90."). 



THE AMERICAN BEE-KEEPER. 



225 



ipiary during the night and played 

 nischief with it. 



Hives were found open and frames 

 Were lying about on the ground with 

 :;he combs cut out. E. M. scratched 

 liis head, thought a bit, straightened 

 3ut things and reported to the police. 

 ^. week after and the same thing oc- 

 ;urred again. Another report to the 

 police, the thieves remaining, of 

 :ourse, undiscovered. 



E. M. now resolved to set a watch 

 for he reasoned that if the thieves 

 were never caught he would have to 

 go out of the bee business. A watch 

 was accordingly set, two men living 

 near the apiary being selected for the 

 task. For a whole week the watch 

 had nothing to report, and E. M. was 

 ibepinning to fear that the nightly vis- 

 itors had in some way got to know 

 of what he was up to; but one morn- 

 ing soon after, at 4:30, there was a 

 hue and cry that some one was want- 

 ed by the police. The watch reported 

 as follows: 



They had remained at their post un- 

 til 4 o'clock when the first streaks of 

 daylight were seen in the East, then 

 retired for an hour's sleep. One of the 

 men no sooner reached his house than 

 he heard the sharp cracking noise 

 usually made by an excelsior cover 

 well fastened with propolis to a 10- 

 frame hive. He mentioned the fact 

 to his friend and they two returned to 

 the apiary in time to find the thieves 

 at work. The plunderers took to their 

 heels, but not before they had been 

 recognized by the watch. The police 

 was at once informed of what had 

 happened and they proceeded to ar- 

 rest the guilty parties, who were taken 

 to the apiary followed by all the rag, 

 tag and bob tail of the village. 



It was now broad daylight^ and the 

 delicious smell of new honey was 

 being wafted on the morning breeze 

 from the open cotony. This proved 

 too great a temptation for the neigh- 

 boring colonies and soon there was 

 a free fight going on. The plundered 

 colony was up in arms and determined 

 at all costs to repel invaders. E. M. 

 w'ondered why the police had brought 

 the thieves to the apiary and sudden- 

 ly a thought occurred to him. Going 

 up to the sergeant he suggested that 

 as the culprits had themselves un- 

 covered the colony they should now 

 be made to cover it again. The ser- 

 geant agreed, and the thieves were or- 

 dered at once to go and put on the 



cover. Now came the awful moment 

 for the poor wretches. Most gingerly 

 they approached the infuriated colony, 

 and right royally were they received 

 by the angry Italians. The bees flew 

 at them from all sides, the men threw 

 themselves on the ground and rolled 

 over and over again, screaming for 

 mercy. There were bees everywhere 

 — bees up their pants, under their 

 shirts, in their mouth, ears, nose and 

 eyes. Bees to the right of them, bees 

 to the left of them, bees, bees every- 

 where, stinging as only angry bees 

 can. 



To save the lives of the poor devils, 

 E. M. suggested that they be allowed 

 to leave the apiary while he attended 

 to the covering of the hive himself. 

 Scores of other people got stung also, 

 and E. M. says that it is now his opin- 

 ion that after the object lesson they 

 have had no one will again attempt to 

 rob his apiary. 



Cape Haitien, Haiti, Sept. 5, IQOS- 



BEES REMOVING EGGS. 



Estero. Fla., Oct. 1, 1905. 

 Editor Bee-Keeper: 



Anent M. Hulot',s opinion (referring 

 to item in the January, last, i^sne of 

 yoiu* valued periodical,) I have been 

 handling bees but a few^ weeks during- 

 thi-^, my first season at it when, after 

 several examinations it seemed that 

 one colony had been queenless and 

 eggs for a period of several days. 

 A bit of comb with eggs was placed 

 on the bottom bar of a brood comb 

 frame, and about three days later it 

 was found tbat the egg^s had been 

 removed from it, while midway up on 

 another comb one move and re-move 

 nearer to the center of the brood nest 

 were two completed queen cells — ^still 

 the only indication of anything in the 

 line of queen or eggs. 



Might not experiments made under 

 condition* similar to the above estab- 

 lish the facts in the matter although 

 they had previously proven elusive 

 to the efforts of even "long and care- 

 ful Avatchfulness?" 



W. F. McCready. 



Experiments and research are com- 

 mendable, for through these must come 

 a large proportion of our apiarian 

 knowledge. In the instance cited by 

 our correspondent, however, evidence 

 seems conclusive, that the completed 



