310 THE BEE keeper's MANUAL. 



a pitched battle. The well-armed warriors sally out by 

 thousands, to attack the feeble hive against which they have 

 so unjustly declared a remorseless warfare. A furious onset 

 is at once made, and the ground in front of the assaulted 

 hive is soon covered with the dead and dying bodies of in- 

 numerable victims. Sometimes the baffled invaders are 

 compelled to sound a retreat ; too often however, as in hu- 

 man contests, right proves but a feeble barrier against supe- 

 rior might; the citadel is stormed, and the work of rapine 

 and pillage forthwith begins. And yet after all, matters are 

 not nearly so bad, as at first they seem to be. The con- 

 quered bees, perceiving that there is no hope for them in 

 maintaining the unequal struggle, submit themselves to the 

 pleasure of the victors ; nay more, they aid them in carry- 

 ing off their own stores, and are immediately incorporated 

 into the triumphant nation ! The poor mother howev-er, is 

 left behind in her deserted home, some few of her children 

 which are faithful to the last, remaining with her, to perish 

 by her side, amid the sad ruins of their once happy home ! 



If the bee-keeper is unwilling to have his bees so demor- 

 alized, that their value will be seriously diminished, he will 

 be exceedingly careful to do all that he possibly can to prevent 

 them from robbing each other. He will see that all queen- 

 less colonies are seasonably broken up in the Spring, and all 

 weak ones strengthened, and confined to a space which they 

 can warm and defend. If once his bees get a taste of for- 

 bidden sweets, they will seldom stop until they have tested 

 the strength of every stock, and destroyed all that they pos- 

 sibly can. Even if the colonies are able to defend .them- 

 selves, many bees will be lost in these encounters, and a 

 large waste of time will invariably follow ; for bees wheth- 

 er engaged in attempting to rob, or in battling against the 

 robbery of others, are, to a very great extent, cut off both 



