1895. 



THE AMERICAN BEE-KEEPER. 



239 



honey I can sell for two cents a 

 pound more than from any apiary of 

 blacks, as it is capped so white and 

 sections are so perfectly filled. The 

 yellow bee fad is passing ; the shallow 

 frame also. In time we will have just 

 what we need in bee keeping, but it 

 takes some patience to wait. Great 

 care must be taken this fall to see 

 that the colonies have stores enough, 

 for it is surely a year of famine for 

 the honey bees. I speak of our local- 

 ity, for very little if any surplus hon- 

 ey has been gathered this season. 

 Sherburne, N. Y. 



Notes From Experience— Facts 



Not Theory From a 15 



Years Test. 



BY H. a. OSBORNE. 



I have often seen much in the Bee 

 Journals about robbing, so I thought 

 perhaps our plan might be of help 

 to some beginner, or even to some 

 who have been in the business a long 

 time, so I will explain it. Robbing 

 is by no means a very pleasant thing 

 to deal with, for after a short time it 

 is very hard to control and should al- 

 ways be attended to as soon as dis- 

 covered ; for even if a colony sue 

 ceeds in winning the battle it is sel- 

 dom good for anything afterwards, as 

 almost always they lose their queen ; 

 of course if they don't lose the queen 

 they soon recover. 



If they are robbing very bafl so 

 that the owners of the hive can't keep 

 the robbers out — and this you can tell 

 by closely watching the entrance; if 

 you see a good many loaded bees 

 rushing out and after flying off mark 

 the spot, you may be sure they are 

 robbers, — so close the entrance to two 

 inches (never smaller), fur if they 



can't defend this they can't a smaller 

 entrance, for when contracted to so 

 small a space the bees of the hive be- 

 come as much excited as the robbers 

 and don't fight at all. Watch them 

 for a while, and if the bees ball up 

 in the entrance then the robbers have 

 the field. I have saved as bad cases 

 of robbing as could be found in this 

 way: close the entrance tightly, take 

 off the cover from the hive and put 

 on a wire cloth cover, be sure that it 

 is tight all around ; now you can leave 

 them for half an hour, not longer for 

 the hive is probably full of bees. At 

 the end of this time open full the en- 

 trance and release the eager crowd of 

 robbers, who are always waiting. 

 When all are out that will come out, 

 quickly close it again and leave it 

 closed for several hours, unless there 

 are still a good many robbers left ; if 

 so, they should be released again. 

 Hardly any but the robbers will come 

 out, and the bees belonging to the 

 hive that do go out will come back 

 after a short time. If the day is not 

 too hot keep them confined until they 

 can just see to fly, then release them 

 and close the entrance balf, for all the 

 liberated thieves will return in force 

 with the morning. If care and pains 

 are taken the colony will lose but very 

 few bees, and if they don't lose their 

 queen you will hardly see any differ- 

 ence in them after a few days. 



WHKN TO PUT ox SECTIONS, AND HOW TO 

 GET THE BEES TO WORK IN THEM. 



1 see in the " American Bee Keep- 

 er " for May the question, " 'When to 

 put on sections." Of course this is all 

 easy enough for experienced men to 

 tell, but the beginner is not posted on 

 the signs that denote prosperity in a 

 swarm, and he cannot tell at a glance 



