132 



THE AMERICAN BEE-KEEPER. 



[July. 



When a hornet returned it attacked a 

 bee in rough and tumble manner and 

 other hornets soon joined in and 

 pounced on both bees as soon as they 

 came. They clipped off legs, wings, 

 heads and stings and then cut the 

 bees up and carried them home (as a 

 substitute for pollen), leaving the dish 

 well strewn with gore. 



When the hornets returned they ex- 

 amined the honey bees as usual and 

 then began to load up with honey. 

 As the other honey bees returned they 

 began to smell about the plate in a 

 suspicious manner. Suspicions in- 

 creased rapidly into threatening move- 

 ments. The more they saw the hor- 

 nets the more exasperated they acted. 

 They refused to load up until the hor- 

 nets had been driven off the dish. 

 They 'became anxious to fight and the 

 hornets were attacked if they ventured 

 to touch the honey. Toward fall hor- 

 nets always begin their work of rob- 

 bery and depredation about the hives, 

 butchering every crippled bee they 

 catch out alone. Good Italians no- 

 tice this and will not allow them about 

 the entrances and will follow and at- 

 tack them on the ground. They are 

 more than a match for a hornet when 

 they go out for "game." In the above 

 case I believe they would not load up 

 until the hornets were away for fear 

 of being killed. 



Case No. 2. — I said that the brood 

 was chilled. It was not so much be- 

 cause of the cold weather as because 

 it was difficult to get much hatching 

 brood in a comb at that season, as 

 there was not much breeding going 

 on and I was obliged to use more 

 combs to get the requisite amount. 



When the nuclei were set out of 

 doors robbers poured into the hive 

 containing the chilled brood but none 

 of the other nucleus hives. I looked 

 into the hive to see how the robbers 

 were treated. There was not the least 

 bit of fighting and the robbers were 

 helping themselves to the cells of 

 honey even in amongst the cluster of 

 young bees. The hive was returned 

 to the house again. The next day it 

 was again set out of doors. I left 

 the vicinity for about thirty minutes 

 and when I returned there were about 

 200 robbers getting busy. This time 

 when I looked in the young bees were 

 running here and there in a frantic 

 manner and grabbing and pulling at 



every robber they could reach. The 

 robbers seemed to pay but little at- 

 tention to the young bees but nosed 

 along until they got a cell of honey 

 w'here they continued to load up often 

 with two or three young bees endeav- 

 oring to pull them away. The bees of 

 the hive were whitish yet and could 

 not make much resistance. 



Now I believe the reason they did 

 not fight on the first day was because 

 they did not know what robbing was, 

 but after the first fracas and they 

 made the discovery that their honey 

 had been daubed about rnd cells low- 

 ered and films disordered, they be- 

 gan to get "learning." "Education." 



Robbers were bound i."' get at those 

 combs containing chilled brood so 

 they were exchanged for fresh combs 

 of brood. This imn v. lately ended 

 robbing in that hive. [ placed one of 

 these combs in the iipjer story of 

 each of three other co oi ies. Robbers 

 continued for days t'' -mell and pull 

 at the cracks betwee'i the covers and 

 supers of each co'my where the 

 combs of chilled bmol were put in. 

 And the hives and -iipers were very 

 close fitting. But vo robbers went 

 near the entrance. \'o robbers went 

 on the side where tl e entrance was. 

 Each colony had a thrifty young 

 queen, I attribute as tlic cause of this. 

 If the bees of the hive saw robbers 

 they were obliged to come out and 

 look on the rear of their hive. The 

 entrance consisted of a single one-inch 

 auger hole. In less than a week each 

 colony closed the entrance with pro- 

 polis so that only one bee at a time 

 could pass. The propolis was put on 

 in the shape of a cone with the small 

 end turned toward the inside of the 

 hive. No other colony in the apiary 

 has contrived any such barrier al- 

 though about 200 colonies have three 

 inch-holes wide open. . There is some 

 philosophy in the shape of the cones 

 and all of the three colonies philos- 

 ophised alike. The cones provided the 

 widest range of vision combined with 

 the greatest protection to an individ- 

 ual bee standing in the opening. A 

 robber could be seen as it traversed 

 the length of the cone. It was like a 

 man poking a gun over a parapet. It 

 reminded me of General Jackson at 

 New Orleans. 



They were obliged to come out of 

 the hive and go around it in order to 



