1894. 



THE AMERICAN BEE-KEEPER. 



151 



honey for our bees to winter on. 

 Those that do not have the advantage 

 of a fall flow, or only have a light 

 flow, should now commence feeding 

 for winter, so the bees will be in good 

 shape in time for the cold winter. 

 Here our bees obtain honey until frost, 

 which is usually the last of September. 

 Even after frost we get some honey 

 from asters, etc., but this does not 

 amount to much. 



Steeleville, 111., Sept. 13, 1894. 



Editor American Bee-Keeper — 

 Dear Sir : — Your catalogue of bee- 

 keeping supplies came to hand some 

 time ago, and I thank you for it. 



I admire your new comb guide very 

 much. Had I not already ordered my 

 frames elsewhere would have ordered 

 your new style. 



We had warm weather here in 

 March. Thermometer was up to 80° 

 in the shade. The bees were storing 

 large quantities of honey but we had 

 a cold snap which put a sudden end 

 to it. The thermometer went down 

 to within 12° of zero. Pears, apples, 

 and also peaches froze and the bee 

 pasturage was very short. 



If bees cannot find flowers from 

 which to gather honey they are apt to 

 steal from each other. Therefore the 

 beginner should be on the lookout. 

 He should contract the entrances ac- 

 cording to the strength of the colony. 

 This is mostly sufficient for ordinary 

 robbing, but the beginner will fre- 



quently find cases of robbing more 

 difficult to manage. I have had cases 

 of robbing where the colony that was 

 being robbed did not make the least 

 effort to avoid and keep out the rob- 

 bers, but would let them pass in and 

 out as if they did not know that the 

 robbers were not of their own family 

 This kind of robbing is by far the 

 most difficult of any to stop. I will 

 give my way of treatment of such 

 cases. 



Two years ago I had just such a 

 case and I opened the hive that was 

 robbed, took out a few frames of comb, 

 brushed off the bees and set them to 

 one side. Then I opened the robbers 

 hive, took a few frames of comb, bees 

 and all, and put it in the hive that 

 was robbed and replaced the vacancy 

 with the frames taken out of the rob- 

 bed hive. This completed the job 

 satisfactorily. 



Last summer I had a colony whose 

 queen was lost and was attacked by 

 another stronger colony. Before I 

 knew it they had made such headway 

 that in a few hours they would have 

 had the weaker colony cleaned out, 

 had I not found it out just as I did. 

 Just like the above colony I spoke of 

 they did not seem to notice the rob- 

 bers any more than if they all belong- 

 ed to the same colony. Now here the 

 beginner might be at a loss, not know- 

 ing that there is robbing going on, 

 until one colony is cleaned out, as no 

 righting can be noticed. The unusual 

 strong flying at such a colony is the 

 first indication of robbing. The next 

 is that bees will be noticed coming out 

 loaded, and they will crawl up the 

 front of the hive, then start off circling 

 apparently, so as to locate the hive so 



