4 i8 
BEES AND BEE-KEEPING. 
September or middle of October, so that young, 
energetic bees may pass into the winter with all 
their life before them, and carry on the work of 
the following spring until a new generation has 
arisen to supply their places, spring dwindling being, 
I am sure erroneously, ascribed to the age of the 
bees at the beginning of the winter season. I have, 
in years gone by, advocated this position, but have 
long seen that the effort of raising late brood is 
often as destructive as it is constructive; and some- 
times more power is taken out of the old lives 
than is put into the new, while the excitement 
late feeding and breeding maintain sends bees 
abroad to chill and die in such numbers that their 
loss tells seriously upon the ease with which tempera- 
ture can be kept up during cold spells. But I am 
not now running to the opposite extreme, and saying 
that supers should be removed, and breeding closed 
with unnatural abruptness. I merely deprecate an 
effort to secure young bees when climatic conditions 
seem to forbid. 
Robbing is an occasional 'trouble to the careful 
bee-keeper, but it is a very plague to the untidy. 
When nectar is distilling bountifully in the blossoms, 
bees leave syrup, or even honey, untouched, and 
then great liberties may be taken. Mr. Broughton 
Carr,* eg.^ narrates that, in removing his supers 
in July, he merely stood them against the hives from 
which they had been lifted, when the proper owners 
left them without a sign of ‘‘robbing,” simply crawling 
back into their home. The abundance of the honey 
The Bee-keeper' s Record, Vol. IV., page 139. 
