THE AUSTRALIAN BEEKEEPERS’ JOURNAL. 
169 
Ejtracts from foreign Journals. 
ROBBER BEES AND ODORS. 
At this time of the year it takes very little to 
induce bees to start robbing each other’s hives, 
and the apiarist is often put to his wits’ end 
to stop the thieving. The following is the ex- 
perience upon this point as related by “ A 
Country Parson” in the Country Gentleman : — 
“Twenty-five years ago I began beekeeping 
with a row of hives, all painted alike, and 
ilaced close together, say 12-in. apart. This 
ikeness and nearness of hives, together with 
iny work and fussing, soon brought on the 
calamity — robbing right and left, stealing, 
fighting, and killing, until some of the hives 
were empty, and the ground covered with dead 
bees. I rushed to my library, and then tried 
the plans described as infallible remedies. 
Tied them up in sheets; deluged them with 
water ; buried them in loose straw ; smashed 
the robbers’ combs ; put them to sleep with 
chloroform ; shifted positions of hives. But 
they still fought and robbed and killed like 
little demons. 
Then I sat down to study out a remedy, or 
to see the end of this Kilkenny-cat process. I 
soon found the difficulty to be in this — that 
the robbed bees could not distinguish between 
the friends in their own family and their ene- 
mies from other families I could tell which 
were robbers from their hesitating flight about 
the mouth of the doomed hive. The home J 
bees came in like an arrow from a bow. The 
robbers hesitated, backed and filled, and 
seemed watching for a chance to get in. But 
of this sign the home guard seemed to take 
no notice. From this I concluded that they 
did not discriminate by sight. 
In this way I went on to eliminate the dif- 
ferent senses from their method of discrimina- 
tion, until at last I reached the conclusion 
that the sense of smell was their chief, if not 
weir only, dependence. Any observant bee- 
keeper has found many evidences that this 
early conclusion was sound. (I should like to 
ask here whether there is any honey -producing 
blossom that is destitute nf ode r ? And, by 
the way, one of the best plans for introducing 
'1 neons is to give the strange queen and the 
swarm the same odor. And so in all pro- 
cesses requiring the union of bees from 
different swarms. 
But to return to our robbers. The guards 
are on duty at the entrance of the hive. The 
robber lam Is on the ligliting-board. He either 
steals in unobserved, or is challenged. If he 
has been in the hive often enough to have 
acquired the right odor, he is admitted as a 
Irien.l. If the scent is not clear he is doubted, 
and there is hesitation. If he brings a brand 
new and strange odor, he is “ bounced,” and 
a fight begins that generally ends in the death 
ot the bouncer or bounced. 
This suggested the remedy. I took some 
musk, wrapped it loosely in muslin and covered 
the package with wire netting, for fear.tlie 
bees might eat it and get poisoned, or tear it 
to pieces and carry it out of the hive. This 
little package, about 1-in. long and i-in." in 
! diameter, I dropped in the midst of the combs 
j of the robbed hive. 
The next step was to get a contrasting and 
I strong odor for the robber hive. I selected 
essence of peppermint, diluted 1-oz. of it with 
; a pint of milk-warm water, borrowed my wife’s 
I indoor plant sprinkle^ uncovered the robbing 
hives, and gave them a dash of the perfumery. 
It isn’t easy to laugh alone, but I did laugh 
out loud and long when I saw the result. The 
j musk guards waited in alert expectancy. A 
peppermint robber began to buzz around," but 
the musk fellow detected his presence and 
, followed every motion of the peppermint ad- 
versary, by turning his belligerent front, when 
the robber was at least 12-in distant. And 
when he would venture within 2-in. or 3-in. of 
the vigilant inusker, the guard would fairly 
: leap at him and catch him “on the wing.” 
There was no room for fight and no killing. 
The alien peppermint robber would flee with 
the cowardice of his profession. 
It is no exaggeration to say that within five 
minutes the whole thing was stopped, and for 
good. The remedy is effective, and can be 
applied with little trouble, and not more than 
two minutes of time. — Queenslander, March 21, 
1888. 
HONEY FROM EUCALYPTUS 
GLOBULUS. 
A specimen has been sent from Adelaide, 
S. Australia, to Mr. T. Christy, of London, as 
posssesing similar properties to those of the 
tree itself, being, for example, antiseptic in 
its nature. It is found to be very efficacious 
in cases of lung disease. The honey can only 
be procured every other year, as the tree 
flowers biennially. One peculiarity is that, 
though liquid on arrival, it rapidly crystallises 
in this climate. It has a very peculiar flavor 
and scent. — Gardeners’ Chronicle. Feb. 25, 
1888. 
*— 
ALFALFA OR LUCERNE. 
From the American Bee Journal. 
A correspondent wants us to answer the 
following question about about alfalfa or 
lucerne : — “ What is the best time of the 
year for sowing it ? How much seed is re- 
quired to the acre ? What soil does it require ? 
How many pounds are there in a bushel ? ” 
In reply we would say that lucerne or 
alfalfa ( Medicago sativa) was introduced into 
the Pacific States from Chili, many years ago. 
It resists the driest weather, and it is said 
that when every blade of grass droops for want 
of moisture, it holds up fresh and green. 
