176 THE PRACTICAL BBB GUIDB. 



out ; a loud buzzing is kept up without intermission : and, 

 on the alighting- board an angry fight is carried on between 

 the robbers and the defenders of the hive ; bees will be seen 

 struggling together and rolling in couples to the ground, where 

 one or both of them will show signs of having been injured, 

 and where, if the fight has been fast and furious, many dead 

 will have already fallen. 



310. Treatment. — When robbing has commenced, it must be 

 dealt with at once, or the whole apiary may be thrown into 

 confusion. The first thing to do is to close, to one bee-space, 

 the entrance of the hive that is being attacked; thus giving 

 the defenders an advantage by making the enemy advance in 

 single file. If the attack continues, one or more of the follow- 

 ing remedies should be applied : — Place a handful of wet hay 

 at the entrance, so that, while the bees of the hive will force 

 their way through, the process may be too slow for robbers. 

 Arrange on the alighting board two pieces of i" wood, 

 half an inch apart, and with a lath, or slate on top ; so 

 that, to come and go, bees must pass through a dark passage, 

 which is very discouraging to robbers. Saturate a cloth with 

 carbolic solution {Recipe 362), and spread it on the alighting 

 board right up to the entrance, sprinkling it afresh as 

 required. Add a little carbolic to a large pail of water, and, 

 with a syringe or a watering pot, drench the robbers as they 

 fiy in front of the hive. Set up a piece of glass an inch from 

 the entrance, and sloping from the alighting board to the hive 

 front, so that the difl&culty to stranger bees of finding an 

 entrance, may be increased. If none of the remedies 

 described proves effectual, close the hive entirely until the 

 evening, opening the doors to full width, covering the entrance 

 with perforated zinc, and taking care to give all the ventilation 

 required (218). It may even become necessary to remove the 

 molested hive from the apiary altogether until the danger is 

 over. When the robbing is being carried on by the bees of 

 only one hive, some apiarists deal with it by flouring the bees 

 as they leave the attacked hive, thus discovering the colony 

 from which the robbers come ; after which they transfer the 

 hive of the robbers to the stand of the robbed, and vice vena, 

 until the mischief ceases. 



" In Germany, when colonies in common hives are being robbed, 

 they are often removed to a distant location, or put in a dark cellar. 

 A hive, similar in appearance, is placed on their stand, and leaves 

 of wormwood and the expressed juice of the plant are put on the 

 bottom board. Bees have such an antipathy to the odour of this 

 plant, that the robbers speedily forsake the place, and the assailed 

 colony may then be brought back. The Rev. Mr. Klein says, that 



