220 FIFTY YEARS AMONG THE BEES 



After the bees have become used to going in and out at the 

 leguh^r place, if I make an opening at the back end of the hive, 

 no matter if it be as large as the front entrance, that back 

 opening will never be used as an entrance. One would think 

 that 3'oung' bees taking their first play-spell would be as likely 

 to use the back as the front opening; but when I have had 

 ventilating openings at the backs of the hives I do not remem- 

 ber to have seen bees playing at the back. Perhaps the noise 

 of the regular traffic in front attracts them there. 



Fig. 75—Eohher-Cloth. 



LOSING THE ROBBERS. 



I make it a rule to stop operations usually when robbers 

 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 lobbers 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 off 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 



