342 ROBBING. 



mad pursuit of unlawful pleasure or dishonest profit, neglect to 

 make provision for the wants even of their own households, 



Sometimes the Apiarian may be in doubt whether a colony 

 is being robbed or not, and may confound the busy numbers 

 arriving and departing, with the honest laborers of the hive ; 

 but if he looks into the matter a little more closely, he will 

 Boon ascertain the true state of the case ; the bees that enter, 

 instead of being heavily laden, with bodies hanging down, 

 unwieldly in their flight, and slow in all their movements, 

 are almost as hungry looking as Pharaoh's lean kine, while 

 those that come out, show by their burly looks, that like al- 

 dermen who have dined at the expense of the City, they arc 

 filled to their utmost capacity. 



If the Apiarian wishes to guard his bees against this fata! 

 propensity to plunder each other, he must be exceedingly 

 careful not to leave any combs filled with honey, unnecessa- 

 rily exposed. An ignorant or careless person attempting to 

 multiply colonies on my plan, will be almost sure to tempt 

 his bees to dishonest courses. If he leaves any of the 

 combs which he removes, where strange bees can find them, 

 they will, after once getting a taste of the honey, fly to any 

 hive upon which he begins to operate, and attempt to appro- 

 priate a part of its contents. 



It has already been stated, that bees, when they can find 

 an abundance of food in the fields, are seldom inclined to 

 Job ; for this reason, with suitable precautions, it is not diffi- 

 cult to perform, at the proper season, all the operations 

 •which are necessary on my plan of management, without 

 any danger of demoralizing the bees. If, however, they 

 are attempted when forage is scarce, they should be per- 

 formed with extreme caution-, and early in the morning, or 

 late in the evening ; or if possible, on a day when the bees 

 are not flying out from their liives. If bees once get a 



