American Bee Journal. 



EDITED AND PUBLISHED BY SAMUEL WAGNER, WASHINGTON, D. C. 



AT TWO DOLLARS PER ANNUM, PAYABLE IN ADVANCE. 



Vol. IV. 



OCTOBER, 18G8. 



No. 4. 



[From the Bienenzeitung. 



Practical Bee-Culture. 



TO PREVENT OR ARREST ROBBING. 



As regards robbing, I am unfavorably situa- 

 ted in the spring. At the end of March, or the 

 beginning of April, according to the season, a 

 migratory bee-keeper arrives here with his stock 

 of bees, consisting of from eighty to a hundred 

 hives, and takes position on area within gun- 

 shot of the front of my apiary. His bees, in 

 flying, usually pass directly over my hives, es- 

 pecially on the best and busiest days, and rob- 

 bing of courso is the regular result. Happily 

 he only remains here while the fruit trees are 

 in blossom ; and then removes his stock eight 

 or ten mile? further south. In fine weather his 

 bees announce themselves as desperate brigands, 

 immediately after his arrival, and I used to find 

 it exceedingly difficult to s-ive or rescue my 

 common bees from their attacks. But this is 

 not so any longer. I never felt any concern 

 for my Italians, as they thoroughly understand 

 the art of repelling assailants, and it is quite 

 amusing to see how promptly and energetically 

 they heat off the robbers that venture to ap- 

 proach their quarters But my common bees 

 are not so well versed in the science of self-de- 

 fence, and need assistance when attacked — 

 which I can now easily give them, by the ap- 

 plication of very simple means. No sooner do 

 these brigands make their appearance at my 

 straw hives, than I insert in each two iron or 

 wooden pins about an inch below the entrance; 

 on which I lay a thin strip of board about three 

 inches broad, and of a length corresponding 

 with that of the entrance. On this I set edge- 

 wise a piece of clear window glass four inches 

 square, leaning its upper edge against the hive. 

 If the bees are in box hives, this preparatory ar- 

 rangement is not required, as the glass can be set 

 on the alighting board, directly before the en- 

 trance and leaning against the hive, as above. 

 The inmates of the hive quickly learn to find 

 their way in and out, around the side edges of 

 this glass, but the robbers, which always first 

 hover around the entrance, watching for an 

 opportunity to slip in unobserved, are thus non- 



plussed. They are now compelled to make 

 their attempts to enter directly in the face of 

 sentinels standing ready to seize them. Even 

 though, now and then, one succeeds in making 

 his way in, gorges himself hastily with forbid- 

 den sweets, and hurries out, robber fashion, to 

 leave for home, he finds that he has made a 

 miscalculation and dashes head foremost against 

 the obstructing glass. Disappointed and con- 

 fused, his actions betray his conscious guilt, and 

 he rarely fails of being seized and so hustled 

 about, that if he escapes with life, he feels 

 small disposition to return and run the gaunt- 

 let again. 



1 once thus protected and saved a queenless 

 colony to the 16th of May, awaiting the arrival 

 of an Italian queen ordered from Professor 

 Mona. By this means, too, my small nucleus 

 hives, used for queen-raising later in the sea- 

 sou, are effectually secured against robbers. I 

 have found it efficient, likewise, in cases where 

 the attacked colony was already so far over- 

 come that only feeble resistance was still made. 

 By contracting the entrance somewhat, and 

 adjusting the glass, the assailants were at once 

 disconcerted, the courage of the assailed revi- 

 ved, and the trouble was ended. 



Weak swarms, and colonies suspected of be- 

 ing queenless, may, in this way, be protected 

 in advance. The bees soon become accustomed 

 to the arrangement, and the bee-keeper saves 

 time and is spared much vexation. 



Gravenhorst. 



To Prevent Drone Comb Building. 



In a late number of the Hanover Centralblatt, 

 Mr. Bruno says : — "It must be conceded that 

 we are not yet in possession of any infallible 

 method of preventing bees from building drone 

 comb, and are hence perpetually constrained to 

 resort to the knife for pruning it awav, so long as 

 it pleases the workers to build drone comb in 

 preference." Now, for the benefit of such bee- 

 keepers as are still thus annoyed, without 

 knowing of an adequate remedy, permit me to 

 communicate the following : A colony of bees 

 having a normal fertile queen will build worker 

 combs exclusively, if reduced to the condition 



