offers, throw themselves upon 

 some one colony, which even if a strong 

 one may not be able to repel them. This 

 is entirely erroneous, and it is well that 

 it is, for if they did make a determin- 

 ed attack en masse, half or more of the 

 colonies in a yard might be destroyed in 

 a short time, but the way they really do, 

 after whatever they have been at work 

 on is about gone, is to .scatter or divide 

 up and look for more. Single bees, and 

 in a few cases I have seen about a dozen, 

 attempt at nearly the same time to enter 

 some hive with an unusuallv large en- 

 trance, or one which does not seem to be 

 as well guarded as others; but if thev get 

 in at all they are soon dragged out again. 

 Meanwhile, the whole yard mav appear 



