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dr. miller's 
Q. This last summer, after the honey-flow was over, I noticed 
a lot of robber bees prowling around, and every now and then one 
would manage to slip past the guards and steal a load of honey. 
Finally they overpowered one and came very near robbing it be- 
fore I got them stopped, and I got them perfectly quiet at one 
time and contracted the entrances to all the colonies. In a few 
days there came a little rain, and after it cleared up they started 
to prowling around again, and kept it up until cold weather, but 
they were worse after a rain or damp spell than at any other 
time. Is that their natural way of doing, or should they keep 
quiet during a dearth of honey, and would it have resulted in a 
general case of robbing if I hadn’t contracted the entrance? 
A. It is a common thing for bees to prowl about and try all 
crevices of hives at any time when gathering has stopped, and 
after a rain, and it is quite possible that your narrowing the en- 
trances may have prevented a bad case of robbing. 
Rocky Mountain Bee Plant. — Q. Please give a description of 
cleome. If planted in the spring, will it flower during the sum- 
mer? What soil is best for it? Is it an annual? What time in 
the year should it be planted? 
A. Cleome integrifolia, or Rocky Mountain beeplant, grows 
wild in some parts of the West in large quantities, and is an ex- 
cellent honey-plant. Some years ago it had quite a boom, and 
seed was planted largely. But it is doubtful that anyone who 
sowed seed ever got back the cost of the seed. A. I. Root found it 
inferior to its near relative, the spider plant, although neither 
was worth cultivating. It is doubtful that it is worth while for 
you to try it if it does not grow wild with you. It should be sown 
in spring; is an annual, so blooms the first year. I don’t know 
what soil suits it best. I know it does well here in good garden 
soil; but the acres of it I saw out West were growing wild on 
land that looked to me poor. 
Roofing Paper. — Q. Please discuss the advantages and disad- 
vantages of roofing paper, such as “Ruberoid,” as a wrapping 
paper for the winter protection of bees. 
A. I don’t know enough about “Ruberoid” to discuss it fully, 
yet if you mean to use it to wrap about the hives in winter, I 
should think it altogether too heavy, if it is the same material 
that is used for roofing. It has the advantage of durability, and 
for covering over the top is no doubt excellent. But its heaviness, 
and especially its stiffness, would make it unfit to wrap about a 
hive to be tied on. The lighter tarred building paper is better for 
that, and less expensive. But I am not speaking from experience, 
as I winter bees in the cellar, where nothing of the kind is needed. 
