l^ORTY YEARS AMONG THE BEES. 



221 



haps the noise of the regular traffic in front attracts them 

 there. 



Fig. 76.— Push-Board. 



LOSING THE ROBBERS. 



I make it a rule to stop operations usually when rob- 

 bers are very bad, but sometimes it seems necessary to 

 fight it out. I have sometimes taken advantage of the 

 plan of making cross bees or robbers lose themselves, or 

 rather lose the object they are after by rapidly changing 

 the base of operation. One day at the Wilson apiary I 

 had taken ofif some wide frames of sections and wanted 

 to take them from the place where they were piled up, so 

 as to put them on the wagon. The robbers were so 

 fierce and persistent that it seemed impossible to open a 

 crack without their immediately forcing their way in. 

 My wife was provided with a smoker in full blast, and a 

 big bunch of goldenrod or other weeds A robber-cloth 

 covered the pile. With one hand I lifted the cloth and 



