374 THE BEE keeper's MANUAL. 



placed in vessels from which the odor can escape, but in 

 which it cannot be seen, the bees will soon alight upon 

 them and eagerly attempt to find an entrance. It is by this 

 sense, unquestionably, that they recognize the members of 

 their own community, although it seems to us very singular 

 that each colony should have its own peculiar scent. Not 

 only can two colonies be safely united by giving them the 

 same odor, but in the same way any number of colonies 

 may be made to live in perfect peace. If hundreds of 

 hives are all connected by gauze wire ventilators, so that 

 the air passes freely from one to another, the bees will all 

 live in absolute harmony, and if any bee attempts to enter 

 the wrong hive, he will not be molested. The same result 

 can often be attained by feeding colonies from a common 

 vessel. I have seen literally hundreds of thousands of bees 

 that after being treated in this way so as to acquire the same 

 odor, were always gentle towards each other, while if a 

 single bee from a strange Apiary, lit upon the feeder, it was 

 sure to be killed. 



I ha\s described, (p. 213,) the use which I make of pep- 

 permint, in order to prevent bees from quarreling when they 

 are united. The Rev. Mr. Kleine, (see p. 359,) in a recent 

 number of the Bienenzeitung, has recommended the use of 

 another article, which he finds to be very useful in prevent- 

 ing robbing. His statement would have come in more ap- 

 propriately in the Chapter on Robbing, but was not received 

 jntil too late. He says that the most convenient and efiect- 

 ual mode of arresting and repelling the attacks of robbers, 

 is, to impart to the attacked hive some intensely powerful 

 and unaccustomed odor. He effects this most readily, by 

 placing a small portion of tmisk in the attacked hive, late in 

 the evening, when all the robbers have retreated. On the 

 following morning, the bees, (provided they have a healthy 



