ROBBING. 343 



laste of honey from hives which are opened, they will watch 

 the Apiarian so closely, that as soon as he begins to operate, 

 they will pounce upon the exposed colony, and endeavor to 

 appropriate its stores ! 



1 have sometimes seen the most powerful colonies in an 

 Apiary, either robbed and deslroyed, or very greatly re- 

 duced in numbers, by the gross carelessness or ignorance of 

 their owner. He neglects, for instance, to examine his hives 

 at the proper season, and the bees begin to rob a weak or 

 queenless stock ; as soon as they are at the very height of 

 their nefarious operations, he attempts to interfere with their 

 proceedings, either by shutting up the hive, or by moving it 

 to a new place. The air is now filled with greedy and dis- 

 appointed bees, who,' rather than fail in obtaining the ex- 

 pected treasures, assail, with almost frantic desperation, some 

 of the neighboring stocks ; in this way, the most powerful 

 colonies are sometimes utterly ruined, or if they escape, 

 thousands of bees are slain in defending their treasures, and 

 thousands more of the assailants meet with the same un- 

 timely end. 



" In Germany, when colonies in common hives are being 

 robbed, it is customary to remove ihera temporarily to a dis- 

 tant location, or to set them in a dark cellar. A hive similar 

 in appearance is then placed on their stand, and leaves of 

 wormwood and the expressed juice of the plant are put on 

 the bottom-board. The bees have so strong an antipathy to 

 the odor of this plant, that the assailants speedily forsake the 

 place : and the removed colony may then be brought back." 

 (Wagner.) The oil of wormwood would be better still. 



If the Apiarian perceives that one of his colonies is 

 being robbed, he should at once contract the entrance, so 

 that only a single bee can get in at a time ; and if the rob- 

 bers still persist in entering, he must close it entirely. In a 



