THE AUSTRALIAN BEEKEEPERS’ JOURNAL. 
67 
for an airing. The latter are recognised at 
once by their larger size and the deeper- 
toned “ buzz ” of their wings. The busy ones 
are, some of them, seen to come home with 
little white, yellow, or other coloured balls on 
their legs, which is often popularly supposed 
to be wax These little balls are, however, 
small masses of the pollen taken from flowers, 
a kind of coloured dust which is often seen 
to stick to the nose of a person smelling a 
flower, and in some flowers is very abundant. 
Now, this pollen is found on the stamens of 
the flowers, and forms a very nutritious food 
for the bees ; they carry it home and pack it 
into some of the cells, mixing a little honey 
with it as they do so, and use it as food 
for themselves, and for the young grubs also 
after it has been specially prepared for them. 
This pollen has nothing to do with the wax. 
Other bees arrive without this pollen on their 
legs, and if observed closely, will be seen to 
appear a little larger than those carrying 
their little balls of flower dust, as if larger in 
the abdomen ; these are bringing in honey or 
water. He will also notice that some worker 
bees, especially those playing about the 
entrance, are lighter colour than others; 
these are the young bees ; the down which 
makes them appear light soon wears off 
however, as they get to the serious business of 
their life. 
It is a very important thing in beekeeping 
to become familiar with the appearance of 
bees at work, for with a little practice the 
intelligent beekeeper is able to judge of the 
condition of the colony within by the behaviour 
at the entrance. If bees are carrying in no 
pollen, or very little, breeding is either going 
on very slowly or is stopped altogether, which 
in the honey-getting season may indicate some 
sickness of the queen, or the whole family, or 
the loss of the queen itself ; and if on fine 
days when other bees are carrying pollen, those 
from any particular hive are not doing so, but 
are otherwise busy, we may be almost sure 
that the queen is lost or worn out. If disease 
exists in the hive it is generally noticeable to 
the experienced beekeeper in the behaviour of 
the bees at the entrance. 
I am sorry to say that some bees have very 
little respect to the question of property, and if 
honey is scarce often become absolutely dis- 
honest and most determined robbers. They 
will find out the hives that have honey and are 
not very strong in bees, or are perhaps w'ithout 
a queen ; one or two will sneak in at first, fill 
themselves with honey, and sneak off again to 
return with some of their companions ; often a 
fight occurs and many bees are killed, and if 
the occupants of the hive that is robbed are 
not strong enough to beat off the robbers, the 
colony becomes demoralised, and the bees even 
help the marauders to carry off the honey to 
their hive, the robbed ones deserting or dying. 
Experienced beekeepers often have a diffi- 
culty in ascertaining whether robbing is 
going on or not, except when it is going on 
wholesale or with fighting ; but by carefully 
watching “ bees at work," its signs can 
generally be distinguished. Bees at work 
will be seen to fly straight for their entrance 
and bustle in quickly, many however appear- 
ing heavy and tired ; robbers hover about the 
alighting-board, or go smelling around the 
sides and back of the hive to see if there be 
any back entrance, and settling on the alight- 
ing-board try and get in, and flying off and 
trying again if they are noticed ; but as there 
are generally a lot of young bees playing 
about, it is not always easy to see what goes 
on in this respect ; if however bees that look 
full and heavy are seen to come out at the 
entrance, and instead of taking flight at once, 
crawl right to the edge of the alighting-board 
before doing so, robbing may be suspected. If 
one of these bees be caught coming out, and 
being killed is found full of honey, instead of 
empty, as all honest bees should be when they 
come out of a hive, then be sure robbing is 
going on. By dredging some of these laden 
bees with flour, you can mark them and ascer- 
tain if they enter any of the other hives in 
the apiary. Having found a hive being robbed, 
and the hive of the hees that are robbing, 
beginners will be able to adopt some of the 
numerous means for stopping this thieving 
work before the robbed colony is destroyed. 
Concerning the remedies for robbing, we shall 
speak further on, and the subject is only 
mentioned here to show the importance of 
beginners making themselves very familiar 
with the movements and behaviour of bees at 
work in an ordinary and honest manner, so as 
to be able to detect almost at a glance at the 
entrance and alighting-board of a hive how 
things are going on within. 
Beekeeping in Queensland. 
By “ Propolis.” 
Monday, 8th March, 1886, being a nice 
bright, sunny day, and one calculated to make 
the heart of the bee wax merry, I having 
nothing in particular to do, and sitting on the 
verandah of “ Lennan’s ” quietly smoking an 
after-lunch cigarette, noticing a Rosalie ’bus 
rolling along, decided to take a run out to Mr. 
J. Carrol’s ( ‘ the pioneer beekeeper of Queens- 
land,’’) and have a look at his apiary. Twenty 
j minutes in the ’bus, then a walk of about a 
mile and a half, brings me to the gate, or I 
should say fence, and discloses to my view 
Mrs. Carrol collecting wood to light her fire, 
