TKEAIMENI OF SWABMS AND STOCKS. 



67 



gnarda within, who often in serious tussle, fall with the enemy from the 

 alighting board to the ground. So long as the colony ia energetic in its 

 defence, the danger ia slight ; unless, indeed, the besiegers gather in 

 considerable numbers, when they ahould be well sprinkled with water, and 

 the hive door reduced to about iin. square, giving ventilation above as 

 needed. If the assault continues, place a piece of tile on each side of the 

 entrance, and another piece over, forming a little bridge, and sprinkle or 

 sponge the front of the hive with carbolic acid and water. These 

 means, with a little watching, will rarely fail, but if the colony be very 

 weak, or has given up resistance before the discovery is made, it had better 

 be taken to a new locality, or it may be closed (ample provision being 

 made for ventilation), and placed for three or four days in a dark cellar, 

 and fed upon thin syrup. When returned to its stand, aid it as previously 

 directed, and in addition, lean a board against the hive front so as to con- 

 ceal the absolute mouth. It has been remarked, that bees are somewhat 

 like their masters, since, with them, a lapse into dishonest courses is 

 not often followed by a return to virtue, and that bad example in the few 

 tends to demoralize the many ; for many a beekeeper has had to lament 

 the loss of valuable stocks through his want of caution leading his pets 

 into temptation. 



Beehouses are not now used by our best apiarians. They make it 

 impossible to operate with one hive without disturbing the rest, which 

 sometimes starts robbing, 

 they bring the hives so 

 close together, thatyoung 

 queens returning from 

 their nuptial excursion 

 are likely to enter the 

 wrong aperture, to be at 

 once destroyed, while the 

 hive which owned them 

 dies out unless assisted, 

 and they much interfere 

 with some of "the best 

 methods of manipulating, 

 as a glance at "Artificial 

 Swarming" will show, 

 but some of orderly mind 

 would rather run a risk 

 than make the garden 



"untidy.'' Such may examine Kgs. 40 and 41, representing the frontj 

 and back of a bee house. Sir John Lubbock's experiments have demon- 

 strated, that bees have a perception of colour ; we may therefore minimize 

 one of the risks indicated above, by giving the entrance ways different 



Fio. 40. Bee Hocbe (Fboht). 



