FIFTY YEARS AMONG THE BEES 



227 



rather lose the object they are after by rapidly changing 

 the base of operation, (jne day at the \\'ilson apiary I 

 had taken off some wide frames of sections and wanted 

 to take them from the place where they were piled up, so 

 as to put them on the wagon. The robbers were so 

 fierce and persistent that it seemed impossible to open a 

 crack without their immediately forcing their way in. 

 My wife was provided with a smoker in full blast, and a 



Fig. 76. — Push-Board. 



big bunch of goldenrod or other weeds. A robber-cloth 

 covered the pile. With one hand I lifted the cloth and 

 with the other took out a frame of sections, then quickly 

 dropped the robber-cloth in its place, my wife keeping a 

 cloud of smoke in the way of any robbers which should 

 attempt to enter the pile while the cloth was raised. In- 

 stantly the frame was ort of the super, the robbers made 

 for the frame of sections. I made for the wagon and 

 my wife made for me. Running in a zig-zag. circuitous 



