THE AMERICAN BEE JOURNAL AND GAZETTE. 



143 



attacks of robbers be detected, their evil designs 

 may be readily frustrated. 



The means or processes to be adopted to tliis 

 end are the following : 



1. If we perceive that individual workers 

 enter aud leave a hive without appearing to at- 

 tract the attention of the inmates, the latter 

 should be roused and excited by breathing into 

 the entrance, or by running a feather into it, or 

 by rubbing it with a branch or twig of nettles. 

 Tiiey will then speedily detect the intruders and 

 exclude them. This commonly suffices to pre- 

 vent further attempts, if these occur at a time 

 when pasturage abounds, provided the hive is 

 not queeuless. If it be queenless, it must at 

 once be removed from the apiarj', for it is far 

 better to approjiriate the contents of sU'"h a 

 colony, than to waste time in repelling 

 attacks. 



2. If those means should not suffice, or the 

 robbing have been discovered only at an ad- 

 vanced stage, the entrance or mouth of the hive 

 should at once be masked. For this purpose 

 make a mixture of potter's clay, chaff, and soot, 

 forming a mass of about three inches diameter. 

 Insert in the mouth of the hive a rod three- 

 fourths of an inch in diameter, laying it on a 

 level with the bottom-bi^ard. Then press the 

 prepared mass of clay over it, so as to close the 

 entrance of the hive, leaving nnly a passage- 

 way through the channel under the clay when 

 the rod is withdrawn, so contracted at its outlet 

 as to admit only two bees to pass at a time. 

 Provision is thus made for the ventilation of 

 the hive, and by the changed appearance of 

 matters the robbers will be deterred from enter- 

 ing. 



if at evening the attacks have not ceased, or 

 very sensibly diminished, the hive or hives 

 should be carried into a cool chamber or cellar, 

 and left to remain there till next day. Next 

 morning place an empty hive resembling in 

 Bhape and color the removed one on the stand 

 of the latter. If the robl>ers return in force, 

 they may be dispersed or driven off by smoke, 

 and towards evening the removed hive may be 

 replaced on its former stand. If the attack bo 

 renewed next day, the same procedure must be 

 re-adopted; but assaults will rarely be renewed 

 on the second day, unless the hive be queen- 

 less, when its re-establishment should not be 

 attempted. By this means we have frequently 

 baffled and defeated very violent and determ- 

 ined attacks. The robbers are greatly discon- 

 certed by the blackened mass of clay, whilst the 

 native bees seem not to regard it, but are 

 enabled to defend themselves more successfully 

 by means of the advantage secured to them. 



Many bee-keepers reeomm(;nd that the at- 

 tacked colony should be transposed with the 

 attacking one. But not unfrequently the latter 

 cannot be discovered or is not accessible, and 

 the process is not always efficient, at times doing 

 injury instead of saving the colony. A much 

 better plan is to arrange with the owner of the 

 assailing colony to confine the bees on alternate 

 days. If the former have a cpieen, and pastur- 

 age be not entirely wanting, the robbing colony 

 will usually cease making hostile demonstrations 

 In a Aveek or ten days. 



But how is the ass liling colony to be dis- 

 covered ? Bestrew the departing robbers with 

 meal or pulverized chalk, aud have observers 

 stationed at the neighboring apiaries to ascer- 

 tain where the bees thus marked enter. Or 

 catch a number of the robbers and confine them 

 in a narrow-necked l)o'ttle. Carry them to a 

 distance from your apiary, and liberate a few. 

 After describing a few circles in the air, these 

 Avill lly in a direct line to their hive. Following 

 some distance in the course thus ascertained, 

 liberate a few more, and watch in what 

 direction they fly. Repeat this till the liberated 

 bees either turn to one side or fly to the rear. 

 Now repair to the nearest apiary in the quarter 

 indicated, liberate a few more bees, and these 

 will enter the hive to which they belong. 



Worse than useless, nay, frequently highly 

 injurious, is the plan adopted and recommended 

 by some, of covering the robbed hive with a 

 sheet, and using smoke in front of its stand to 

 scare away the robbers. These, intent on ag- 

 gressive acts, disregard the smoke, which serves 

 the more effectually to annoy the bees at liome 

 there; and both parties thus acquiring the same 

 odor from common exposure to the smoke, the 

 assailants are no longer Iietrayed by th'.' peculiar 

 odor derived from their own hive, and are thus 

 enabled to prosecute their nefarious designs to 

 greater advantage and without detection. 



For the American Bee Gazette. 



I have received great pleasure from the 

 perusal of the American Bee Journal, and 

 am heartily glad you have decided to continue 

 its publication. I consider myself fortunate in 

 possessing tlio first volume, which I have well 

 bound, and would not part with it from my 

 library for many times its cost. The informa- 

 tion which you gather and dis.seminate in the 

 monthly issues of the JouuNxVL is worth to any 

 intelligent bee-keeper, and to those at all 

 interested in the rural economy and progress of 

 our country, more than its subscription price, 

 aud I am sure the seventy -thousand bee-keepers 

 in our country will not allow it to suffer for 

 want of patronage. 



Knowing my position, my dear sir, you can 

 form some idea of my duties, but I turn from 

 them long enough to write jon a word of con- 

 gratulation and encouragement, and to assure 

 you that I shall lose no opportunity of urging 

 the claims of your most valuable publication 

 upon the attention of our readers. 



The past season has been a very unfavorable 

 one for bee-keepers in this State. The abund- 

 ance of v.'et weather throughout the best part of 

 the year for storing honey, rendered it impos- 

 sible for the bees to secure the necessary amount 

 demanded for their own winter needs, to say 

 nothing of a surplus. I am told b}- bee-keepers 

 that a hirge number of swarms have not honey 

 enough to carry them through the winter, and 

 what is stored is of very poor quality. 



I am not engaged in keeping b(;es, and am 

 interested in agriculture only, as I am interested 

 in whatever relates to any branch of rural in- 

 dnUry practiced by our countrymen. 



Sincerely j'ours, S. L. B. 



Augusta, Me., Dec, 1866. 



