120 EOBBIXG. 



at any time through the summer when honey can not be 

 collected; but spring is the only time in which such des- 

 perate and persevering efforts are made to obtain it. At 

 no other time can the apiarian be excused for having his 

 hives plundered, or allowing them to be liable to such 

 invasions. Families reduced in winter and spring, will, if 

 protected through this season, generally make good stocks. 

 Prevention is better than cure ; evil propensities should be 

 checked in the bud. It would probably be the least 

 trouble, when practicable, to remove the weak hive to some 

 neighbor, a mile or two away, where there are no strong 

 ones to molest it ; and return it after the honey season 

 arrives. 



The apiarian who allows his hives to be plundered in the 

 fall, is not fit to have charge of them ; the efibrts of the 

 robbers are seldom as vigorous as in spring, (unless there 

 is a general scarcity,) the weak hives are usually better 

 supplied Avith bees, and consequently a less number is 

 exposed. When there are some very weak families, they 

 should be disposed of as soon as the flowers fail. Partic- 

 ulars given in Fall Management. 



EQUALIZATION. 



I have sometimes equalized the strength of my hives, 

 early in spring, by the following method. Bees, when 

 wintered together in a room, will seldom quarrel when 

 first put out. When one hive has an over supply of bees, 

 and another a very few, the next day after being set out, 

 I change the weak one to the stand of the strong one, (as 

 before mentioned), and all bees that have marked the loca- 

 tion, will return to that place. This often fails for the 

 reason that too many bees leave the strong hive, making 

 that the weak one, and nothing is gained. If it could be 

 done when they had been out of winter quarters just long 

 enough for the proper number to have marked the loca- 



