THE BEE-KEEPERS' REVIEW 



211 



who is truly sincere in that for which 

 they contend have that within them to 

 sustain something which can never be 

 overshadowed by reverses or temporary 

 defeat. Any right-thinking person will 

 have more respect for an opponent who 

 sees wrongly but believes he stands for 

 principle, than for those who support him, 

 thinking he is wrong, and who sell their 

 integrity for friendship, policy or ex- 

 pediency. 



In the extracting of honey, the methods 

 pursued by me are mostly my own 

 thought and planning; yet I have been 

 very fortunate in my help, and we are 

 always ready to give weight to an idea 

 from the most inexperienced; and I 

 believe this atmosphere has brought the 

 best out of each in most instances. 

 Necessity is the mother of invention, and 

 again and again I have been placed in 

 that position where I have been com- 

 pelled to invent to overcome a difficulty; 

 and, today, while, no doubt, there are 

 those who have individual ideas which 

 would be of great value to me, yet, 

 rightly or wrongly, I have the strong 

 conviction that I would not care to change 

 my system for the system of very many. 



THE INFLUENCE OF THE WEATHER IN AVOIDING 

 TROUBLE FROM ROBBERS. 



Where I can extract in a bee-tight 

 place, I want, during robbing-time, when 

 carrying out that work, to close the doors 

 and windows so the air, laden with the 

 aroma of sweet, cannot escape to excite 

 the bees outside. A wire screen door 

 to a bee house is a poor affair in robbing- 

 time; it tends to keep the bees in the 

 very place, where, as one goes in and 

 out, they can at times gain access. Dur- 

 ing extracting I prefer to have the wind 

 blow away from the apiary, not from the 

 bee house to the apiary. When there is 

 danger from robbing, the bees will give 

 very much less trouble with a high wind 

 than when the weather is calm. They do 

 not follow the scent so well. Cloudy 

 days are to be preferred to bright sun- 

 shine; and, of course, a day so cool that 

 the bees are not readily induced to 



fly is ideal, as far as the prevention of 

 robbing is concerned; and, when other 

 matters are rightly managed, is not bad 

 weather for extracting. 



Owing to the practice of migratory 

 bee keeping, it has been impossible for 

 me to always have bee-tight places in 

 which to extract; and places where I, at 

 one time, would not have attempted to 

 extract in robbing time, are now tackled 

 by me with at least a measure of confi- 

 dence. I fully realize the great need of 

 the utmost care, and in our extracting, 

 especially that feature of it relating to 

 robbing, I lay down for every helper an 

 absolute rule which they know, and 

 which I constantly watch, that it shall not 

 be violated. In my experience with many 

 bee keepers, few there are, unless having 

 had long experience, who would, of 

 themselves, be careful enough, and 

 vigilant enough, and thoughtful enough, 

 to conform to these laws; and when I 

 say I am surprised that the Hutchinsons 

 can be satisfied with the bee escape it 

 is in view of the fact that, in my estima- 

 tion, they are men who could carry to a 

 successful issue, extracting without the 

 bee-escape. 



CIRCUMVENTING ROBBERS WHEN THE BUILD- 

 ING IS NOT BEE-TIGHT. 



Our method of procedure is to endeavor 

 to get a bee-tight place to extract in, 

 then we try to extract while there is 

 still some honey coming in. Last year 

 we took out, in six days, not full days, 

 either, for it included twice moving, 

 some 24,000 pounds of white honey. If 

 we cannot obtain such a place, we will 

 use a barn; even one quite open to bees. 

 We have found, by accident, if there is 

 an open space where the light comes in 

 much more conspicuously than from other 

 parts, that robber bees, no matter where 

 they enter, will fly to that opening; and, 

 if is covered with mosquito netting, 

 fastened in the shape of a depression 

 projecting outward, the bees will be 

 trapped there, as they want to fly out, 

 being drawn toward the light and re- 



