144 



THE AMERICAN BEE-KEEPER 



August 



addition of hives or other objects, maybe 

 followed by bad results. While in a gen- 

 eral sense the full and free performance 

 of such work is not regarded as at all 

 hazardous, with direct reference to our 

 subject — Robbers — it should be borne in 

 mind that the less disturbanc<» about the 

 apiary the better when honey is nor 

 coming in from the field. 



If a weak or queenless colony is ob- 

 served to be troubled by robbers, the 

 entrance should be contracted to a 

 single bee-space. A handful of wt't 

 grass placed loosely over the entrance, 

 tends greatly to discourage the invading 

 force. If the robbers have not yet 

 gained control, a free sprinkling of 

 water upon the clusters trying to gain 

 entrance about different parts of the 

 hive, dampens their ardor as well as 

 their wings, very much to the advantage 

 of the defense. 



Many methods have been recommend- 

 ed for severe cases of robbing, such as 

 exchanging places with the two colonies 

 engaged; removing the hive attacked to 

 the cellar or some dark room; giving th<> 

 robbers restricted access to combs of 

 honey some distance from the apiary, 

 etc. Our observations will not warrant 

 approval of any method which adds to 

 the confusion or further incites the 

 bees' determination to obtain honey 

 from other than natural sources. 



When a case of robbing has reached 

 that advanced stage by which it is en- 

 abled to rush in and out of the hive 

 unmolested, we think it the wiser plan 

 to permit them to compleletheir plunder- 

 ing work, and when they have finished 

 and the confusion has subsided, turn 

 over to tlu'in also the combs and brcod. 

 if any. By so doing other weak colonies 

 are not nearly so liable to be attacked. 



Bill — "They say there is a good di-ai 

 to be learned from the busy bee." 



Jill — "So there is; but, as a rule, 

 people are not anxious to take points 

 from them." — Yonkcrs SUitcsman. 



WINTER PROTECTION. 



Instances where it was Lacking — A 

 Method of Securing Covers. 



TALKING about winter protection, 

 it appears to be a difficult problem 

 to determine just exactly what is 

 till' bt'st means of bringing colonies 

 through the cold weather in good con- 

 dition. What seems to suit one locality 

 is unsuitabk^ for another. As an in- 

 stance, a neighbor had two colonies of 

 hybrids which were placed on a winter 

 stand a year ago, and were given the 

 protection of a house which was open 

 toward the southward. When the bliz- j 

 zard of P\'bruary last struck this neigh- 

 borhood, over went house, bees and all, 

 and there they laid until Spring. The 

 covers were off, and the snow beat In 

 and covered everything up. Every one 

 expected to see the colonies frozen stiff' 

 and dead. Quite the contrary; they 

 survived apparently uninjured and the 

 way they threw off swarms in May and 

 June was enough to set the youthful 

 owner wild, and at the end of the season 

 there was quite a nice lot of surplus to 

 Vit> sold. 



Here's another instance : In the same 

 storm. Mrs. E. A. Starr, a well-known 

 Philadelphia newspaper writer, who has 

 an apiary in South Jersey, learned that 

 the covers had blown off several of her 

 hives. She had no chance to visit the 

 place for several weeks and expected 

 when she was able to pay a visit to the 

 farm to find all her bees frozen to death. 

 She was agreeably surprised, however, 

 to discover that the little workers who 

 had had the roof blown off their homes, 

 wiu'e none the worse for their rough 

 experience, although the only protection 

 they had had against zero blasts were 

 the newspapers which their owner had 

 tucked across the top of the frames 

 tinder the covers at the advent of 

 winter. 



In placing tlic supers containing cover 

 on my own seven colonies at the begin- 

 ning of the present winter, I took the 



