FIFTY YEARS AMONG THE BEE5 



219 



LEAVING SOMETHING FOR ROBBERS. 



A practice that is jnst as far from right as the 

 theory about which we have been talking is the practice 

 of taking away whatever the robbers are working upon, 

 without leaving anything in its place. If by carelessness 

 I have left a section of honey on a hive, and find the 

 robbers at work upon it, I can hardly do a worse thing 

 than to take it away. 



If I leave it, the bees will stick to it, and clean it out, 

 and for some time a number of robbers will stick to it 



Fig. 72. — y^o. 12 Closed for Hauling. 



after the honey is all gone, but they stick to that one 

 spot, and if the empty comb is left there, they keep hunt- 

 ing it all over and over, and by and by conclude the 

 honey is all used out of it and go about their business. 

 If the section is taken away and nothing left in its place, 

 they seem to think they have made a mistake as to the 

 place and hunt all around for the missing section, until 

 they force their way into the nearest conquerable colony. 



