ROBBING. 265 



never be mistaken for honest laborers carrying, with un- 

 wieldy flight, their heavy 'gardens to the hive. These 

 bold plunderers, as th.ej%iter a hive, are almost as 

 hungry-looking as Pharaoh's lean kine, while, on coming 

 out, they show by their burly looks that, like aldermen 

 who have dined at the expense of the city, they are stufied 

 to their utmost capacity. 



When robbing-bees have fairly overcome a colony, the 

 attempt to stop them — ^by shutting up the hive or by 

 moving it to a new stand-^if improperly conducted, is 

 often far more disastrous than to allow them to finish their 

 work. The air wiU. be quickly filled with greedy bees, 

 who, unable to bear their disappointment, will assail, with 

 almost frantic desperation, some of the adjoining stocks. 

 In this way, the strongest colonies are sometimes over- 

 powered, or thousands of bees slain in the desperate 

 contest. 



When an Apiarian perceives that a colony is being 

 robbed, he should contract the entrance, and, if the 

 assailants persist in forcing their way in, he must close it 

 entirely. In a few minutes the hive will be black with 

 the greedy cormorants, who wiU not abandon it till 

 they have attempted to squeeze themselves through the 

 smallest openings. Before they assail a neighboring 

 colony, they should be thoroughly sprinkled with cold 

 water, which wiU make them glad to return to their 

 homes. 



Unless the bees that were shut up can have an abund- 

 anoo of air, they should be carried to a cool and dark* 



* " In Germany, when colonies in common hives are being robhed, they are often 

 removed to a distant location, or put in a dark cellar. A hive, similar in appear- 

 ance, is placed on their stand, and leaves of wormwood and the escpressed juice of 

 tho plant are put on the bottom-board. Bees have such an antipathy to the 

 odor of this plant, that the robbers speedily forsake the place, and the assailed 

 colony may then be brought back. 



" The Eev. Mr. Kleine says, that robbers may be repelled by imparting to the 

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