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DR. MILLER S 



Q. This last summer, after the honey-flow was over, I noticed 

 a lot of robber bees prowling around, and every now and then one 

 would manage to slip past the guards and steal a load of honey. 

 Finally they overpowered one and came very near robbing it be- 

 fore I got them stopped, and I got them perfectly quiet at one 

 time and contracted the entrances to all the colonies. In a few 

 days ther^ came a little rain, and after it cleared up they started 

 to prowling around again, and kept it up until cold weather, but 

 they were worse after a rain or damp spell than at any other 

 time. Is that their natural way of doing, or should they keep 

 quiet during a dearth of honey, and would it have resulted in a 

 general case of robbing if I hadn't contracted the entrance? 



A. It is a common thing for bees to prowl about and try all 

 crevices of hives at any time \\hen gathering has stopped, and 

 after a rain, and it is quite possible that your narrowing the en- 

 trances may have prevented a bad case of robbing. 



Rocky Mountain Bee Plant. — Q. Please give a description of 

 cleome. If planted in the spring, will it flower during the sum- 

 mer? What soil is best for it? Is it an annual? What time in 

 the year should it be planted? 



A. Cleome integrifolia, or Rocky Alountain ^beeplant, grows 

 wild in some parts of the AVest in large quantities, and is an ex- 

 cellent honey-plant. Some years ago it had quite a boom, and 

 seed was planted largely. But it is doubtful that anyone who 

 sowed seed ever got back the cost of the seed. A. I. Root found it 

 inferior to its near relative, the spider plant, although neither 

 was worth cultivating. It is doubtful that it is worth while for 

 you to try it if it does not grow wild with you. It should be sown 

 in spring; is an annual, so blooms the first year. I don't know 

 what soil suits it best. I know it does well here in good garden 

 soil; but the acres of it I saw out West were grownig wild on 

 land that looked to me poor. 



Roofins Paper. — (J. Please discuss the advantages and disad- 

 vantages of roofing paper, such as "Ruberoid," as a wrapping 

 paper for the winter protection of bees. 



A. I don't know enough about "Ruberoid" to discuss it fully, 

 yet if you mean to use it to wrap about the hives in winter, I 

 should think it altogether too heavy, if it is the same material 

 that is used for roofing. It has the advantage of durability, and 

 for covering over the top is no doubt excellent. But its heaviness, 

 and especially its stiffness, would make it unfit to wrap about a 

 hive to be tied on. The lighter tarred building paper is better for 

 that, and less expensive. But I am not speaking from experience, 

 as I winter bees in the cellar, where nothing of the kind is needed. 



