■^12 KOBBING. 



CHAPTEE XIV". 



ROBBING. 

 GENERAL BEMAKKS. 



Eobbing is often a source of loss to the careless apiariaH. 

 It is frequent in spring, and at any time in warm weather, 

 when there is a scarcity of honey. It is very annoying, 

 and is sometimes a source of contention among neighbors, 

 when perhaps neither is to blame, farther than for igno- 

 rance. The person keeping the most bees, must expect to 

 be held accountable for all the losses in the neighborhood, 

 whether they occur from mismanagement, or want of 

 management, and if he escapes without being charged 

 with those losses due to hundreds of causes, he ought 

 to be thankful. It is often thought if a person has but 

 one stock, and another has ten, that the ten will combine 

 to plunder the one. This conclusion is not warranted by 

 facts ; I can discover no collusion between different fami- 

 lies of the same apiary. It is true that when one colony 

 finds another weak and defenceless, possessing treasures, 

 they have no conscientious scruples about carrying them 

 oflf to the last particle, notwithstanding that they revel in 

 abundance at home ; and it is most frequently the case 

 that the strongest colonies are most given to this despica- 

 ble habit. The hurry and bustle attending the plunder, 

 seldom escape the notice of other hives, and when one 

 hive has been robbed, perhaps two-thirds or all of the 

 other colonies have participated in the offence. 



When honey is being gathered largely from natural 

 sources, little apprehension of robbing need be entertained. 

 At such times honey may often be left exposed, without 

 receiving the slightest attention from the bees. We have 

 taken tons of honey with the extractor, in the open air, 

 when it was most freely exposed, without exciting their 



